Learned the alphabet this weekend at 20wpm with an app. Prob another week before I can put words together without having to stop and think so much about each letter but I’m picking it up faster than I expected.

What’s the best band to hang out and listen to cw?  Any good cw nets or  rag chew groups?  

20 and 40 are usually pretty busy with CW. They have the Slow Speed Contests put on by CW Ops group. I did those a few times when starting out. Lots of POTA activators on CW also. I haven't done any CW in a while and probably pretty rusty. For a while I did it nearly every day. Lots of keyboard CW out there.

@Frank_B is CW only if I recall. so he can probably guide you better than anyone.

In my opinion the very best way to get comfortable with operating CW is to operate POTA as a hunter.

You know where the operators are from the POTA app, you know their callsign and what the report will be.

Start working them immediately. EVEN IF you suck at CW right now. Your comfort level will soar very rapidly.
And that is what it is all about. Not dull practice, but actually working CW stations and putting them in the log.
Even an afternoon of doing this will work wonders for your confidence. Give this a try,

solid advice

https://pota.app/#/

It's typically the lower freqs of the HF bands


OP
I think it's great that you're learning CW




It's typically the lower freqs of the HF bands

ARRL code practice files: https://www.arrl.org/code-practice-files

SKCC operating frequencies: https://www.skccgroup.com/membership_data/opfreq.php. Practice files: https://www.skccgroup.com/member_services/learning_center/
SKCC members will almost always slow down to a speed you're comfortable with. There are also several "sprints" that are good for on-the-air-practice, once you're comfortable getting on the air. Membership is free.
Practice sending along with receiving. The two skills are complementary. Turn off the breakin/vox functions on your transceiver and it can be used as a code practice oscillator both for both straight keys and paddles.
My recommendation is to begin with a straight key to build your natural rhythm, then add paddles to your skill set as you become more proficient.
Short, 10-15 minute, practice sessions help prevent burnout. Do them once or twice a day if possible,

FWIW, I'm a 99-44/100ths pure CW OP and have been since 1954.

Thanks guys!

Yeah I know the freqs in the band plan I just never listened to them before so idk which ones are popular or dead.  

I think I could do it right now if people would send each letter at a 20wpm pace but put a 3-5 second pause between letters so I could think and then write the letter down on paper lol

I need to buy a key.  Vibroplex is right down the road from me so I’ll prob grab one of theirs.  I assume saying “dah dah dit dit” into the mic is frowned on prior to purchasing a key lol

I could see myself being 50% cw

What's worked for me over the years is to park a receiver on an active CW frequency (say, a traffic net or POTA/special event station) and just copy the activity while going about other things.

I have a couple sets of twins that would be ideal for SKCC use and I'll likely put them into service doing that when I get the new shack built.

Skcc link was super helpful. Thanks!

I've never run into a CW operator who wasn't willing to match my speed. Keyboard guys you can tell. But guys actually working a key will slow down. If they hear Farnsworth, they usually will add some for you.

Vibroplex makes a good key, and there are others.
Kent also has a good reputation, but for now they appear to be unobtanium. For how long is a question many are asking.

Hi-Mound, I dunno. I've heard the good, the bad, and the ugly about them.

Idk what that means but it sounds good

Farnsworth involves sending the letters rapidly with long spaces between them.

Keys are like potato chips, you can't have just one. You'll likely find yourself scrounging for them at hamfests and fixing them up. There's plenty of them on eBay, but you better know your stuff. Many are just junk.

I started off with a CW Morse key. It wasn't bad at all. Worked well enough. I found a Vibroplex at a hamfest for $100 that mechanically was great, just dirty. Once I cleaned it up and adjusted it to my liking it was way better. I mean could immediately feel a difference.

Well this is my 5th day, and I can tap out words on the app (mimics a straight key) at 20wpm pretty reliably. I still need to build muscle memory because I have to think through it all and will occasionally throw 5 dits instead of 4 or something  or leave a hair too much space between letters or words.   But reading a word and remembering the dits and dahs I has been much easier than hearing the dits and dahs and remembering the letter.  

How long did it take you guys to be able to copy?

"Copy" is relative.

Solid at speed "x"? A while, give or take. The occasional letter or number at 35WPM+? Almost immediately after I learned the character set.

You guys know what all the cw settings are in icon 705?

Why would the radio know or care the key speed or what type of paddle you’re using etc. and what is side tone?

Keys behave different and probably require the radio to process it differently I would
imagine. Especially the speed. For instance, paddles and such you don't tap the dits. You just hold it down. If I want to do a 4, I just hold the paddle down until it send out dit dit dit dit dah. So I set the speed via the radio. Then you have iambic or side swipers wherein you have two paddles or one.

You also can reverse which side is the dit and dah on paddles.

Side tone is what you hear when you are sending. A monitor function basically.

Ahh thanks! I was under the impression that the paddles and such were mostly mechanical with springs and magnets and just completed a simple circuit to key the radio to transmit.  But you’re saying you can adjust the speed of repeating dits and dahs from the radio? That’s cool but seems much more complex than I thought the keys were capable of.  Is there some sort of PLC inside all that fancy chrome?  Is it store and forward? Or just real time pass through?

Side tone explanation makes total sense now.  Thanks!

straight key is two wires, shorting them makes the radio key up

paddle is three wires

most modern radios have a menu setting to setup for a paddle, adjust speed, and reverse to swap the dash & dots, left vs right

Paddles are simply two normally open on/off switches, one for dits, the other for dahs. The dits and dahs are generated within the radio. Hold the dit switch closed and the radio sends a series of dits as long as the dit paddle is held closed. Same goes for the dah paddle.

A single lever paddle can only close one set of contacts at a time. If the paddle is iambic (dual lever) and radio is set for iambic keying and both are held closed (squeezed together), the radio generates a didahdidahdidah pattern. It gets its name from the Iambic Pentameter meter of poetry.

keep in mind even if you do have iambic paddles you don't have to use the iambic feature. You can utilize them as if it was a single lever paddle.

i recommend you get started using paddles as soon as possible. Yes it requires a bit of skill, but you are going to wind up there using them if you stay with CW anyway. I sure can't see going thru life using a straight key. Not that you can't send good code with a straight key, but most people (well many anyway)  send crap code with a straight key. A paddle makes life much easier.

While you are at it, teach yourself the paddles with your "other hand".  ie. If you write right handed, then learn the paddles left handed. This allows a rest from sending and writing with the same hand.
73,
Rob

I have a small HI Mound straight key and it's not something I'd want to learn on...too small to have lots of control. I use it as a portable backup.

OP, the Vibroplex Straight key is excellent, lots of adjustments, and bulletproof. The only straight key I need in the shack.

I tried and promptly unplugged the straight key and plugged my Vibroplex back in

I'm in the same boat as OP. Been using a phone app to learn CW for a couple of weeks now. I can send a lot better than receive!

I thought I was doing ok with letters and numbers and then punctuation really slowed me down. I almost quit when trying to learn pro signs, abbreviations, Q-codes, non latin characters etc... Was getting really frustrated so just went on to small words. Working on 4 letter words now.

How important are the characters beyond letters and numbers? Should I stop working words and just go back and suck it up?

I don't own any gear or even know how to plug it into my radio. It feels like it's going to be a while before I'm ready to really transmit.

The characters will come with time once you actually get on the air. Slash bar, period, comma, and question mark are the most used ones.

All I use is slash, dash, period and question mark.

Since you're just getting started look into Ultimatic mode of keying also called squeeze keying. There are some videos out there. Most folks use Iambic B mode but Ultimatic is far more efficient and there's less slapping back & forth on the key.

My buddy joined the long island CW club to learn Morse. He said they start to learn at 14wpm. I know and can send Farnsworth at 20ish. But I dialed my 705 back to 14wpm and it screws me up. But my copy isnt quite there at 20 for any duration. I downloaded morse runner . It is quite helpful. I do it everyday for 20-30min. It simulates pileups or just 1 at a time. There are a lot of adjustments as well.

Here's an online app that helps you learn instant character recognition. Essentially it plays the character, you say the character into a mic which stops the clock, then you type the character on the keyboard. I think the goal is 500ms or less character recognition. If you don't game it and properly register your errors it will play those characters more frequently. It will chart & save your progress.

https://better-icr.herokuapp.com/

The larger Hi-Mounds look like they may be okay as starter keys and give the beginner enough experience to know what to look for when moving up. They should be better than that $35 MFJ key, but we started many future hams with them in our club CW classes.

Oh, for the glory days of the $1 new-in-box J-38s and $7 "Command" receivers.

Everyone has there favorite set of paddles. I am not going to say these are something special, these are actually pretty ordinary. But a set of these are what are plugged into  my 7300. Yes they are 3D printed plastic and there is a bit of "give" in them, but I have worked plenty of stations with them. They are cheap and very functional.


CW morse paddles


cw morse website

I really like my KENT




this is what I started out with, it was good enough to get me to pass my 13wpm test

One more question….

What’s the deal with break in?

Break in set to off is essentially not transmitting? Any reason for that other than practice listening to your side tone?

Break in set to full means you can hear other signals between transmitting?
Some other kind of break in does something else for x seconds?

Why would you use one vs another?

I miss CW. I've got a really nice Bencher paddle along with a couple of straight keys.

I got my General license in the mail the very day that the FCC eliminated the requirement.

Turning it off is yeah, just for practice since the radio isn't keying.

For an Icom 7300:

Break in or BKIN - the minute you hit the key it keeps the radio on TX for a certain amount of time. It may be tied to the WPM setting, not sure. But either way it's one long TX.
Full Break in or F-BKIN - the radio TX's on each character allowing you to hear in between.

I honestly have no idea why the difference. I'm sure one of the other guys can come along and answer that.

I personally used, haven't done CW in awhile, BKIN since I didn't like the radio TXing back and forth like that with each character. It just seemed like in the long term it wasn't a good idea.

You pretty well have it figured out. Break in set to OFF, means no transmitting, just sidetone available for practice.

Break in set to semi break in, means transmit relay pulls up and timer releases the relay. Timer is set so the relay does not release between elements or characters even words. You adjust this timer to suit yourself. AND the requirements of a downstream amplifier if you have one. You don't want to relay trying to release between elements if you amp is NOT equipped for full break in. AND if you personally do not like the "sound" of full break in with the relay chattering in and out all the time. I don't like full break in on the 7300 as it is too noisy and not fast enough, and the truth be told I don't like full break in period. Lots of guys love full break in, I find it distracting.

Full break in of course lets you hear between elements or at least between letters. Some love this type of operation, I don't. Perhaps because I am not a CW pro like more experienced operators. I don't like the distraction of listening while I am sending. I also don't think the 7300 does full break in well. Too loud of a relay. My 7610 is much much better in this regard. Elecraft K3 and K4 are much better still.

My 7300 stays on semi break in.  But my 7610 does too, because my amp does not allow for full break in.

Ahh I hadn’t considered the amp.  Thanks!

To set the break-in delay on the 7300, press and hold the vox/break-in button for a few seconds. A window will appear in the upper right of the display showing the time and rotating the adjust knob will change it. Tap the button again to exit the function.

ok people, i got a vibroplex dual paddle yesterday and have been practicing.   kind of want to develop good habits but i have no idea what i'm doing

how do you key an X on iambic paddle?

if i tap the right, hold left for two dits, then tap right again, maybe i'm just not fast enough, but it sounds to me like i have extra space in between the - and . and . an - as i go back and forth.    i.e. - .. -  (instead of -..- )  or sometimes i get the first one pretty good and miss the second and it sounds more like -.. -

i like how i can make a Q by holding the right so that it repeats - and then tapping the left to insert a . after the second -.   that works great.   but to make an X i can't insert 2 dits .. by holding down the left because then it just goes into repeating -.-.-.-. "squeeze mode" lol


also, any tips on adjusting the key?  

from shooting, i always liked keeping my finger on the trigger while pulling and releasing it til sear/disconnector engaged and then pulling again. but i'm not the fastest shooter and was usually lucky to keep splits in the .17 range.  i know some trainers (even a well regarded grandmaster type) advocate some slapping and letting your finger come off the trigger for speed.    anyone think that also applies to keying?   should i try to keep my fingers on the paddles?  if it's difficult (it is) should i attempt to adjust the paddles to make it easier?

when trying to do letters, my brain wants my fingers to jump off the key at the last tone to prevent repeating.  i think when i try to start the next letter i don't want to be off in space.  

trigger slap the paddles


USPSA GM style






PS - accuracy is more important than speed

for sure accuracy.  but i'm trying to learn at 20wpm, so it's "fast" to me.

15wpm accurately will be understood better than 20wpm messy

When talking about Morse practice, the old suggestion was to practice sending using a page out of the news paper as source material. Yep, it's a lot, but perfect practice makes perfect.
73,
Rob

Also use a phone book, if you still have one.

A local guy and I would practice with each other by one starting off by sending Truck. Then I'd send Ford then he would send me dually then it would just go on and on with word that were somewhat related. It was fun and really good practice.

We would ragchew sometimes but it was difficult since neither of us could send or copy real fast.

When we were learning we'd converse by telephone using our CPOs. We could discuss whether Suzie Bigboobs was putting out or not or and our parents would be non the wiser.
Since vacuum tube CPOs were expensive, most had of us Philmore buzzers.

I can do that at 13 WMP.

What I can't do is understand  it at even 5 WPM.

You guys are missing the point that I want to learn to do it right before I start practicing. I don’t want to have to unlearn bad habits

I always found learning by practicing a waste of time. The best way to learn CW is by operating and making QSO's. That is why I mentioned working POTA stations. Just start working them. Forget about "getting better" and learning to do things right and all of that. Just start making Q's.

The real barrier to working CW is fear. You have nothing to fear but fear itself. Roosevelt said this over 90 years ago. If you can ever get over the fear the rest will "fix itself" This is where working POTA on CW comes into paly. It relieves the fear. You know the other stations callsign, you KNOW exactly what he is going to send for a report, Just look at the POTA to find callsign, park he is in, state he is in, the frequency he is on. All you have to do is verify that the callsign is what the app said it will be, and you have dozens of chances to do that at your leisure before you ever touch the key.

When you screw up your courage enough, send you call sign. That is all you have to do. You have been following along now for some time to figure out the cadence of how this goes, so DO IT. DO IT NOW! No more waiting around to get it right, to send perfectly to have confidence you can receive and understand... JUST DO IT!.  Who cares if you muck it up Just send your callsign  when he finishes with the last guy. If he comes back to you, (you do need to practice hearing your own callsign), just send the 5NN and your state 2 letter abbreviation. He will come back thanking you, etc etc blah blah, you don't even need to copy that... when he sends 73 or 72 and/or ditdit. Just send a dit dit back and your DONE!  you are in his log, you can log it too if you want to  or not.  BUT in any case you HAVE worked your very first CW contact.

How about that? and you don't even know crap about CW and couldn't carry on a conversation with this guy in CW at any speed to save you life.  BUT it doesn't matter, you have worked him and are in the log!  Your fear factor will have decreased by 50% on average, maybe even enough to do it again. Maybe.  If you need to sit quietly and shiver for a while until you attack the next one then do so. BUT DO IT!. Do it again. and again and again.  Each time you will gain confidence. "Hell, may I can really do this".

Just keep hunting these guy on the POTA app, finding their frequency and picking out after as many tries as it takes to decode their callsign, you have all day you know, then jump  in and call them.   You skill will grow as fast as you confidence.

SOON, you can try to have a one on one personal QSO.  Find some guy calling CQ. Get the QRZ page up for his call. Let him make a contact or two and try to follow along as much as you can of their Q.  To get an idea of what this guy is going to say. Write it down. Call after he finishes with the last guy. Keep it short, Signal report, name and maybe QTH. If you don't copy all he says, so what? No big deal. say ;73 and sign out. Put it in the log. so you still suck at CQ, so what? Who cares. What is importing is you are getting on and DOING IT. You skill will improve leaps and bounds over practicing to "get it right" or "not be  embarrassing your self".  The VERY best way to practice CW is start working CW QSO's.

That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Solid advice

When I was a pup, I passed the 5wpm test, by the skin of my teeth.

I planned on taking the written TECH, and doing the CW test a month later.

The VE's talked me into trying the 5wmp test.

I barely passed.

came back a month later, passed the General, and failed the 13wpm badly

the VE's told me the only was was to go home and call CQ.

I did.

Every night I'd make one or two QSO's.  I remember signing 73, and ready for a break, when another ham called me.

He was driving an 18 wheeler, with a key strapped to his leg.

That motivated me . . . it can't be too hard if he can while driving a truck.

A month later, I went to take the test, and a VE said - "You're gonna pass tonight, I heard you on 40m, going about 18wpm"

I passed the Advanced and 13wpm tests, got a cool new 2x2 callsign.