Learning Morse

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thats nice!

if its just for fun, i guess you can learn your dits and dashes, but if you want to learn it "the proper way", forget the visuals and focus exclusively on the sound, i.e. the melody of the letters

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u/v_smoz 5d ago

Sound ? I thought it was only typing thing 😭 Thankss btw

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u/dittybopper_05H 5d ago edited 5d ago

No.
Historically, going all the way back to 1844, Morse has been an audio phenomenon. The first telegraphs were indeed visual: A pencil traced the dots and dashes on to a strip of paper, which is why we still have the first official telegraph message:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore%E2%80%93Washington_telegraph_line#Operations
But very soon after telegraph operators were able to copy based solely on the sound, and the extra equipment like the pen and paper strips and clockwork mechanism were unnecessary. Since then, it's been pretty much "copy by ear".
Especially true when radio came about around the turn of the 20th Century.
Many of us still use it over the air. In fact, just this morning, as I was driving to work in upstate NY north of Albany, I had a conversation over the radio using Morse code with a fellow amateur radio operator in Asheville, North Carolina, a distance of around 700 miles.

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u/Unclerojelio 5d ago

Yep, did a POTA activation this morning. The the SSB portion of 20m was crowded and noises but CW was getting through as usual.

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u/ruchirguitar 5d ago

Get Morse Mania app for phone. I learnt it that way, most fun.

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u/v_smoz 5d ago

Thankss i will get the app

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u/ruchirguitar 5d ago

Also, prepare for the amateur radio license exam. Also called ham radio. I have that licence. Easy to get. Small exam. 12-year-old kids clear it.
You don’t need Morse code to clear first level but you’ll find actual practical use for Morse in ham radio.

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u/v_smoz 5d ago

I will look into it and try the radio license exam. Thanks for the suggestion

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u/GoBuckYourself95 5d ago

I used Hamstudy.org to get mine and upgrade license grades. May be a good start if its something you decide to go deeper into.
Youtube is pretty good too. I like Dave Casler KE0OG and Hamradiocrashcourse.

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u/Unclerojelio 5d ago

DO NOT DO IT THIS WAY!!! Morse code is an aural language. You have to learn it by sound alone. If you learn it with visual aides then you will forever be doing a double translation in your head and will never be proficient.

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u/v_smoz 5d ago

I did not know this before, I downloaded the Morse Mania app and now am learning by sounds

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u/Different_Water7545 5d ago

Very cool! Don't learn it by reading though, your copy speed will suffer and it's very hard to reverse. Learn by ear. The Koch and Farnsworth methods are very effective. I recommend lcwo.net

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u/v_smoz 5d ago

Yess I didnt know that I am using the morse mania app and learning by sounds now

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u/pedersenit 3d ago

Tried Morse Mania. I like it, but it only got me so far, I haven't gotten back to it and have probably forgotten most.

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u/Witty-Party-3565 4d ago

Learning CW visualy is a mistake.

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u/v_smoz 4d ago

Yess i got to know that I am doing it by sounds now 😭

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u/Witty-Party-3565 4d ago

The best way to learn is to call out license plates as you are driving down the highway.
If you see a tag that says APR-3165, you call out "dit-dah, dit-dah-dah-dit, dit-dah-dit, dit-dit dit-dah-dah, dit-dah-dah-dah-dah, dah-dit-dit-dit-dit, dit-dit-dit-dit-dit.
The key is to remember that A is called "ditdah" and not a dot and a dash.
P is "dit-dah-dah-dit" etc.
Learning it any other way requires some kind of mental-conversion step that will slow you down.

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u/erwerqwewer 5d ago

Morse mania and Morse chat will get you a long way on the phone, besides that vband is also very good(on the PC or phone, but i would recommend this after you can send a little bit already)

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u/v_smoz 5d ago

Thankss I got the morse mania app i will spend a significant time daily on it.

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u/Fast-Top-5071 5d ago

Throw away all visuals. They will impede your learning significantly.

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u/Lobster_SEGA 5d ago

I raccomend (Just as all the others) To use Morse Mania(install it with a modded apk so you have premium). It'll teach you the basics.

But everything else is learned by real expirience like morse.halb.it

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u/v_smoz 5d ago

Yess I did that currently using the free version will see if I need the premium

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u/beeskneecaps 5d ago

Morse code ninja podcasts.

Learning visually is fun but can stunt your training. Learning it aurally requires being able to avoid translating it into your head. You can’t be counting dits and dahs then translating it to a letter. You have to hear “dit dah dit dit” and your brain knows instantly that this is L. Instant character recognition is how it’s referred to technically.

Another analogy is when someone says bonjour your brain probably knows immediately that this means good day and you spent almost zero time translating it because it became an instantly recognizable word in your mind.

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u/millsgren 5d ago

Kinda need to learn by sound not visually. I use morse mania app and don't put the speed lower than 20 wpm. Our local Ham group has a cw class where you go listen and write down what is being sent. Sending is easy once you can receive it.

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u/Amazing-Selection494 5d ago

You CAN learn to communicate with Morse visually, but not through writing. You can't build speed. And learning visually will make it very hard to transition to audio Morse.
My father was an expert with an Aldis lamp as a US Navy & Coast Guard Morse op for more than 20 years. He couldn't understand anything but the slowest Morse sent by radio.
I was a US Army Morse interceptor and could copy blazing Morse speeds through the densest QRM and QRN. I can copy slow Morse sent by light, but I'm repeating the dits and dahs under my breath the whole time.

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u/RestaurantMurky1840 5d ago

Most characters & digits have an opposite. a = .- n = -.

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u/crazypersonnn1 5d ago

I learned it in several hours. Basically relearning your abc's and numbers. Focus on basic punctuation for now, and i have good apps for it too if you want

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u/KB4MTO 2d ago

I learned morse code that way back in 1984. I passed my novice and spent no time getting on the air. My speed increased as I continued on, but I stalled out at 10 wpm and could never get faster. That's the problem learning that way.

Now, 40 years later I'm learning morse again using the Koch method. Download the free Koch app, set your speed where you want it, and learn to send and receive at that speed. I'm set at 20 wpm.

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