There are very many facets of ham radio. Different modes among them. There are various voice modes, SSB, AM, FM. There are dozens of digital modes, RTTY, PSK31, FT8, etc. One that stands as very unique is CW, or Continuous Wave. That by itself isn’t very descriptive, as it is really a moniker for morse code over radio.
Morse Code was part of the requirement to obtain a FCC Amateur Radio license for decades. It started to be phased out in the 1990s and then eliminated as a requirement for all classes of licenses in the early 2000s in the USA. It had been a barrier to many people, and there was an uptick in licensed hams when it was eliminated as a requirement.
Despite that, probably a significant number of current hams know morse code, and still use it regularly. The main reason, it is fun. I would contend that many more hams would operate and continually stay active in the hobby if they tried CW. But many people feel it is too difficult to learn.
In 1971 when I decided I wanted to be a ham, there were not many resources available. I was 15 years old, so what you did in those days, bought a book. “Learning the Radiotelegraph Code” by the ARRL, and I bought a Heathkit Code Practice Oscillator. It came with a CW key (cheap one). The book does not have that many pages. It explained the concepts of CW, and had you learn the code by focusing on about 5 characters at-a-time. I think I tried to learn one five character group per day, but maybe it was a few days between each group. I think it was less than 30 minutes a day. I didn’t have any method of hearing code, except for on a radio, so I focused on sending code on my little oscillator. I learned by hearing myself. Luckily, I had a good sense of timing. I have always kept all my ham radio books over the years, but that book is one I have not been able to find.
Once I had enough characters memorized, and I could send them by reading them or thinking about them, I started to listen to W1AW code practice. To this day, you can still listen to it, just check their website for times and frequencies. I stuck with the slow speeds, 5 WPM, then 10 WPM. The novice test required 5 WPM. It was not multiple choice questions based on the text that was sent, you had to copy 1 minute solid (if I remember correctly) out of 5 minutes.
Strange as it sounds, I practiced in my head. I’d see a sign, and I’d sound the code out in my head – dididit – didahdidit – dahdahdah – didahdah.
This I accomplished sometime between July-Oct 1971. No help, just myself. Compare that to today, where you have websites, pc programs, apps on smart phones, etc. The Long Island CW Club has online classes for learning CW. It certainly is a big help, but there is no magic bullet, it still takes a little dedication.
One thing I would recommend – is start with a straight key. You can always gravitate to a keyer when you progress. It’s like math, you can use a calculator, but wouldn’t it be better if you learned by manually doing multiplication and division?
There are dozens of tools to help, I like G4FON’s PC programs. You can delve into the science, Farnsworth, etc, but the first step is just memorizing the characters – 26 letters, 10 numbers, then work on a few punctuation. It’s not that many. Get a straight key and practice sending. Try the online courses like https://longislandcwclub.org.
You can do it! There’s are reason CW operators are so passionate. It is fun! Don’t miss out.
