For those who have little time or lazy to read all the text, I sum up in this section the main notes that were spotted or came to mind during the study.

It took almost ten months to learn the International Morse Code with all mistakes.

For shortness and simplicity I will refer Telegraph as CW but keeping in mind that CW is modulation type =).

Should be noted that saying learned, I mean a comfortable reception of callsigns and a couple of dozen QSO abbreviations at a rate of about 20 words per minute. Learning to transmit to a speed of 17 words per minute took about two months (Iambic B key).

After learning Morse code, I have completed the fastest step on the way to the CW. Immediately after learning the alphabet, begins the long road of practicing listening to meaningful text or QSOs, writing down only the essentials.

Have to mention, that approaches to studying the CW are individual and I am only describing personal experience. Perhaps someone will find something useful from the article.

Notes in the margin

In retrospect, I made the following notes in the margins:

Be patient, as I was expecting results in a two month (comments from forums) =)
Study at a speed which faster than you can count signs (dots and dashes) in characters. A minimum of 20, but preferably 25 words per minute.
The use of the Farnsworth and Koch methods, together with the reduction of the characters space pause, shows good results.
Avoid all images or tables with dashes and dots for visual memorization. Also decided not to use "word association".
Practice a couple of times during a day for 20-30 minutes per approach.
Start "head copy" messages as early as possible.
Don't torture yourself. If you're not in the mood, it would be better to try later.
Listening to Morse code at every opportunity.
Morse Machine was a waste of time personally for me (but good for warming up).
Schedule time to practice when you have no distractions.
Try to get rid of intrusive thoughts of problems and worries that intercept your attention before training.

First steps

The first and unsuccessful attempt to learn the CW was right after I got my amateur radio callsign in early 2019.

The decision was made after reading the book "Fundamentals of Amateur Radio Communications". In one of the chapters, the author emphasizes the importance of this type of communication for the shortwave amateur radio operators.

After a quick search for Android apps, I settled most almost the first app "Morse Code. Learning" because according to the reviews "it was okay".

Since the decision to learn the CW was spontaneous, I did not study any articles, books or videos. I installed the program, read the instructions and began the exercises.

"What could be so complicated?" - I thought at the time. Getting ahead, I'll tell you that I was wrong.

The program uses the "word association" method, a mnemonic word form where a Morse code symbol corresponds to a chant with similar syllables and melody.

Here is example for letter A (▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄) looks like CO-ca CO-la.

Advantage of this approach is more easiest way to memorize symbols. But there is one significant disadvantage that I noticed while learning. It is a constant matching of the melody at reception to the corresponding "word association" and then to the symbol (letter, digit or sign).

As you may have realized, the matching process is not fast and this all makes increasing the speed rate of reception a time-consuming step, because of the habit you have already developed. It should be noted that learning using "word association" is likely to get you on the air sooner and over the time you will unconsciously stop using "word association" during receiving the CW.

Bottom line, I didn't really like using "word association" to learn Morse code. For some people they work, but for me they seemed like an unnecessary step.

I abandoned the study after a month with the result of 15 characters studied.

It is also believed that the "word association" method gave the fastest start and was a necessity in radio operators training during World War II.

Second attempt

Motivation

In this section I will make a lyrical digression and try to talk about what is so good about the CW to motivate myself and you to study it.

Despite the fact that the study of Morse code was abandoned for almost a year and a half, the desire to work on the airwaves with the CW only increased.

There are several reasons for this.

I. Almost a gift of +13dB in power.

Over two years I made about a thousand QSOs (about a 10 QSOs per week). The main reason is the lack of ability to install a full-size antenna on the roof of the house or on a nearby tree under the window.

This requires permanent field work during weekends. The situation is also aggravated by the maximum power of 25W of my home-brew newbie transceiver.

With this power you can relatively comfortably conduct SSB radio communications on full-size antennas. But it is much more difficult to make QSO on the compromise (balcony) antennas, such as shortened verticals or magnetic loop antennas. And sometimes I want to make a QSO without leaving the house.

The CW spectral density is approximately and very roughly corresponds to 80-100Hz (it also depends on the transmission speed in the CW). For comparison, when communicating with voice in SSB, the bandwidth of the transmitted signal is about 2700Hz. In addition to the above, experiments were conducted.

Experiments showed that working in SSB requires from 10dB to 16dB more power than operating with the CW, for a comparable "quality" of communication. Hence the conclusion that the CW is almost twenty times more effective than voice communications.

Note the interesting fact that CW can be confidently received below the noise level (down to a signal-to-noise level of -4dB with a bandwidth of 1500Hz).

For example, let's take an average value of 13dB. Roughly, working with 5W CW is like working with 100W SSB. And if I increase the transmitting power another 5 times to the 25W of my TRX - it would be the equivalent of 500W of SSB voice communications.

Consequently, the low efficiency of the compromise "balcony" antennas we can compensate by +13dB in power acquired by the CW compared with voice communications.

The observant reader may add that in digital modes this difference is even greater and will be right. The disadvantage of digital communication, in my opinion, is the very low involvement of the operator and the requirements for a computer or tablet to perform calculations.

II. O marvelous new QRP world.

From the previous point, the reasonable conclusion is that you can work comfortably enough QRP power of 5W in the CW.

And this is a much lower current consumption! The very rough average current consumption for CW QRP transceivers is about 20-80mA for reception and up to 1A for transmission.

Less transmitting power also results in less cost for associated equipment, such as manual and automatic tuners, baluns, chokes, transformers, portable antennas, power meters, etc.

Consequently, I can use a LiIon or LiFePO4 battery for a 3Ah for the weekend and the transceiver itself will be smaller and with simpler circuitry. The whole portable set consisting of transceiver, battery, key and antenna would hardly exceed a kilogram (2.5 lsb).

In addition to this, QRP CW transceivers in general have simpler circuits than multi-mode CW/SSB. This minimizes entry level for design or assembly such simple transceivers.

Fairly well-known firms are QRPLabs and QRPGuys.

The QCX single-band QRP CW transceiver and the recently released QCX+, QCX mini and QMX are especially loved (by me). Have to mention, that not every modern transceiver can provide so many useful features as "QMX" or "QCX mini". My favorites are the built-in WSPR beacon and the CW trainer mode with decoding of transmitted characters.

III. Don't make any noise, please.

And one more imperceptible advantage of working with the CW is the ability to maintain complete silence in the apartment during the QSO. After the birth of a daughter, this issue no longer seems somehow ridiculous. Communication by the CW does not requires to repeat in voice a few times your report, callsign or name, thereby irritating the housemates, especially at night. Simply assemble a touch (capacitance) key, which works only by touch and does not emit the slightest click (paired with headphones).

IV. Patient telegraphers.

This point I added after a year of on-air CW work.

After that time, I unwittingly compared SSB operation with 10W and CW operation with 2-3W.

From these observations, I made a simple conclusion: most often CW operators listen to and try to pick up CW at the noise level. There is a certain excitement or challenge for the correspondent. Repeating the information dozens of times, full of attentiveness and patience to achieve the QSO, even if it takes an hour of time. But this one QSO will be worth dozens of standard "59" in SSB. The same I cannot say for SSB operators.

V. In case it gets boring.

It should also be noted that over time it becomes boring to conduct monotonous SSB communications and transmit template reports like "59". At this stage the main thing is not to abandon the radio and move on the next level. The choice of development directions in our hobby is huge.

Telegraph is one of these directions, which opens up new worlds and possibilities, but also requires incredible diligence and patience. It is a good way to test and train your ambition and self-discipline.

A new start

The idea to restart the study of the CW arose after the video of assembling the CW simulator from you-tube recommendations. Consequently, it was decided to try again.

Working on mistakes

After my first unsuccessful attempt to learn Morse code, I decided to find out about existing learning experiences beforehand.

One of the interesting works that I have enjoyed is "The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy" by William Pierpont N0HFF. The book is available at the link above in English.

Below are excerpts from the book's description:

A psychologist who seriously studied the telegraph and developed this skill. In consequence he was fascinated by the telegraph and tried to understand it.

Isn't the very idea of being able to convey your thoughts to another person using intermittent tones something intriguing in itself?

There are also a couple of videos related to "the right way" of learning the CW.

Morse Code if I Could Start Over Again

The second video is about learning Morse code at 20 words per minute using extended pauses between characters and words at the same character rate.

Learn Morse Code The Right Way

First disappointment

So, motivated and encouraged I installed the Android Morse code app: Koch Morse Trainer Pro. Armed with a pencil and a notebook, I got comfortable and started to learn the characters at 20/10WPM, where 20 is the symbol rate and 10 is the speed of whitespace (pauses). I chose the order from the Koch method as the order in which the characters were studied.

The first 5-6 characters were not difficult, but after the 10th character I received and understood the symbol from the group, but did not have time to write it down for further reconciliation of the received groups.

An Internet search showed that there was a problem. To move forward, you should increase the speed of handwriting or written in abbreviations (seriously?).

After a couple of weeks of trying, I decided to abandon the idea of handwriting and look for alternatives. The research outcome was lwco.net with keyboard group reception, again lwco.net Morse Machine and the Android app Morse Machine. I was looking for options that work on my phone and/or through my browser, to have ability to learn anywhere.

I decided to try lwco.net Morse Machine and the Android app Morse Machine.

Morse Machine or Second Disappointment

The Morse Machine works as follows. The melody of the symbol is played, if you recognize the symbol, press it on the keyboard and the next melody is played. The symbol is considered to be learned with the minimum number of errors and a new symbol is added to the list for learning.

The mobile version works in a similar way, except that the answer must be given within the allotted time of about one second. If you don't make it in time, the percentage of "learning" for the symbol decreases.

I completed all symbols in both programs using Morse Machine.

After trying to do random character groups for about 3 minutes at 20/15WPM on lcwo.net, I was shocked (20 is character speed, 15 is pause speed).

As a consequence, it turned out that Morse Machine does not make the brain fully work (strain), because the timeout to think was only in the mobile version and too big. In the version from lcwo.net there is no timeout at all and it is relaxing. Also, for the mobile version, a you develop finger memory for the melody and place on the screen instead of the symbol in your mind.

During real QSO, when receiving groups of characters, the interval between characters and words is fixed, and if you hesitate, you immediately lose a few characters. In addition, the reception of groups trains memory. From the disadvantages it can be noted that at speeds of 20+ you already need to be able to type quickly on the keyboard, as there will be no time to look for the character key.

So if you have been considering Morse Machine as your primary way of learning, think carefully. For myself, the only use of Morse Machine from lcwo.net is as a sort of "warm-up" exercise before a callsign or meaningful text reception.

A course at lcwo.net using the Koch method

After the second disappointment I finally :) decided take a course of 40 exercises (characters) by the Koch method at lcwo.net. According to the rules of the course, you should go to a new character if the percentage of errors is less than 10%.

Finishing all exercises tooks two months and about 300 attempts for group sets at 20/15WPM with total duration 5 minutes.

I also noticed that the continuous reception of more than 5 minutes is very tiring, because by the end of the stage it is very difficult to keep concentration. Because of the above, I have not practiced the reception of groups longer than 5 minutes. Looking ahead, I recommend setting the tone frequency to random so as not to get used to a certain sound.

In parallel with taking the course, I began to learn the most used elements (words) of the QSO with help of https://morsecode.world

https://morsecode.world/international/trainer/words.html

I recommend paying attention to the site given above, as it contains a large number of exercises for studying the telegraph.

Increasing the reception speed

Yay, I finished the Koch Method course at 20/15WPM.

I can congratulate myrself. Statistically, only about 20% of beginners complete the entire course.

I outlined the following plan after the course :

error reduction
memorizing the melodies of the most commonly used words and expressions during QSOs
increasing reception speed

For listening to QSO abbreviations I used the program Claus' Morse Code Trainer. Prepared a list of the 200 most used QSO words and listened to it on the road, during household chores, walks.

But then I found better way, it will be written at the end.

I used the lcwo.net group trainer to build up my intake rate.

With the help of lcwo.net and consistent training every day for 7-10 sets of 5 minutes I managed to increase the reception speed up to 23WPM with mixed text and up to 25WPM only with alphabetic text. It took me about 1,000 tries to get this done and get place in top 150 lcwo.net users for mixed code groups with speed 23WPM.

However, when training letter groups, I encountered a new challenge for myself.

Another unpleasant thing that I noticed at speeds of 25WPM or more is the minimal assimilation of characters by the brain. That is, it turns out as if there is an instantaneous matching of the symbol melody and the motor memory of the key press, with minimal brain involvement. After observing this peculiarity, I noted for myself that there were moments when I could not remember a single symbol from the last groups, although there were no mistakes. So, keep this problem in mind.

At this stage, it was decided to move on to character transmission training and practically complete reception by ear (head copy).

Practicing transmission

As it became clear later, expensive simulators are not needed to go on the air. It is enough manipulator and electronic key built into the transceiver. The manipulator I used Chinese uniHAM UNI-730A, which have been purchased a year ago.

At first, for transmission training, I used a transceiver, but soon I decided to build an external compact electronic key, which I can take in my pocket or backpack. I chose the open-sourced and very simple JackYack project.

It took a few evenings to assemble this electronic key, because I decided to build into it a micro USB charger for the built-in LiPol battery for 1.2Ah so as not to bother with batteries. A nice addition was a miniature key arm bought for training and then for field trips.

JackYack electronic key and 3D printed manipulator

At some point I wanted to practice pauses between characters and words. To do this, I assembled an adapter based on a circuit from the author of Morse Expert.

The only thing is that I replaced the 100k and 1k with a trimmer to adjust the "volume" and replaced the audio Jack3.5 on the radio side with two jacks of the same size to be able to connect headphones.

Adapter for connecting the electronic key to a computer

This adapter is still used to train character and word spacing using the program KochMorse (available on Linux) or the well-known CWGet (for Windows). The program has a "strict" decoder of Morse code transmitted via audio, by which the transmitted text and pauses can be checked. Or you can use Morse Expert directly on the phone through the microphone, without the need for an adapter.

Also in the program KochMorse you can practice receiving the most frequent QSO abbreviations and expressions. You may find it useful.

As it turned out, transmuting the text in front of my eyes was not difficult. This step took about a month. But is it much more difficult to transmit directly "from the head," and I continued to train for this.

Finally, I reached to the most difficult and time-consuming stage, as it seems to me - the reception directly in the head (head-copy), with little or no recording of the necessary information.

Practicing head copy

The main rule when practicing head copy is to "listen, listen, and listen" at every opportunity and every available minute. A search on the Internet led to the following resources.

http://seiuchy.macache.com/

The essence of the exercise is to figure out only the essentials. For example, name, location, report, transceiver model, etc. At the same time filtering the standard "stuffing" QSO, such as greetings, thanks, and so on. If the essence (salt) of the message is received correctly, you get one point.

https://morsecode.ninja/practice/index.html

The second very important resource for me is morsecode.ninja.

This site is a treasure trove of useful information on learning the CW. From a course on learning Morse code completely from scratch, to lots of practical exercises of all kinds, for practicing reception by ear.

Here I have to mention original audio course Russ Farnsworth - Radio Code, published in the first half of the 20th century.

Russ Farnsworth - Radio Code

Speed-Racing is a unique approach from morsecode.ninja exercises which I have not seen anywhere else. The essence of the exercise is to listen to the message but at speed higher than you are able to receive, e.g. such as 30WPM and then the message is repeated at a lower speed like 30-27-25-22 WPM.

It is important that the Morse-Code-Ninja script for creating exercises is in the public domain and anyone can use it. So, for example, when I found a catalog with exercises, I did not find there training the most frequent QSO elements. Then I contacted the author Kurt AD0WE and sent him my list of QSO items and asked to add this exercise. Kurt thanked and promised to do it, but in a couple of weeks as there were no free time but highlighted that he very appreciate new ideas for exercises. Thank you very much, Kurt.

I didn't want to wait, so I decided to try to generate the practice files myself. It should be noted that originally the script didn't allow me to set the tone in hertz for the Morse code to be generated. It happened so that I got used to 800Hz, but the program used 700Hz. As a result, I added to the script the ability to specify any tone in hertz, as well as a random tone from the list for a new item, so as not to get used to a particular tone.

The author of the program included these changes in the script and as a sent me his QSL card and sticker. The sticker lives on my paper log book at the current moment.

After a few weeks new exercises appeared in the catalog to practice frequent QSO items based on my list =)

Top 90 QSO Elements
Top 180 QSO Elements
Speed-Racing Top 90 QSO Elements
Speed-Racing Top 180 QSO Elements

And sticker sits on my paper log-book.

This is where the road to telegraphy just begins and it is very promising.

73 de SP2RM

How I Learn the Telegraph