Have you ever considered learning morse code, or CW as the amateur radio users call it? Maybe you learned it once upon a time, but have now forgotten the whole thing or just remember a few letters and commonly used phrases. In any case, this article is for anyone who plans on using morse code everyday.
Learning morse code can be a difficult task. Most start off at the top, learning a, b and c as they go. However, there are different ways of learning morse code (or CW), and different techniques of remembering the different characters and numerals.
There is a method of learning CW made by a German psychologist named Koch, pre-WW2. The difference between Koch’s method and the general one, is that Koch suggested that radio amateurs should start with learning a few letters at full speed and work from there, rather than learning the entire alphabet at a slower speed than used by most amateurs.
Recently, G4FON wrote a morse training application, utilizing the Koch method. It seems to be the best morse training application around, and you can get it from http://www.HamRadio-Store.com With this system and some effort, you should be QRV CW in a matter of days. New or used transceiver equipment will likely have the capability of transmitting in CW, a feature not used by many. However, with less antenna and amplifier requirement due to the greater chance of CW signals getting through, it is a fun and interesting part of the ham radio hobby.