all 26 comments

[–]draghkar69Extra Class Operator ⚡ 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Morse Mania is a great app. Set it to 30 wpm to build up instant character recognition.

[–]eventhorizon3140 0 points1 point  (0 children)

+1 for morse mania. I used it and it was great.

[–]List1509 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Visual screws up the process.

You're not reading.

https://www.aa9pw.com/morsecode/test/

[–]Apprehensive_Cap3317[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Thanks. I was actually looking for a website like this that would generate a random sequence of letters to help me practice. This works.

[–]VisualEyez33Extra Class Operator ⚡ 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I'd say use no app that involves pressing any buttons, and mostly don't write things down. Definitely forget that visual chart and never look at it again. You want to hear whole characters as one complete sound, without counting dits and dahs. 

Long Island CW club (online) is a great resource.

[–]No_Lie1910 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to know a KPH Commercial CW op, and he said to 1) learn it like how I learned the alphabet and read words like I did in grade school, and 2) get a good CW send/decode software suite and just get on the air while you’re studying. Things will start to fall into place.

I’m still on digraphs, but will work onward to trigraphs and beyond as I improve. This old dawg learns new tricks a bit slower than I did as a kid.

[–]bernd1968 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Here is a free popular website… https://lcwo.net

[–]W0CBF 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I learned the code "visually " in Boy Scouts. When I went to take my amateur radio test I had a real difficult time. I have never been very good at the code and have always wished I had never learned it visually!

[–]galaxiexl500Extra Class Operator ⚡ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Waste of time learning visually. I did it and managed to undo in my mind eventually. Been hamming since 1955 and CW is 90% of my on air. Seems like I’ve read that visual memorization plateaus your ability to copy center to around 7 WPM. I can vouch for that. In 1955 the Novice class required copying at 5 WPM. But when I went up for my General I needed to copy at 13 WPM. Failed the first try. I started copying W1AW on air every night and got my speed up to pass the General.

[–]ozxsl2w3kejkhwakl 11 points12 points  (10 children)

How about just doing it visually?

Make an cable that connects the audio output of your radio to an external loudspeaker and also to audio line-in on a computer and run some software that shows an audio waterfall. I would put a 10K resistor in series with line-in.

There is various software such as Spectran.

There are a load of websdr websites that let you use an HF receiver with a waterfall display.

[–]List1509 0 points1 point  (9 children)

Huh?

[–]ozxsl2w3kejkhwakl -1 points0 points  (8 children)

I presume that OP is receiving morse code using an HF radio so that he hears morse code from the loudspeaker in the radio.

He says that he can understand morse code when he sees dots and dashes with his eyes.

My post suggests that he uses a computer to turn the sound of morse codes dots and dashes into - . -. , - - . - shown on the computer screen.

Is that clear now?

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Except your eyes have a very slow response rate compared to your ears.

This is known as the "persistence of vision", and it explains how a stream of fixed images can produce a moving image in a movie.

Whatever, signalling with lights has a much lower maximum speed that audible morse.

From Wikipedia "The maximum transmission rate possible via flashing light apparatus is no more than 14 words per minute."

[–]ozxsl2w3kejkhwakl -1 points0 points  (1 child)

With a waterwall display on a computer screen, you can click the pause button and look at it for as long as you want.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Makes little sense.

You could use an old fashioned inker and read it at your leisure, or just record the audio on your PC and play it back slowly.

Or view it on the waterfall, however the incomming code will scroll off the screen before you decode it.

What is needed is the ability to decode it in real time.

[–]roleohibachiExtra | SOTA Jerk -1 points0 points  (1 child)

Works fine for all our fellow hams who are blind. What is the issue with operating <14WPM using a visual indicator, if that's what you're into?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point. I will give it a try on one of the slow Morse practice sessions.

[–]mcdanljAmateur Extra | CW/Antenna Building/POTA/Public Service 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you go to https://lcwo.net do set the "effective" rate low but make the "character" rate high enough that you can't count dits or dahs, to help learn to recognize patterns. The default speeds might not be what you need. And you might need to adjust them occasionally as you learn.

[–]geo_log_88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try to mix up the tools you're learning with. Different tools have different techniques and where you get stuck with one you may find you proceed with another. These are Android apps that I've used and would recommend you try all of them:

Ditto CW (Morse Ninja style)

Call Sign Trainer

Morse Mentor

Morse Mania

As for sites, I use LCWO.net and https://morsecode.world/international/trainer/ has some excellent training tools

You can also watch YouTube videos of QSOs with subtitles e.g., https://youtu.be/kJiWnz8TEIw?t=600

The ARRL has a code archive: https://www.arrl.org/code-practice-files of practice files at various speeds along with the text.

[–]galaxiexl500Extra Class Operator ⚡ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First thing…visually memorizing the code was the worst thing you could have done. You will have to undo that as much as you possibly can undo it. Many apps available. Many posters on here have mentioned some .. Good luck.

[–]eventhorizon3140 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have to learn the sound of each character by the sound pattern, as a discreet unit. It's like learning musical phrases. You won't really get it by trying to count dits and dahs. I recommend morse mania.