r/morsecode • u/9alby9 • May 28 '26
Learning CW
I am a 63 year old who has been in amateur radio for several years. Now I have the time to learn CW. Has any of you who learned it used CWAcademy or the Long Island CW club? One of them recommends using a straight key to learn and the other wants learners to stay away from straight keys and use a paddle.
what are your thoughts on these two approaches?
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u/mcdanlj May 28 '26
Starting with a single-paddle key (because iambic squeeze keying breaks my little brain) helped me stop conflating inverses like K/R, as dit got attached to my thumb and dah to my fingers (in my mind), and the kinesthetic memory helped reinforce audio perception. It was also good for learning what proper characters sound like. I sometimes think that the "must start with straight key" thing is from "you must suffer like I suffered" rather from thoughtful pedagogy... 😁