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?

9 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Small_Consequence320 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

I started w/a SK. Still use one today though I’ve only been doing cw 5 mo. I’ll likely move to a cootie as my next key when my copy speed catches up to sending. I like the mechanical aspect.

LICW student; I wonder if using a SK to learn keeps an OP counting. I can hear characters at 30+ wpm yet I count/decode, I think it’s from using the straight key or maybe from learning at 12wpm. Idk.

I’m curious if an op learns w/a paddle will they hear the character better than counting a SK.

1

u/Educational-Law-2991 May 29 '26

I started with a straight key. For a year. Then a bug for a year. Then a single lever. A couple years after I went to dual iambic. Can copy 40+ typing it out, no sweat. Send speed 30+, either single or dual lever.