Learning and Improving Morse Code for all - by Long Island CW Club 

No BS and straight up...NY style...Love it

What fun listening to all of you. Great presentation and response from your club.

My dad was a signal maintainer on the Great Northern Railroad. One of the only toys that survived my childhood was a key and reciever that he made me out of tin, nails and wood that hooked up to a 1 1/2 volt drycell battery. I wish I had been more diligent back then. It is in my hamshack now.

Thank you, Howard and Jim, for such a motivational talk on learning morse code. You're doing brilliant work at Long Island CW Club, so thank you so much for sharing the knowledge of your experience to encourage us to get on the air.

This is the best presentation on learning CW I've seen. Great stuff.

The presentation is excellent and head copy topic was fantastic. I found most interesting was at 1:00:37 "Discovering Head Copy By Mistake" When Trystan mentioned lowering the volume on CD player and let the road noise QRM rise above it and then was he able to head copy. I think you untangled one of the mysteries to head copy! Cheers from the U.S.

I am 87. I do what I can. It is so much fun.

As a lapsed 13WPM General of 25 years ago, thank you for this inspirational video. I need to start all over again and your club seems to fit the bill perfectly.

People have asked me how difficult is it to learn Morse and I say it's easier than learning a language. Only 26 letters and 0-9 in numbers not hundreds of words. If you make a mistake you simply delete it (eight dots) and re-send it. That was nice sending in the film clip. I love to watch a film and know if they are sending what they say or whether it is gibberish. Badly sent Morse is terrible. I've sometimes spun the receiver dial and left them to it because I can't read it. It's all learning, first individual letters and numbers, then recognising words, then stringing them together making sentences. Around 18-20 wpm it gets difficult to write down so you need to read in your head. Eventually you read and remember what is said. I make notes of important things, name, QTH etc. G4GHB.

Knowing CW is like knowing Latin. It trains the mind, makes you develop new way of understanding, and gives you huge bragging rights. Most people don't realize how fragile internet is and mobile communication. When in emergency, everyone is using their mobile, so you won't even get a frequency assigned by a tower. Internet is nothing more than a phone call with pictures. If you know anything about the telephone calls infrastructure, you will realize that it may not be as reliable in emergency as CW. Hams will always get through.

Thank you for the encouragement to give it a shot.

thanks very much terrific job 73 from kb2uew

Great video. I am new to CW although I have a fascination with it since I was a kid. It has always intimidated me and kept me from getting my ham license believing I had to show proficiency in it. During the Covid issue I did obtain my tech license and look forward to getting additional licenses. I do not have equipment yet but will with in the next couple of weeks and want to join the club to learn CW. This is going to be a fun ride. I also realized I live one county over from Jim.

Beautiful conversation 🙏

I have been in radio amateur for 40 years but still without CW on the air (only a few dozen QSOs with great difficulty) I took the CW exam for the first time in the 80's to raise my category from beginner to 3th (At the time as UQ2GRN in USSR) ... also a big break - what years 15 .... when I had left radio amateur, but now I am 3 years ago and now from Ireland as EI4KP and I passed the CW exam again to have a class A license ... English is not my native language and it turns out that I have to learn some 3 new languages ​​in CW - English, then English word speling (we don't use speling in Latvian and it causes difficulties again) and CW and all the abbreviations, Q code etc ... Very painful process and seems that I will never be in the air to feel comfortable ... Total fear and some kind of psychological barrier ... I still can't put the letters together to form a word and where else a sentence ... at the next perceived sign I already forget the previous one ... And speed is about 20 up to 30 wpm at Farmsworth speed 15 Wpm ... I've learned a few abbreviations but I still have a long way to go to feel comfortable ... and I'm also 66 years old .... But these videos give hope when sometime in the future. I'll learn ... Well, I'll be back home soon and I'll be in YL2RN and then there will be a lot of time to dedicate to CW too ... Thank you for this lecture ... all the best and 73! de Ivars EI4KP and YL2RN

Interesting you say you can head copy in your car when the volume is lower. I have found lately if the volume is too high it just seems to echo thru my head and by turning the volume down so it is quite low I can copy the code better.

I just passed my General Class License Friday night, June 11th, in time for my 25 year milestone in August. I'm finally getting the desire to get into the CW side of things, though I did have my Tech Plus since 1997 I believe. I tuned into this video thinking I would learning some CW from it, but as I was listening I heard it mentioned that your club is doing classes for people with autism. That hits me at home being that I have Asperger's syndrome myself. So I want to let you know that I appreciate you guys taking us into consideration! Thank you for that! So, looking forward to getting my Extra Class soon, and getting on CW as soon as possible, too. I plan on helping younger people with learning CW if I have the opportunity as well so I will watching more to get better informed. 73, de Zach, N2JZS

DE N4YVN - I'm an ADHD guy. I got my General in the 80's, and I taught myself the code to pass 13 wpm, and all I had was a UHF/VHF HT...no base on HF, so no continuation of code on the air. Fast forward 2023, and I have decided to get back on the air, CW only, although I haven''t got a transceiver yet. Anyone who knows ADHD will understand, but I have built a power supply, a Morserino, bought a set of paddles, and practice regularly on G4FON and LCWO. I'll be purchasing an ARRL EFHW for 10-40m shortly, because I'm also running an RTL-DSR dongle to monitor all the bands. I may just come on over and join your group to get going, when I finally get the final piece - my radio. Not interested in high power or voice - QRP is fine - so I'm looking for something like a Mountain Topper. But I needed encouragement for the CW, and this video is great. I've always been self-taught, and sometimes, that leads to erroneous styles of learning...your group should ground me in that way.

I wonder if just for fun if you guys acquired some original authentic FCC novice and general cw exams and administer than just to see if students could pass?

Great presentation…are the slides available to look at, maybe in pdf format?

The hams in my area weren't very welcoming and I've heard cw hams are much nicer and more forgiving if you make mistakes. I went to 1 club meeting and I felt rejected and shunned. Had my tech license since 2008. I haven't worked it. One ham came up later to me in public and was said "Youre a ham but you don't work your license". Well...they didn't wanna talk to me at the club meeting. Why would they talk to me on the air? 🤷🏻‍♀️ CW has me wanting to get into ham for good.

Short wave morse code communication is the only communication technology we humans have to enable long distance international communication without relaying station, such as underwater cables or satellite stations

The fugehtaboutit 35:15 is worth the price of admission.

My father was a W/Op in the RAF during WW2 and till the day he died he could do 25wpm in his head ... faster than that ( upto about 38-40) he had to write it down and he never touch ed a morse key from 1947 when he left to the day he died ... sadly id doesn't seem to be a inherited trait ... but I'm getting there ;)

How do you retain the sounds I find I know it when practicing but then when going back to listen again I can’t seem to retain the sounds

What program do you recommend for the head copy?

Hello ,to anyone worried Abt mistakes most of the time the person that's able to head copy knows what the other person meant to send if a mistake was sent,thanks for vid

Is there a charge for your classes?

Such a shame that you guys didnt explain the pathways, nor how to start learning. Start at which speed, start with which letters. Which combination of letters? Left frustrated on how to startand when to start to learn when to send?....

I think it needs to be revived before we lose cw band privileges as older hams go silent

Is there a reason why they don't teach the alphabet in alphabetical order?

First SOTA hunt today activation today ok I cheated with flidgi

Brilliant Video, I have come back to CW after a 32 year lapse so do lots and lots of MP3 file listening but nothing on air! because of the fear of mistakes. This video has shown me what I need to change and get on air! 73 Phil G0BVD FISTS #18745

Great presentation! Thanks for sharing this with us. 73 de ki5gx