Lesson 1 · Step 1 of 3
Meet K and M
K M
Nothing to answer yet. You just listen until the sound sticks.
Listen
—
Press Start and listen. No answering, no guessing.
Which one was that?
press start
One character at a time. Tap the one you heard — you are told straight away.
Listen
press start
your copy appears here
Five characters in a row. Type or tap them.
Hear any character, any time
Tap one to play it. Use this whenever a sound will not come back to you — looking it up beats guessing.Lesson1
Characters2
Best here—
This run—
Day streak0
Your characters, weak spots, and lesson controls
Characters in this lesson
Newest is highlighted. Going forward before 90 % usually backfires.
Weak characters
Nothing logged yet.
How to run this
- Two sessions of 10 minutes beats one of 30. Every day matters more than how long.
- Never write down dots and dashes. Write the letter or nothing.
- Miss one? Let it go and stay with the next character. Chasing a miss costs you the next three.
- Leave character speed at 18 wpm or higher. Speed up the gaps, never the characters.
Tap any cell to hear it
The whole character set
Read the sound column out loud — di-dah, not “dot dash.” The rhythm is what you are memorising. The mnemonics are a crutch for the first week; drop them as soon as you can.
Letters
Numbers
Punctuation you will actually hear
Cut numbers. In contests and reports operators shorten 0 to
T and 9 to N. 5NN is 599. Learn to hear both.
Whole-word sound
Ham words on the air
Experienced operators do not hear these letter by letter — they hear one shape, the way you hear your own callsign. Drill until the meaning arrives before the last character does.
Listen
press start
your copy appears here
Pick a set, then press Start.
Correct0
Missed0
Accuracy—
Streak0
Everything in this set
| Sent | Means |
|---|
The hardest thing to copy
Callsign copy
Callsigns break every shortcut your brain wants to use — no word shape, no context, no guessing from the first two characters. This drill decides whether you can work a pileup. Your own call is salted in so it comes back instantly.
Listen — sent twice
press start
your copy appears here
Sent twice, the way a real station calls.
Correct0
Missed0
Accuracy—
Streak0
Partial copy is normal. If you get ?5EDB, send
?5EDB DE <your call> K or just AGN?. Nobody expects a perfect first copy — asking for a repeat is what the whole shorthand exists for.
A real contact, end to end
Work a station
Each line is sent with the text hidden. Copy it in your head, then tap the line to reveal it and check. Your side is written the way you would actually send it — read along and you will have the script memorised before your first real call.
On frequency
standing by
Your side, ready to send
What the separators mean
BT(=) — a pause, like a comma or a new paragraph.KN— over, to you only. Others should not break in.K— over, anyone may answer.AR— end of this transmission, no reply expected yet.SK— end of contact. The last thing you send.8 dits— I made an error, here comes that word again.
Keyboard, touchscreen, or your paddle
Sending practice
Sending is easier than copying, and sending badly is the fastest way to be asked for repeats. Watch the decoded line: if this cannot read you, neither can the operator on the other end.
Send thisTiming follows character speed
CQ CQ DE N5EDB
Decoded from your fist
nothing yet
Hold a pad below, or hold the keyboard key.
Your speed—
Dit avg—
Dah ratio—
Sent clean0
Using a real key or paddle instead
Your rig is a better trainer than this page
- Plug the paddle into
KEYon the back of the radio. - On an IC-7300:
SET→Function→ set Break-In to OFF. - Set
Side Tone Levelto taste and the pitch to match this page. - The paddle now drives the internal keyer and sidetone with no RF out until you press TRANSMIT. Real feel, zero chance of keying up the band.
- Set the internal keyer speed to match what you are copying. Never send faster than you can receive.
A paddle plugged straight into a computer
- A key or paddle is a passive switch. A computer headset jack expects a microphone signal, not a contact closure, so a plain 3.5 mm cable produces nothing usable.
- What does work: a USB keyer interface that presents the paddle as a keyboard or serial device, or the rig method above.
- Until then the pads and keyboard here give correct timing and correct decoding. What they cannot teach is muscle memory in your hand.
About hardware CW decoders. Keep one for curiosity, not for learning. They fall apart on hand-sent CW, fading and interference — exactly the signals you need to copy — and reading a screen trains your eyes while your ears stay untrained. Use one to check your own sending, never to copy someone else.
Print it, tape it above the rig
Everything you need on frequency
Once the lessons have the characters in your ear, this is the whole language. Roughly forty of these carry ninety percent of a normal contact.
Your first contact, word for word
Answering a CQ is easier than calling one. Do that ten times before you ever call CQ yourself.
Prosigns — sent as one run-together character
| Prosign | Sound | Means |
|---|
Q-codes
| Code | Statement | As a question |
|---|
Abbreviations
| Sent | Means |
|---|
RST — the report you give and get
| R | Readability |
|---|
| S | Strength |
|---|
| T | Tone |
|---|
In practice almost everyone sends 599 (“5NN”) in contests and something honest like 579 in a ragchew. Modern rigs are all T=9, so the third digit is basically always 9.
Where to find slow CW on the air
- SKCC straight-key calling frequencies: 7.055, 14.050, 3.550. Patient operators, mechanical keys, happy to slow down.
- K1USN SST — a one-hour slow-speed sprint, 20 wpm max, Fridays and Sundays. The friendliest first contest that exists.
- CWops CWT — Wednesdays, fast, but you can copy just the callsigns as practice without transmitting.
- W1AW code practice — scheduled slow-speed transmissions on several bands, sent by the ARRL.
- POTA CW activations sit just above the band edges, usually 13–18 wpm with a short fixed exchange.
- General class CW segments: 3.525–3.600, 7.025–7.125, 14.025–14.150, 21.025–21.200, 28.000–28.300.
Structured help, mostly free
- CW Academy (CWops) — semester-based classes with a live advisor, beginner through advanced. The single most effective thing on this list.
- Long Island CW Club — daily Zoom classes, small annual fee, very beginner-friendly.
- SKCC and FISTS — membership clubs with sked pages where you can arrange a slow, forgiving first contact with someone who expects a beginner.
- lcwo.net and Morse Code Ninja — more drilling than any one person can finish.