This article on Learn CW Morse Code – Lesson Set 1 is the first in our series of lesson sets for beginners and perhaps others too, to learn Morse code on the journey to becoming a proficient CW Radiotelegraphy operator. Throughout these several sets of lessons that I present on this website, I will walk you through a scientific process for learning Morse code most efficiently. Unlike other methods that are often advocated, this set of lessons will not only allow you to attain proficiency in copying Morse code by the ear like a professional but will also allow you to copy it without hitting a speed barrier. After you train yourself by following the tutorial sequence, you will discover that Morse code is rather easy, charming, and quite musical… It is like any other regular language but with a very small vocabulary thus making it pretty simple. Of course, initially, you might find the Morse code character sounds a bit alien, however, once you cross the initial barrier, it will turn out to be easier than you thought.

Our training method relies on treating each character (alphabet, numeral, etc.) as a distinctive sound pattern and not as a code. I advise you not to memorize the dit-dah character sequences from any chart or table. Such an exercise is counter-productive and might hamper your learning process.. Just listen to the audio training lessons that I have presented here. We want your brain to gradually register each sound pattern as a whole. As the sounds seep in and get etched in your brain, you begin to learn CW… This is a natural and native process that the brain uses to learn any language. When you learn a new language, you listen to a specific word and learn its sound while associating it with its meaning. You don’t learn to understand a spoken language by initially memorizing the spellings of words. Similarly, Morse code, which is also a language in its rights needs to be learned as you hear it and not by memorizing the dit-dah sequence.

The human brain is a complex organ. It has the processing speed and hence the ability to decipher words and sounds into syllables. The same would happen if you listen to the Morse code. Inadvertently, the brain might try to break up the whole sound pattern of a character into its dit-dah sequence if you give it enough time between transmission of characters… We don’t want that to happen because while we are copying Morse code, our objective is not to discover its dit-dah sequence but to directly associate it to the alphabet or character. We do not want the brain to form the undesired habit of listening to the sound, then converting it to a dit-dah sequence before associating it with a character. We want to do away with the man-in-the-middle. We want to go directly from the sound to the character… This is the fundamental upside of our training method.

Therefore our training method makes you learn Morse code at a higher speed of transmission than what people do quite often. We do not want to give the brain enough time in between to break the sound pattern into a dit-dah sequence. We want it to directly translate the sound into character… Most traditional Morse code teaching techniques that use low-speed transmission sequences make this mistake. Although, while learning Mose code at low speed one might initially feel more comfortable for a few days but the person falls into a trap from where there is no redemption. People who learn Morse code at slow speed would eventually hit a speed barrier that they might never be able to overcome. That is because their way of copying CW involves an extra step of breaking the audible sound pattern to dit-dah sequence before forming the character. This is highly inefficient and time-consuming.






CW Morse Code Alphabets – Let’s Learn
Now, let us get started with the Morse code lessons… This Lesson Set -1 is the starting point for all those who want to learn Morse code from the scratch or for those who can copy at slow or moderate transmission speeds up to 10-12 WPM but have difficulty in copying code at faster speeds… However, before we begin, here is a quick checklist of points to keep in mind. Please adhere to the protocol cited below. Do not try to jump the gun or skip lesson modules…

Your journey to learn Morse Code begins now... Get, Set, Go!

If you have meticulously progressed through all the lessons in this set, you should be fairly proficient in copying all 26 Morse code alphabets by now. If you believe that your fluency in copying all characters from the Practice lesson #14 has been satisfactory, then it is time for you to step up to the next lesson set - 2... Hope you enjoyed learning Morse code so far...