I recently finished level 1 of the CW Ops CW academy. I wasn't able to find much in terms of reviews or the inner workings of the program before I signed up so I thought I would offer mine here, both for ARF and anyone that may wind up here via google.


Over the years I've tried unsuccessfully to learn Morse code on my own. I've used pretty much every free (and a few paid) computer program and smart phone app out there. Most would get me halfway through the alphabet or something and the frustration would really start to kick in.

I had read about CW academy on their website but wasn't able to find much about it beyond that. It looked good so I elected to give it a try, which is where I ran into the only real problem I had with the program - the wait. If I recall correctly I signed up in the spring of 2014 for the winter 2015 session. I was actually invited to participate in a fall 2014 session but had to decline due to work commitments.

To expand upon this, you sign up and wait until your adviser contacts you. He will typically have two days per week planned, so if there is a schedule conflict that won't work they will try to pair you up with a different adviser or defer to a later session date. Your adviser will send you the program basics along with some literature on how to do your homework and if you are still on board schedule an equipment test session.

As far as equipment, you'll need a computer with webcam (although in our sessions we never used the camera as it was too bandwidth consuming and having everyone's camera on seemed to lead to problems with the audio - if you don't have a webcam ask your adviser) a straight key or paddles and a code oscillator/keyer. For the keyer/oscillator I just used my IC-7200 - most HF rigs will function as a Morse oscillator if you shut the carrier off (read the manual) so you may not need to buy additional equipment. If you don't have an HF rig that's ok as well since level 1 is online only. There's no real need for additional cables or interfaces, everyone just uses the speaker on their rig/oscillator and their computer/headset microphone and that seemed to work OK.

The stated time commitment is 30 minutes a day consisting of two 15 minute sessions. The idea is to practice the homework assignment leading up to a session, then during that session work with the characters that were practiced previously. Our sessions were Tuesday and Thursday so I had some cramming to do Wednesday and Thursday and I'll be honest I tended to slack a little on Friday and Saturday. That didn't seem to matter as it all worked out in the end.

Each session works with a new set of characters and adds to the previously learned characters. One of the great things about this program is that they use WORDS and not GIBBERISH - so you get to practice with things you will actually use, not a long string of AOCDNVOENPANFCPNEPONVOAPNV. You also practice callsigns, signal reports, and eventually full QSOs.

During a session the adviser sends the words and characters that you have been working with to everyone You copy and take turns reading back what you copied. After that everyone takes turns sending to the adviser. Most everything you work with during the sessions is the exact same stuff you have heard during your homework, so there's some familiarity there. This format is the next best thing - you'd better be prepared or you're going to look like a dumbass! Of course if you miss something it isn't the end of the world either but it was a great motivator for me.

Once you've learned all the characters the content focuses more toward making QSOs. I know I said that level one was online only but we actually got on the air at the end - this was a great help as it's a good way to get your feet wet in a sort of controlled environment.

The bottom line:  CW academy was an extremely effective way to learn Morse code.  I would encourage anyone that has a desire to learn to sign up now - it doesn't matter if you don't know a single character or if you've lost track of how many times you've tried to learn and have failed - this program will help you.


Finally, a few links to the resources we used:
CW academy main page
CW Academy Homework (PDF)
Morse trainer - the exercises here correspond to those in the homework PDF above.  Can be used online or downloaded and run locally.

indeed, homie.  good review.  

i am in the CW Academy Level II this go-around.  i believe there's another ARFHAM besides us two taking it, who may also share his experiences.

i probably should have been in the Level I, as i barely made it through the requirements w/ the Level II stuff, & struggled the whole way.  however, being the dunce of the class, & not wanting to look like a complete ass was also for me a great motivator.  our instructor was newer, having never taught the II class before, & there was a bit of lack of structure at times, i felt (he admitted as much a time or two).  for most of the class members, i don't think it mattered to much, as all were good enough to knock whatever pitch he threw out of the park, aside from myself, who was at a lower level of skill.

for me, even w/ the minor (and perhaps unique to my lower level of skill) quibble above, i felt the class was worth the time.  it gave me some structure/deadlines for which to practice, & i have come a long way in the ~6 weeks of the course.  also, i lack for a mentor/Elmer in real life/meatspace, so it was good to have the old seasoned, veteran ham, share some tricks/tips, & go over some of the mechanics of contesting & dx, as well as the equipment/software used therein.  his antenna farm was drool-worthy.

i will probably have another go, as students who complete a course get priority.  however, i will probably repeat Level II with another instructor, as I don't think I meet the prereqs for Level III at this stage in my brass pounding career.

i can see this being fun/relaxing, once you get good enough at it.  right now, i am still in the tense/trying too hard stage, & it's not flowing easily for me.  i get glimpses of the easy flow, but it's just not automatic enough for me yet.

like getting the Extra privileges, getting CW skills sure seems worth it, though, in terms of access to good DX.

Nice review.

I signed up for the level two class about a year ago, but backed out because I was going to be out of town during the middle of class. Didn't think it would be fair for me to take up a slot an not be there the entire time. I think it would be helpful to me, but I must admit I'm not sure I'm motivated enough to sign up again. Retirement has made anything that involves a schedule, look very bad.

Thanks for posting, guys.

I'm using G4FON and am not making much progress.  

K sounds like "grab a note" and M sounds like "better".  It is very difficult to visualize the correct letter when the code sounds like words.

May have to try the Academy.

Thanks,

Mike

You'll have a lot of difficulty copying in your head if you use mnemonics.

i concur.

MikeSSS, i would use one or more of the following links.  like taking a class in college, sometimes access to a couple different textbooks yields a better result, b/c of the slightly different approach.

---since you have access to GFON software, use the lesson plan in Zen & the Art of Radiotelegraphy, which uses the GFON software to structure its progression.  (i wouldn't get too bogged down in the hippy/dippy Zen detail, but maybe skim this bit & note his point is try to stay relaxed). this text is well regarded by many, including some ARFHAMs (see the "CW & You" thread elsewhere here on the forum).  the Italian guy who wrote this is a super high speed QRQ guy.  this guy has you use Farnsworth method (i.e. fast letter speed, slower speed b/w letters).

--K7QO course  scroll down a bit here on the page to find the ZIP file, which contains 10 hours of MP3 files in a progression, as well as a PDF w/ instructions.  this guy is the American speed record holder for the RUFZXP program.  one of the guys in my Level II class said this is what he used (and that guy in the class was very good).  i am trying this one now.  this uses the Koch method, adding full speed letters at full speed one at a time (i.e. no slowing down b/w letters).  i think there may be something to this, as i feel at this stage i am maybe using the slower Farnsworth spacing as a crutch.

--http://morsecode.scphillips.com/trainer.html  this is from the student resources  part of the CW Academy.  at standard settings, it is equal letter & word speed/spacing (i.e. Koch method) but you can slow down the word spacing, if you want.  what i did was leave it full speed, but if i had trouble on a word, i slowed it down.  i held my hand over the text it was sending, & tried to guess what it was (this resource gives you simple words early on, & then variants using same letter combos: like 'all, 'tall', 'wall', 'tell', 'well', etc., after getting you comfortable w/ individual letters.  you learn to hear the 'all' in the longer words, & get the idea of hearing more than one letter at a time.

overall, as Gyprat said, don't mnemonic/cutesy saying shit.  that shit will bog you down.  it has to become semi-subconscious, like reading is.  let the fast speed letter sound become associated w/ the letter in your mind.  some letters are harder for me than others.  letter "X" for some reason, still doesn't always stick.  letter "C" stuck first time i heard it, b/c it has a swing to it that you pick up on right away.

also, i can't do it for more than 10-20 minutes at a time.  brain gets tuckered out. .

Excellent review. Myself I'm 100% self taught. With the Zen lesson plan and the Just Learn Morse Code software it got me to where I could get on the air. Which is actually the best practice, get on the air. Any CW op worthy of the name will QRS to your speed.



I used the Zen lesson plan. Ignore the zen stuff but do take the advice of having the mind relaxed. That does work.

Once you've got the letters and numbers covered download Morse Runner and Rufzxp. Morse Runner simulates what you'll hear during contesting including mini-pileups, lids, stations slightly off frequency, QSB, QRN, the whole gambit. Rufzxp is a trainer for the EU thing of high speed telegraphy competition, rufz. It will send a call at say 5wpm. Get that 100% correct and it ups the speed to 6wpm, get that right it goes to 7wpm. On and on. Make a mistake in copying and it bumps you back 1wpm. Really gets interesting trying to copy JA1ABC/KP2/QRP at 30wpm. I use both.

I am just finishing up Level II with generalissimo as well. Not much I can add to what has been said other than I feel the course is very much worth it!
It is a FREE class that is lead by an instructor who is donating his time so it really is in the spirit of ham radio.
I felt as though I made a lot of progress in the class though I'm nowhere near where I would like to be and often had no idea what the instructor was sending when he started to get fast.

To give a quick overview, Level II focuses on building "Conversational CW skills" (rag chewing). You are supposed to be able to copy at 10wpm before class starts but I wasn't quite there when I started. I talked to the instructor beforehand about it and he said that was no problem. You start out with simple pangrams (sentences that use every letter in the alphabet) so the instructor can assess your character and word spacing and to make sure that you don't have any issues with he letters that you learned in Level I. You then move on to a typical QSO with exchanges of RST, QTH, WX etc. After that we played some games in a round-robin style.

The one piece of advice that the class uses that really works is to practice copying daily at a speed that is beyond your current comfort level. Listen to the fast code for a few minutes. Once you back down to your normal speed it really does seem slower and easier to copy. I have found this to work well with my sending too. To increase your spee, you really do need to push yourself a bit and listen to code beyond your ability level. At so,e point in the process, you start to pick things out and it makes more sense.

I feel, as generalissimo mentioned, that I was on the marginal side of being ready to take level II, but I'm glad that I stuck with it and feel as though I learned a lot.

If anyone here is interested in the course, even a little bit, just go and sign up now! The class has a long waiting list so you will have time to decide if it is the right fit for you later. Just go sign up.




+ 1 to Rufzxp too! This program is frustrating, humbling, a pain in the rear end, hard, and extremely valuable and fun!

As a side note, I just got confirmation of a station I worked in CW who's call was PJ7/PA3EYC/P

Nice write-ups.
As I mentioned the last time this subject came up, I signed up for the Level III class about a year ago. I ended up dropping out after the first couple classes. I don't work a 9-5 Monday-Friday job, so I knew I would be working during a couple of the classes. And I thought I could probably manage to actually do those couple classes while I was at work. And of course none of that worked out, so I dropped out; hopefully someone else was able to take my place.

I don't think I am letting any cats out of the bag by pointing out that they key to learning CW was the two 15 minutes practice sessions per day.  The class does give you a little pressure to not show up and look like a fool, but most of the learning takes place because you dedicate a half hour a day to practice.

My point is that there are a lot of good resources out there to learn CW, but it takes that half hour a day of practice for any of them. There is no magic. For most people, including me, the class would motivate me to put in that practice time and obviously that is a good thing.



FWIW: I have mentioned this before but the thing I wanted out of the class I signed up for was to have other people in a similar situation to me, to practice with. I have operated CW for a long time, but I still don't want to go on the air and make a fool out of myself. I am sort of on the cusp of being an OK CW operator and being a good CW operator. All it takes is practice and I was hoping I could find someone to practice with.

Subscribed - and I downloaded their material.  

I have GOT to get on the CW train now, to allow comm's from CO during my (planned) elk hunt this fall.

ETA: just in case I don't get my shit in gear - I'm signed up for the Jan 2016 Level 1 course.

that's the way i did it.  signed up in a rare fit of goal-orientedness, then promptly forgot about it until many months later, when i had some old gray hair calling my phone like 5 times in a day, to remind me i had signed up.  

part of me was like, oh damn, forgot about this shit, i don't have time for this.  i did it anyways, & it was well worth the time.

tl;dr version below:  

This is so true.  After doing DX or a contest at 25+ WPM for a little while, 20 WPM seems super slow, whether sending or receiving.

What they said.  I'm no musician but I did get a lot of music instruction when I was a kid.  Learning code really brought back memories of trying to learn the rythm of certain notes, then translating those notes to the instrument.  A lot of people seem to agree it's a lot like learning music.



You are 100% correct that the learning is all on you.  I wish someone could have miracled it into my head but until then....  The course does exactly what you mentioned - gives you a chance to practice with others.  If nothing else it lets you know that other people have their own hangups and struggles so you don't beat yourelf up as bad when you hit your own stumbling blocks.  This really is something that is easier to learn with a group/with others. I'll compare it to music again - Music is much easier to learn if you can experience it with others.  

Thanks to generalissimo and raysheen for the level II info - I will probably sign up eventually once my work schedule stabilizes.  For right now I've set my goal on making simple contacts and building my proficiency and confidence.

Signed up, I'll be in the Jan 16 group. Thanks, OP!