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Hi, I read several articles and watch videos about learning CW. They all said that it's recommended to start with a higher speed so you're not able to imagine dots and dits in your head but instead learn the sound.
That's what I want to try.

but what should I set the lcwo's effectiv settings to?

I would start with a speed of 30. Do I need to choose 30 for both settings or which one?

Hi

You can try it. Start with 30/30 - if you have high aptitude.

As we don't know your aptitude level ( either ) we can't predict how easy it will be.


NB You need to be making actual progress ( else we predict you will become disheartened and give up ).


If you get through 4 lessons OK and then stall at number 5 it might not actually be sinking in
so
then you can try 20/20 or 15/15.


If it's still going slow then 15/10 or even 10/2 if that's what it takes.


30/30 sounds ambitious ( based on the average ) but its up to you what you try.

Just make sure you are making real progress . .


Good luck

Enjoy

Let us know how you get on . . .

cb

Thanks,
ok so I will try 30/and a lower number on the second setting.
I don't want to start at 15 or lower as so many experienced voices said it's not good to count dots

Mind now - speed isn't everything . .

eg don't do 30/10 if you can do 20/20 or some such . . .

You probably should aim to QSO ASAP and 30/10 won't win you any friends, either with the high speed clubs
or with the slower students who might cope with the /10 but won't cope with the 30/

cb

>speed isn't everything

sure, but as they said it's far easier to learn when starting at a high speed.
When I first tried I also tried to count the dots in my head.. That's a big mistake as you should learn by sound and a higher speed helps to minimize the counting as it's just to fast to count.

Did you read the bit about not linking code to key on your keyboard - else you will need a keyboard all the time you are decoding . . .

You maybe can write that fast . . .

G4FON suggests you learn at the speed you want to use - I think his target was 30wpm, but not everyone will quite make it . .

I started trying the 30/* method as suggested by some on the 'net. Matter of fact I posted about it. (WPM Effective Speed). At the time (9/17/20) I was on lesson 14 and not making much progress.

I've settled at 17/5 after trying 15/10 for a minute. I am now on lesson 26. Plan is to bring the effective speed up when I finish the lessons. Might even bring the WPM down. I'm hearing quite a bit of CW in the 10-15 WPM range.

I used the Morse Machine to learn the characters at 17 WPM. I'm using the Word Training at 17 WPM and 4 letter words. Using the lessons to build that "pipelining" that is talked about.

YMMV. Best of luck with it.

As usual, cb said everything there is really to say.

IMHO, you're probably better off sticking to 20/10 to learn the lessons for several reasons:

1. It is probably the lowest speed at which one can no longer really count.

2. It is a realistic speed for communicating in morse with a sizeable number of amateurs. As cb pointed out, QSO early on is a top priority. There's not a lot of people out there at 30/30wpm and 30/10, I doubt you will find any takers on the air . . .

3. You won't get discouraged and drop out which is the biggest problem by far.

Good luck!

The original Koch method is 12/12 and no extra spaces.

73
Rüdiger DD5RK

I am not a very successful student, but I will allow myself to speak. After my 6 months of daily training, I advise you to pay more attention to the exercise "words" and "callsigns". Because a simple stream of random groups of characters on LCWO is not at all what you will hear on the air. On the air, you will hear very small gaps between words or codes. They will be slightly larger than the spaces between the letters. This will pose a very big problem in rebuilding your brain.
Ready-made words and Q codes will help you a lot.
Try to write on paper. This makes it possible to remember the "image" of the letter and later the image of the word.