It's taken me over six years so far, and I'm still not confident getting on the air. I do have over 200 CW QSOs in my log now. They're almost all rubber-stamp callsign and signal report exchanges. Well over four fifths of them are SOTA contacts.
Here's a timeline showing my progress (or lack of) in learning Morse.
2010 - | Feb | Foundation Course Morse practical. |
First look at LCWO.net. | ||
Mar | Pass Foundation exam. | |
Apr | Sign on to LCWO.net and start Koch training. | |
Jul | LCWO.net introduces "Morse Machine". Try it alongside Koch. | |
Dec | Pass Intermediate exam. | |
Delete LCWO.net account to concentrate on Advanced exam. | ||
2011 - | Feb | Pass Advanced exam. |
Mar | Sign back onto LCWO.net and re-start Koch at lesson 1. | |
Aug | Buy and start learning to use an iambic paddle. | |
2012 - | Feb | Write first version of "Learning Morse Code - Pointless Hammering". |
Apr | Abandon Koch at about lesson 15. | |
Make CD of all letters and numbers in pairs and predictable sequence at 16wpm. Use it to learn them. | ||
May | First logged CW QSO. | |
Oct | First SOTA CW chase. | |
2013 - | Jan | First DX CW QSOs (from Kenya). |
Elecraft KX3 kit ordered. | ||
Feb | First regular GB2CW exercise. | |
First perfect GB2CW exercise at 5wpm. | ||
Jul | Write first version of "Learning Morse Code Roadblocks and Contradictory Advice". | |
Aug | First use of CW on SOTA activation (2 CW QSOs). | |
Sep | First perfect GB2CW exercise at 8wpm. | |
Second SOTA activation (4 CW QSOs) | ||
Oct | 100 CW SOTA points. | |
Third SOTA activation (1 CW QSO) | ||
2014 - | Apr | SOTA activation attempt (3 CW QSOs) |
May | 50th CW QSO. | |
Fourth CW (and first CW-only) SOTA activation (6 QSOs). | ||
2015 - | Feb | Re-organised pages on Koch, Roadblocks and Contradictory Advice. |
Added a page on Teaching and Practice. | ||
Apr | Fifth SOTA activation (7 CW QSOs). | |
May | First GB2CW broadcast on 5.301 MHz. | |
Jul | Three more SOTA Activations (1,2, and 8 CW QSOs). | |
Aug | Added a page of charts showing how fast folks go. | |
Sep | Four more SOTA activations (3,4,4 and 5 CW QSOs). | |
Oct | Two more SOTA activations (20 and 13 CW QSOs). | |
2016 - | Jan | A few short CW QSOs from Kenya. |
Mar | First attempt at CW rag-chew, on 2 metres. | |
Apr | A few more short CW QSOs from Kenya. | |
May | Two more SOTA activations (8 CW QSOs each). | |
Jun | Two more SOTA activations (8 and 7 CW QSOs). | |
Dec | One short CW QSO from Kenya, the only DX of that entire holiday. | |
2017 - | Mar | Two more SOTA activations (12 and 7 CW QSOs). |
Apr | One single CW QSO on 80 metres from a SOTA summit. | |
Oct | ECWARC Boot Camp day attended. Interestingly challenging. | |
Nov | Discouragingly muddled SOTA activation on 40 metres (11 QSOs logged). | |
2018 - | Jan | 52 CW QSOs from Kenya. |
One CW SOTA chase. | ||
Feb | Three CW SOTA chases. | |
Apr | Six CW SOTA chases. | |
May | Two CW SOTA chases. | |
Jun | A CW SOTA activation (10 QSOs). | |
One CW SOTA chase. | ||
Jul | Four CW SOTA chases. | |
Aug | Eight CW SOTA chases. | |
Sep | New QTH. No rig or antenna yet. | |
Dec | Five CW QSOs from Kenya. | |
2019 - | Jan | 30 CW QSOs from Kenya. |
May | Hereford CW Boot Camp day attended. Quite stretched, but enjoyable. | |
First perfect GB2CW exercise at 12wpm. | ||
2020 - | 180 CW QSOs during the year, almost all SOTA chases. | |
Sep | A CW SOTA activation (11 QSOs). | |
2021 - | 108 CW QSOs during the year, almost all SOTA chases. | |
2022 - | 215 CW QSOs during the year, 148 of them SOTA chases. | |
Jan | Started CWOPS Intermediate CW Zoom class. | |
Feb | Entered ARRL DX CW Contest (34 QSOs). | |
Completed CWOPS Intermediate CW Zoom class. | ||
Aug | A CW SOTA activation (9 QSOs). | |
Sep | A CW SOTA activation (16 QSOs). | |
2023 - | Jan | 68 CW QSOs from Kenya. |
Mar | A CW SOTA activation (20 QSOs). | |
May | A CW SOTA activation (12 QSOs). |
I have also tracked my progress more graphically.
© M0LEP (Last updated Jul 2023.)