I've had my ham license for about 5 years, but never done much with
it until recently, when I bought an Icom IC-718, put an antenna up
over my garage and started learning morse code. Why morse code?
Local 2M repeaters don't really interest me, and I have little
desire to actually chat via phone/SSB/AM with anyone. CW seems so
much _cooler_ somehow, despite it still being just another form of
communication. It may be the minimalist nature of CW that appeals to
me - a low-power battery operated transceiver, wire antenna and key
are all you need.
What surprised me was how easy it was to learn to send morse code -
I bought a code-practice oscillator and a straight key and after a
couple of weeks of daily practice I can pretty much read anything
from a random page in a book and send it. What I'm finding hard is
actually copying morse code on the air and translating it into
letters/words. Still, I figure it's just practice, so I'm using
lcwo.com and ARRL's practice files. When I get to the point where I
can copy call signs and RST reports at 5-10 WPM, I figure it's time
to get on the air.
