All the information and practice files for learning CW are available here.
http://cwops.org/cwa-student-res.html
Or, better yet, sign up for a Level 1, 2 or 3 class. You will have an
Advisor to help you get over the “bumps” in the road! The price is right, FREE.
You will have to dedicate 45 min/day for study and attend classes twice a week
for two months.
Bill Leahy, K0MP
CWA Advisor, Level 1
but the clsses are in US times arent they when I’m asleep? unless i have missed something.
CW Academy has Advisors in many countries, including EU. They assign students for the
Advisor in his or her time zone.
Bill
Don’t worry about testing wound inductors, the cores are amazingly uniform, as long as you have the correct amount of turns, everything will work out fine. There is technique involved in winding inductors, but you pick it up as you go along. A major cause of failure for these QRP projects is poor solder joints to the inductor wire due to not removing the enamel properly.
I don’t think you’ve got a lot to lose, have a go - when you succeed, it will be a wonderful feeling and confidence boost!
73, Colin
Two thumbs up. I used LCWO. I started the lessons at 15cpm/5wpm. I increased the spacing if I was having problems. When I finished the final lesson at 15/3 I started decreasing the character speed and the gaps. I’m now at 11/11 and working on increasing my speed back to 15/15.
I have a 20m QCX rig on order. Now I just need to figure out an enclosure… I might have to engineer a 3D print.
if you want to buy instead of make then PD7MAA HOMEPAGE: QRP labs QCX 5 Watt cw trx kit has a link to an enclosure off an auction site.
Builders' gallery has quite a few different ideas from various hams. Some look very good including a 3D printed design.
Hi Anthony
If you are struggling with morse try learning at 20wpm with a spacing of 10 once you learn the letters and numbers at that speed do the same at 18wpm with a spacing of 12, then 16wpm a spacing of 14. I kept doing this till reached 13wpm and I could write the letters neatly in a notepad and was able to read it.
Once you learn the letters at 20wpm and spacing of 10 it doesn’t take to long to work your way down through the process.
Maybe in a year or two you can help someone else thinking of operating with CW, as for the QCX rig go for it gives you an incentive and it has a little straight key.
73
Graeme
I have the alphabet sorted pretty much at 5wpm with character at about 12-15wpm, using a cd on the way to work. I’ll try the 20wpm character with 5wpm spacing to start as that is still a little too fast sometimes.
Im definitely better than I was a few months ago. Keeping it up constantly is the trouble. I’ll be good diligent student for a month or two then it’ll slowly take a back burner then I go backwards a little and need to get back into it to get back to where I was and go a bit beyond. Then the cycle repeats.
Edit: 20/12/2017
Well I’ve jut placed my order for a 30m QCX rig. Lets see what serial number I get assigned and then we can take bets on how long it will take to come. I might have learnt CW enough to use it by the time it comes 
I assembled my QCX 40m version few weeks ago and till now I made two SOTA activations with it.
Receiver is very good, … power supply of 15V gives 5W output (I use 3 USB powerbanks in series to get 15V=.
On one of the activations the outside temperature was under the zero, … so some latency on LCD was present.
QCX is small and has just 500 mA of consumption on TX.
So, the first impressions are very good.
73 de Boris 9A2GA
HNY everyone !
Just finished my build of a 20m QCX yesterday.
Actually , I spent about 8 hours on soldering and testing the kit, but then some 16 hours more on the case … hi
Top:
The case is made from PCB , sprayed with two layers of paint, lettering is just printed on paper and fixed with Scotch tape. (I tried some of the ironing transfer methods, but that didn’t work well … the heat burns the paint, good for copper or aluminium, but not for painted surfaces)
I didn’t bother making a hole for the built-in key, since I intend to use an external key or paddle anyway.
I added an on/off switch to avoid pulling out the battery all the time, and also changed the power input to a round model as used on my KX3, so I can use the same packs as I am used to.
(both are mounted UNDER the QXC board)
Left side:.
Right side:
Of course, adding the SOTA logo was the finishing touch … 
Hope to take it with me on my first SOTA tour in March.
73 Luc ON7DQ
Good job Luc!
Labelling is definitely the hardest part! I’ve never been totally satisfied with my home made rigs with regards to the lettering.
Water slip decals seemed to be a good idea but I hate the fact that you can see the edge of the transfers.
I’ve had reasonable success with Letraset rub on transfers but it very hard to maintain even spacing between letters and keep to a straight line.
This was a home brew RockMite that I labelled with rub on transfers -
The method that I’m currently using is vinyl stickers. The stickers are intended for model boats, you can by them in sheets in different colours and sizes. There are still drawbacks though, it’s difficult not to stretch the stickers as you remove them from the backing material.
At the end of the day, who sees these rigs anyway? I think the important part is that the rigs work and the function of each control is obvious enough that you can use it without guessing!
Good luck with the QCX, it’s a rig that I’d like to try some day.
73, Colin
Being my other passion I have a lot of experience with these. It is possible to get the (UK) manufacturer to produce a custom set of these vinyl stickers and doesn’t send you straight to the whisky bottle to recover.
Might be of interest
My qcx rig kit arrived last week. I’m wondering how long it will stay in its box?
I’ll have to make space and time to start it I think at some point.
Mine has sat since mid-December. 
I see nice boxes have been made - congrats.
My 20m with GPS is awaiting me in HB9 - mid April I will be back from EA8.
Then assembling them - and hope also such a nice box…
After, using with a Bazooka for SOTA (mountain on Aegean Islands) and WSPR from sailing Ship.
My trips and activity starts abt. end of May on/from island Lesbos (SV8).
73 Erich
For learning the alphabet I think the Morse Machine for Android is pretty good, certainly worth the money:
I have a 9 year old pupil in school who used it to learn almost the whole alphabet in 1 week. Once you have learnt the alphabet, I would move straight on to reading text with this web based app:
The beauty of the app is that it reads books to you, one letter at a time, just as with Morse code. Then, when you are happy reading in that way, you start to replace letters with Morse code, one at a time. It took me about 6 months to replace all the letters, which cost about €60 altogether; not too steep if you ask me. It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or someone with years of experience, the sooner you try the app, the sooner you will be copying in your head. PM me if you want more advice on how to get started with it.
Whilst you are learning to read text you will need to keep up practice on the alphabet, for which I use Just Learn Morse Code:
You could also try the Morse Trainer for Ham Radio if you only have Android:
This app is particularly good, as it allows you to increase the space between the words, not just the letters. But generally I record my own Morse files with Just Learn Morse.
de OE6FEG / M0FEU
Matt
QCX 30m kit just arrived 
Ordered in early February, posted at the end of February. I’m happy with that!
Adrian
G4AZS
I received shipping confirmation for my QCX-30 yesterday (7 March), I ordered it on February 18th.
I heard that the quality of the toroids shipped with the QCX kits is questionable, it’s recommended to use toroids of known origin. I already had some FT37-6 in stock, new stock of FT37-2 arrived from G3MFJ this week.
In the meantime, I ordered a Kits and Parts 1 Watter 40 on February 22nd and it arrived, from Florida, on February 27th! I’ve spent a few sessions putting the board together this week. Yesterday I got the board up and running.
Photo - before adding the PA transistor, the TX mixer filter is aligned.
73, Colin
My QCX arrived from Tokyo - pretty good DX before it has even been built!
Interesting point on the toroids, I’ll ponder that one - thanks Colin.
73
Adrian
