clvrmnky wrote:

I figure I'll learn to read by listening in on the beginner frequencies
out there. I've read some stern warnings about touching a key until I
can read relatively accurately. Well, I can pick out "CQ" as of yesterday.

That's a start indeed.

Other letters have distinctive patterns that can be associated with
words or phrases: "Here comes the bride" for "Q", "Aladdin's lamp"
for "L", and so on.

You might want to build or buy a code practice oscillator. You'll want
a key eventually, of some sort, and a straight key + CPO will let you
develop the muscle-motion patterns for sending low-speed Morse.

After that, it's the old matter of how you get to Carnegie Hall:

"Practice, practice, practice".

I do have a bit of confusion about "Farnsworth" and friends, which I'm
slowly clearing up by reading some online refs.

I tend to think of Farnsworth-style Morse as fast letters in slow words.

--
Mike Andrews, KE5DMQ

Tired old sysadmin