Learning a new skill, whether it be CW or, in this case, a new computer language is of little use unless there is a practical purpose behind it. I wanted to learn to program PIC microcontrollers and needed a practical project to apply that learning. David Finley N1IRZ has a great article on learning CW in a completely new way, based upon research by the German psychologist Ludwig Koch and has also published a great book in the MFJ series on the subject of learning CW. For a detailed account of Koch's findings go see Bill Pierpont's magnificent "Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy" (hosted on many other sites also).

This site details a pocket CW tutor similar to the MFJ-41B. The project has almost no parts other than the programmed PIC 16F84 which does all the work and is an ideal candidate for stripboard construction. My home version looks remarkably like Toshio's in the pictures here.

If you've never programmed a PIC before this is a good opportunity to find out just how easy it is. The PIC 16F84s are electrically erasable - that is you just keep reprogramming them - no need for expensive UV erasers. Also the programmer can be very simple - I developed this tutor with a programmer comprising 4 resistors, 1 capacitor and 2 diodes built on a tiny reused scrap of stripboard- it didn't even need power, taking that from the computer serial port.My beginner's PIC programming page will be coming shortly.

Another Thank You! - this time to Ahmet TA1DR for hosting my programmer those few years it has taken me to get this site ready.

Note - I discovered a small bug in the firmware I posted on Ahmet's site causing the programmer to lock occasionally. That has been fixed with the software now available here - apologies to anyone who encountered this bug.

Further Note - this project is built at your own risk. It is intended for 9v battery operation and hence should be entirely safe but if you try to see how much heat is generated by shorting out a 9v battery, or melt a PIC, or tread on an dropped LCD, or drill yourself rather than the box mounting holes remember mine worked fine!