I used the G4FON software to learn Morse a few years back (I got
my General when the 5WPM test was still a requirement). I
wrote up my experiences here:
http://www.dimebank.com/cak/k6dbg/k6dbg_cw.html
The recommendation at the time was to start at 20/15 - 20WPM symbol
speed, 15WPM character speed. I found that frustrating while
learning the alphabet, and dropped back to 20/7.
I wouldn't recommend that you do that. It got me past the test,
it got me on the air, but it took me a long time to get to be
functional at 20WPM on the air; the "mental spacing" provided by
the 7WPM character speed left me lots of time to build the
dreaded "lookup table" in my brain. I recognize the symbols at
higher speeds, but I can't necessarily make them make sense.
Since you're interested in doing this for contesting, I'd say that you
should start at 25/25 and just keep at it until you make progress.
Don't write by hand, but instead keyboard while copying.
Once you're comfortable with the alphabet, work on head copy.
And, by all means, get on the air. That's where the real learning happens.
73 de chris K6DBG
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