i started with the koch method on lcwo.net and i got through most of the characters but somewhere around character 30 or so i just kind of stalled out. ive been doing maybe 20 minutes a day. is that enough? should i be doing more? a guy at my club said he learned by just jumping on the air at 20wpm and copying what he could but that sounds absolutely terrifying to me right now.

anyway just wondering what worked for people. i really want to get to at least 20wpm eventually, i dont need to be a contest operator or anything but i want to be comfortable ragchewing on 40m cw

but now its been probably 3 months and i just cant seem to break through to the next level. im doing 30-45 minutes a day with lcwo.net and sometimes Just Learn Morse Code on my laptop. i can copy clean text okay at 13 but as soon as i push it to 15 everything falls apart and i lose the whole sentence trying to figure out one letter i missed.

anyone else hit this wall and figure out how to get through it? id really like to get to 20wpm eventually, i know people say thats where it really clicks and you stop counting dits and dahs. starting to wonder if im doing something wrong or if this is just how it works.

ive been using the LCWO website and some of the practice files from the ARRL. i practice probably 20-30 minutes a day most days. my goal is to get to 20wpm eventually because i really want to work some DX on 40 meters and honestly i just love the mode, there's something about it that got under my skin. just wondering what actually moved the needle for people who went through this same wall. did you just grind through it or was there some specific thing that clicked?

but somewhere around 12-13wpm everything just kind of... stopped. i can copy fine when im relaxed and its a slow QSO but the moment i try to push the keyer speed up i just fall apart. letters start blurring together and i lose my place and then im just guessing. been stuck here for probably 3 months now and its starting to get frustrating honestly.

im using the LCWO site and also just got the G4FON trainer which people seem to like. i try to practice maybe 20-30 minutes a day, sometimes more on weekends. is there something specific i should be doing differently to get through this plateau? feels like 20wpm is a million miles away right now

i know the standard advice is just keep at it and dont try to copy every single character, more of a flow thing. but i'm curious how long it actually took people to get to 20wpm comfortably. not contest speed or anything, just solid ragchew speed where you're not sweating every letter. and does anyone have a specific thing that actually helped them break through a plateau like this, a different tool, a different approach, something

then somewhere around 13wpm things just... stopped. i can copy maybe 70% of what im hearing but then i get behind on a character and it all falls apart. its like my brain just cant keep up and once i miss one letter i panic and miss the next three trying to figure out what the first one was. does this happen to everyone or am i doing something wrong here

im trying to get to 20wpm because i really want to actually get on the air and have a real CW QSO, not just the painfully slow ones where both ops are clearly suffering through it. any tips from people who have actually done this would be really appreciated. been a tech for two years and just got my general last month so im motivated to actually use HF properly

my routine right now is about 20-30 minutes a day on the computer, mostly using the LCWO website which has been great but im starting to wonder if i need to mix things up. i can copy most characters pretty reliably when they come one at a time but as soon as im trying to copy whole words at speed my brain just falls apart. like i can hear the dit dah pattern and i KNOW what the letter is but by the time ive thought about it the next letter is already gone and then im behind and everything goes sideways from there.

my goal is 20wpm eventually, mostly because i want to start doing some CW contesting and maybe chase some DX. anybody been through this same plateau and figure out a way through it? feel like im missing something obvious

ive been doing about 20-30 minutes a day with the trainer and also just listening to W1AW code practice sessions when i can catch them. someone told me i should just crank the speed way up like to 20 or even 25wpm and use farnsworth timing so the characters come fast but there's space between them, but i havent really tried that systematically yet. does that actually work or is it one of those things that sounds good in theory

also i tried doing some actual QSOs on 40m a few weeks ago at about 10wpm and it was a disaster lol, way harder than the practice sessions. the other guy was patient but i still felt terrible about it

i practice with the LCWO website mostly, like 20-30 minutes a day which i know maybe isnt enough but thats what i can fit in. i can copy single characters okay but actual words just fall apart on me especially if theres a long word or my brain hiccups on one letter and then i lose the next three trying to recover. does that ever stop happening or is it just part of it forever

also i read somewhere that you should practice at a higher character speed even if your overall word speed is slower — like the farnsworth method or whatever its called. anyone actually do that and did it help or is it just one of those things people say on the internet

i do maybe 20-30 minutes a day, sometimes more on weekends. i try to copy QSOs off the air when i can but honestly most of what i hear is either too fast or people using abbreviations i dont recognize yet. a buddy of mine who got his extra back in like 1987 keeps telling me to just increase the character speed and leave the word spacing slow (farnsworth method i think) but i dunno if thats really doing anything for me. does it get easier at some point or is there some specific thing i just should be doing that im not?

my main practice routine right now is just doing the LCWO word trainer for maybe 20-30 minutes a day, sometimes i hop on 40m and try to copy whatever i can hear but honestly most of what i find is either too fast or in a pile-up which is not exactly beginner friendly. i know people say just do it every day and youll get there but i guess i was hoping someone could tell me if there was a specific thing that helped them break through that plateau. did you change methods, practice longer, find a specific resource? also curious how long it actually took people to get to 20wpm because i see some guys saying a few months and others saying years and that range is a little discouraging

ive been reading that the trick is to practice at like 20wpm character speed but slow the spacing down (Farnsworth i think its called?) so your brain learns the sounds instead of the patterns. been trying that for about two weeks and honestly im not sure its helping or if i just need more time. some days i feel like im getting it and other days i cant copy a single letter without second guessing myself.

so i guess my actual question is — how long did it take people to get from that 5wpm beginner phase to actually being able to have a real QSO at like 15 or 20wpm? is there some breakthrough moment or does it just slowly get better? feels like im in a plateau and its frustrating because i really want to get on CW before field day this year.

the frustrating part is i can SEND at about 15wpm pretty comfortably, receiving is just way harder for me. been doing about 20-30 minutes a day which i know probably isnt enough but thats about all i have time for. wondering if anyone else hit this wall around the 10wpm mark and what actually helped break through it. did you just grind more hours or change what you were practicing

im using the Koch method with the G4FON trainer and i do about 20-30 minutes a day most days. someone at my local club told me to just crank the character speed up to like 20wpm even if i cant copy everything yet and just let my brain catch up, but that feels like a lot and honestly a little discouraging when i miss half the letters. is that actually the right approach or is there a better way to get from where i am to 20wpm without losing my mind. my goal is to be able to ragchew on 40m CW by next summer which doesnt feel that far off but also kind of does at this point.

im using the Koch method through the LCWO website which i know is the right approach, ive read enough posts here to know that. i practice maybe 20-30 minutes a day most days, sometimes more on weekends. the problem is i feel like im still spelling out letters in my head instead of just hearing words. like i hear a character and i have to consciously think about what it is instead of it just coming naturally. does that make sense? is that just a wall everyone hits or am i doing something wrong.

my goal is 20wpm because i want to actually be useful in a pile up and have real QSOs without sounding like an idiot on the air. any advice from people who actually made it past this point would be really appreciated.

the thing that gets me is individual characters i know cold, like i can copy most letters and numbers fine when theyre sent slowly, but when the speed goes up my brain just kind of locks up and i start missing things and then i panic and miss more and it kind of snowballs. someone at my club said i need to just listen to actual QSOs on the air instead of trainer software, is that true? or should i stick with the software until i get to at least 15? im not sure what the right approach is here and would love to hear from people who have been through this.

a buddy at the club said i should try the Koch method and i downloaded that lcwo.net thing but honestly im not sure im using it right. do you just sit there and drill individual characters forever or is there a point where you switch to actual words and QSOs? also how long per day are people actually practicing because i feel like i do 20 minutes and then im useless after that.

anyway just looking for what worked for real people not just the textbook answer. im not in a hurry or anything, just want to get there eventually. 73

im doing about 20 minutes a day with the LCWO site, sending with my straight key, copying on paper. i can hear the letters fine when i know what word is coming but in actual QSOs or even just random code practice i fall apart above 13. like my brain just stops processing and i start trying to count dits and dahs again which obviously makes everything worse.

anybody been through this wall? is there something specific that finally clicked for it? ive heard people say just listen to faster code even if you cant copy it all but that seems kind of pointless to me. open to anything at this point because 20wpm feels like another planet from here

i use the G4FON trainer mostly, been doing about 20 minutes a day. some days i do the LCWO site too. the problem is i feel like ive been at 13-14wpm for like 2 months and i genuinely dont know if im doing something wrong or if this is just a normal plateau and i need to push through it somehow. did anyone else hit this same wall around this speed? how did you get past it? i dont want to give up on 20wpm, thats always been the goal for me since i started.

my biggest problem is i still catch myself trying to count dits and dahs sometimes, especially under pressure or when im tired, and i know thats the wrong approach but breaking that habit is harder than i expected. someone at my club told me i just need to listen to faster code even if i cant copy it yet and that would help my brain adapt. has anyone actually done that and did it work or is that just something people say

curious how long it realistically took other people to get to 20wpm and what actually helped. im not in a huge rush, just want to actually use cw on the air eventually

my current routine is just running the G4FON trainer for about 20-30 minutes a day, copying random characters to a text file. i dont do much on air yet because honestly im embarrassed to call CQ when im this slow, feels like id be wasting everybodys time. anyway just curious how long it took other people to get from beginner speeds up to like 20wpm where you can actually have a real qso without the other station having to wait forever for you

i know the letters fine at speed individually, i can copy them when the trainer throws single characters at me fast, but the moment its actual words or QSOs my head just locks up. i start trying to spell things out instead of just hearing words and it all falls apart. someone told me the jump from 13 to 20 is where most people quit and honestly i believe them now.

currently doing about 20 minutes a day with lcwo, character speed at 20 but effective word speed at like 13 (farnsworth i think thats called). should i just push the effective speed up and suffer through it or is there a better way. feels like im doing something wrong

the thing thats frustrating is i can copy text i already kind of expect fine but anything random or unfamiliar just falls apart above like 12wpm. like my brain just cant keep up and i start missing letters and then i fall behind and then its a cascade. does this get better on its own or is there something specific i should be changing. also wondering if copying real QSOs off the air would help more than the computer generated stuff at this point

my practice routine is roughly 20-30 minutes a day, mostly just doing the LCWO lessons and sometimes listening to QSOs on 40m which i can barely follow at all honestly. someone at my local club told me i should be sending more, not just receiving, but i only have a straight key and my fist is pretty terrible so i feel like im reinforcing bad habits. not sure if i should get a paddle or just push through with the straight key for now.

for those of you who went through this process — how long did it realistically take to get to 20wpm, and was there a specific thing that clicked for you or did it just gradually happen over time?

CW Academy seems more structured with mentors, but there's a waiting list. LCWO I can start immediately and it's free.

Has anyone used both? Which would you recommend for going from zero to 20 WPM? I'm pretty self-disciplined but also like having guidance.