so i passed my general back in the spring and immediately started working on code because honestly thats the main reason i got into ham radio in the first place, the idea of CW just seemed really cool to me. started with the Koch method using lcwo.net and got up to about 13wpm pretty fast, like within the first couple months i was copying most characters okay at 13.

but now im completely stuck. every time i try to push to 15 i just fall apart, miss letters, lose the whole word, then panic and miss the next three. ive been practicing maybe 20-30 minutes a day which i thought was enough but maybe not? i dont know if its a technique problem or just need more time or what. someone told me i might have hit the 'plateau' that everyone talks about. is that a real thing or just an excuse lol

for context im starting to hear some of the common words as whole sounds now which i think is good? but single letters im still kind of sounding out in my head which slows me down. any advice from people who went through this would be really appreciated

oh man yes the plateau is absolutely real, i hit the exact same wall around 12-13wpm and it lasted probably 3 months before something clicked. what finally worked for me was just forcing myself to listen at speeds way above what i could copy — like i set fldigi or just pulled up W1AW broadcasts at 18-20wpm and just let it wash over me without trying to copy everything. after a few weeks of that my brain started recognizing the rhythms even if i couldnt write it all down.

also the thing about sounding out letters in your head is the killer right there. you gotta get to where dit-dah just IS the letter A, not dit-dah = morse for A = the letter A. that extra step is what slows everyone down. some people swear by listening while doing something else like washing dishes so your conscious brain stays out of the way. sounds weird but it helped me honestly

im kind of in the same boat as you, just a little behind — im at like 10wpm right now trying to get to where you are so take this with a grain of salt. but ive heard a lot of people say that 20 or 30 min a day is fine but it has to be consistent, like every single day matters more than doing a long session on the weekend. also apparently the session right before bed is good for retention or something, i read that on the QRZ forums. good luck, following this thread because ill be dealing with this same plateau soon probably