so ive been at this for about 4 months now and im stuck somewhere around 10-12wpm depending on the day. started with the Koch method using the G4FON trainer and it worked great getting me up to 5wpm pretty fast but now it feels like im just spinning my wheels. i can copy familiar words no problem but anything unexpected just falls apart and i end up missing whole chunks while my brain is still processing the last letter.

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

yeah the 10-12 wpm wall is super real, almost everyone hits it. what helped me more than anything was just getting on the air with actual QSOs instead of always practicing with computer generated text. the SKCC has a whole sked page and people there are really patient with slower ops, nobody is gonna judge you for asking them to QRS. theres something about real conversations where you actually care what the other person is saying that makes your brain kick into a different gear compared to copying random letter groups.

also try listening to stuff slightly faster than you can comfortably copy, like set the trainer to 15 or even 18wpm and just let it wash over you even if you miss a lot. your ear starts to get used to the rhythm of the faster characters and eventually your processing speed catches up. took me about 8 months total to get to 20wpm solid but i wasnt super consistent about it. the guys who practice every single day seem to get there faster.

honestly the best thing i ever did was just start listening to W1AW code practice on the air instead of always using software. something about real transmitted code sounds different and your ear adjusts differently to it. they send at multiple speeds throughout the week and you can look up the text ahead of time to check yourself. also just leaving it on in the background while doing other things, not really actively copying, just ambient listening. i dont know if thats a real thing or just placebo but my speed went up noticeably after a few weeks of doing that.