so ive been at this for about 4 months now and im completely stuck. i can copy at around 5wpm if the sending is clean and i have time to think about each letter but the moment anyone sends faster than that my brain just kind of locks up and i miss everything. i know people say dont count dits and dahs and just learn the sounds but honestly that advice only gets me so far.

im using the lcwo website mostly and ive done the koch method lessons up to about 12 characters but i keep going back and practicing the earlier ones because the later ones feel impossible. not sure if thats a mistake or not. also tried listening to some actual qsos on 40m and i cant copy basically anything, everyone sounds so fast to me even the guys who are probably going like 12-13wpm.

did any of you hit a wall like this and actually get through it? how long did it take to get to 20wpm where you can actually have a real conversation? feel like im missing something obvious

oh man i remember this exact wall, hit it right around 6-7wpm myself and was convinced i'd never get faster. the thing that actually helped me — and i know this sounds weird — was to stop practicing at my comfortable speed and instead listen to stuff way above what i could copy. like set your lcwo character speed to 20wpm even if your effective speed is still low. your brain starts learning the rhythm of the letters as whole sounds instead of counting elements. took me probably a month before it started clicking but when it did it really did click.

also dont go back to the earlier characters, i made that mistake too. just keep pushing forward on Koch even when it feels hopeless. the repetition is doing more than you think even when it feels like nothing is sticking. and give yourself a break every few days, sometimes i'd come back after two days off and suddenly letters i was struggling with felt easier. no idea why that works but it does.

the 40m qsos thing — yeah those guys are going way faster than you think, even the "slow" ones on the novice end of the band. dont beat yourself up over that. what actually helped me get from crawling to something useable was just doing 15 minutes a day consistently instead of hour long sessions twice a week. consistency was the whole thing for me. and honestly just get on the air even if you feel not ready, there's people who will slow way down for you if you put QRS in your call or whatever. some of the elmers on the cw nets are incredibly patient