so ive been at this for a while now and i just cant seem to break through the 13wpm wall. started learning morse back in the spring, got to about 5wpm pretty quick which felt great, then worked my way up through the summer and hit 13 and just... stopped improving. its like my brain just refuses to go any faster.

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.

oh man i remember this exact feeling, hit the same wall around 12-13 and thought i was just not wired for it. what helped me more than anything was doing head copy instead of writing stuff down. when you write, your brain is managing two tasks at once and it kind of slows the whole process. try just listening and keeping the last few characters in your head without a pencil in your hand. its uncomfortable at first but it forces your brain to process faster.

also and this is the thing most people dont want to hear -- raise your character speed way higher than your overall word speed. so like set the farnsworth spacing wide but keep individual characters coming at 20wpm even if the gap between them is huge. your ears learn the rhythm of each character at the target speed so when you eventually close the gaps it doesnt feel like such a jump. i think i spent about 3 months with characters at 20 and words at like 8 before things started clicking. patience is the whole game with CW honestly

just going to throw this out there -- have you tried just jumping on the air at speeds that scare you a little? i know that sounds backwards but i was in the same boat and what actually pushed me through was tuning into the CWT sprints on Wednesday evenings and just trying to copy whatever i could even if i missed half of it. you dont have to transmit, just listen. your brain starts adapting to real signals way faster than computer-generated tones and honestly the contest exchanges are short enough that even a beginner can grab callsigns and signal reports if you stick at it. took me maybe three or four sessions before i noticed i was keeping up with stuff i would have totally lost before