Wanted to share my recent success story for anyone struggling with code speed. Four months ago I was copying maybe 5 WPM on a good day, and yesterday I had a solid 20 WPM ragchew with a station in Colorado!

For little more investment of time than it takes to pass the 5-wpm test, you can gain real, higher-speed code proficiency. The key for me was avoiding all the traditional "slow code" methods and jumping right to Farnsworth 18 WPM Character Spaced Morse Code - at 18 WPM character speed, most people can still 'count' the patterns and the mind starts to concentrate on the 'entire character sound'.

Tools that made the difference: LCWO.net for daily practice sessions, Morse News for real text comprehension, and most importantly - CW Academy for structured learning with an actual instructor.

My advice: Change the speeds up and down, don't just sit at 20wpm, 5wpm effective. I did notice some improvement at slower and faster character speeds. Push yourself outside your comfort zone!

Congratulations! That's fantastic progress. Currently I'm OK working up to 20wpm qsos as long as the other station has good spacing - spacing really makes a difference when you're building speed. What character speed were you using during your practice sessions?

This gives me hope! I'm at about 8 WPM right now and getting frustrated. I highly recommend CW Academy - I keep hearing great things about their program. Did you do their beginner course or jump to intermediate?

Well done OM! Rewarding HF activities as DXing, contesting and QRP operating still rely heavily on CW - thousands of hams enjoy CW for its relaxing mode different from most other communication. You've opened up a whole new world of operating. Try some POTA or SOTA activations - CW really shines in those situations.