so ive been doing morse practice for about 3 months now and im stuck. like really stuck. i started with the Koch method using the G4FON trainer and got up to maybe 5-6 wpm pretty comfortably but every time i try to push it above that i just fall apart and start counting dits and dahs again which i know is exactly what youre not supposed to do.

ive been reading that the trick is to practice at like 20wpm character speed but slow the spacing down (Farnsworth i think its called?) so your brain learns the sounds instead of the patterns. been trying that for about two weeks and honestly im not sure its helping or if i just need more time. some days i feel like im getting it and other days i cant copy a single letter without second guessing myself.

so i guess my actual question is — how long did it take people to get from that 5wpm beginner phase to actually being able to have a real QSO at like 15 or 20wpm? is there some breakthrough moment or does it just slowly get better? feels like im in a plateau and its frustrating because i really want to get on CW before field day this year.

oh man the plateau you're describing is so real, i went through the exact same thing and i think almost everybody does around that 5-8wpm range. what helped me more than anything was just getting on the air even when i felt totally not ready. like i started calling CQ on 40m at like 8wpm and just told people upfront in my exchange that i was a new CW op and to please QRS. most guys were super patient honestly, way more than i expected.

the Farnsworth thing does work but you gotta stick with it longer than two weeks, i think it took me closer to 2 months before i noticed i was actually hearing words instead of individual letters. also one thing nobody told me — copy by hand and let some stuff go. dont try to get every single character, just keep moving forward and fill in what you missed. that single thing helped me break through more than any software trick. took me about 8 months to get comfortable at 15wpm but i was only practicing maybe 20 minutes a day so your mileage may vary.

honestly just listen to a lot of cw even when youre not actively trying to copy it. like i had the radio on in the background while doing other stuff and i think that helped my brain just get used to the rhythm of it. also lcwo.net has a really good word training mode once you get past individual characters, worth trying if you havent already. the breakthrough does come, just sort of one day you realize youre copying without thinking about it. hang in there