Are you one of the Morse operators still suffering from the 5wpm Morse Test and finding difficulty progressing forward with your Morse speeds? I have listened to many sad stories about this and you have my sympathy. But there could be hope at the end of the tunnel if you are willing to retrain and begin to learn Morse as a language. I would suggest you read “So You Would Like to Learn the Secret of Morse” and start again from the beginning.
I would like to say at this point I have no experience of this situation and would be very pleased if anyone that has been in this situation and overcome it please comment on this post and give your advice.
I took the 5wpm test in 2000. I passed and wanted to use Morse on the air. The months after the test were very difficult as it was hard to progress even with lots of practice. I did get up to 12wpm and went for a test at a rally. The examiner did not turn up and a short while after this the Morse requirement was abolished.
Then I found the Koch method and virtually started all over again. I have been trying to improve on and off for the last 10 years but the transition from learning the old way was not easy.
My advice to anybody starting to learn Morse is USE THE KOCH METHOD from day one. Set the character speed to at least 12 wpm or 15 wpm with long gaps between characters. Learn the sound and NEVER count the dots and dashes. And don’t be tempted to listen to conventional slow Morse!
I have just started re-learning at my local club using the Koch method. Having almost completely lost the ability over the last 25 years.
In the last of 3, 3 minute sessions I achieved 100% copy of the 2 learned characters sent at 15wpm character speed, overall spacing for 12wpm.
I am fully confident that in the promised 13 hours of practice I will be able to receive 100% at 12 wpm all letters, punctuation, and numbers.
This compares to weeks of slow morse first time round, and each time the speed went up it was almost like learning the who;e thing over again.
My friends who are learning with me and have never tried before achieved 75 – 90% copy at 12 wpm in the same 9 minutes.
Need we say more
David, the other thing is that the ‘walls’ or barriers of the old method disappear. I have been doing a few weeks practice at 15wpm and thought I would try a character speed of 20 with spacing at 17. It was a jump but did not feel that big. I am eventually aiming at 20wpm and am getting more confident that it is possible.