Carl M0SER one of my students sent me this email and I am sure he would not mind me sharing it for the purpose of helping people.

“You will be pleased to know since then I have been enjoying getting a bit of time to play Morse! Since I saw you and with a bit of practice in the car (on CD) I’ve started to develop the ‘instant recognition’ you mentioned when we first spoke – wow! What a HUGE difference it makes – I’m no longer (for the most-part hearing dits and dahs but ‘letters’. Its much more relaxing and now means I’m on HF here at home (simple long wire) and enjoying CW contacts. I had a 45 minute rag-chew with a German station the other day. I’m very comfortable at 12-16 chatting away (providing I have a computer keyboard)”

You can achieve instant recognition eventually by carrying on the way you are, or you can achieve it a lot faster by starting again using the Koch method from the very beginning and not trying to rush things. Carl went from 6wmp to 12wpm in two weeks and then started increasing his wpm. (his story is on this website)

I would suggest that you download “Just Learn Morse Code” as you can use the keyboard with this software and set the program so you have a character speed of 20wpm and a Morse speed of 12wpm, how to use the Koch Method is also on this website.

Moving on to taking Morse in your head and learning words, this is not recommended till you can take at least 15wpm. As you mentioned your memory, remember the slower the Morse the longer you have to wait for the word to form giving you more chance to forget the first characters.

I would drop LCWO word training till you have relearned Morse using the Koch method and hopefully got instant recognition and then move onto words as it will be a lot easier.

I hope this is of help Chuck and hope to hear from you again soon

VY BEST 73’s Ian G4XFC

I was first licensed as a Novice in 1953 at age 17, passing the 13 wpm test for General about a year later. I left Ham Radio in 1955 when I went off to college. I came back to Amateur Radio in 2008, 53 years later, at age 72. After returning nearly 5 years ago, I’m still “stuck” at 10-12 wpm, finding 13 and 15 wpm copy “challenging.” Practice now is Word Training on LCWO at 18 wpm and W1AW once, or sometimes twice daily, occasionally missing a day.

Although I can copy many shorter words in my head, or on the keyboard (which I prefer), I seem to be short on memory after more than 5 or 6 letters in a particular word. Often, if I remember the last letter of a word, I can figure out what I missed. I’m sure being age 76 now doesn’t help either. I learned touch-typing in high school, but had no reason to use it until the early 90’s when I joined the Internet.

So, what advice might you give to me besides more patience, practice and persistence?

Cordially & 73, Chuck, K6ZIZ (Extra Class)

There are three signs of old age:
The first is your loss of memory.
The other two I forget.

“Plugging into Sunshine since 1989”, living 2 miles from any power or telephone lines but enjoying broadband Internet via a private wireless connection to our ISP 9 miles distant and 2,000 ft. below our ridgetop here in rural Northern California.