Morse trainer

How do you learn to copy Morse code by ear?

Learn Morse code the Koch way: hear random groups at full speed, type them, and add a character at 90 % accuracy.

Practice

Lesson

You are learning: K M

What did you hear?

Speed and sound

Character speed

WPM

Overall speed (Farnsworth)

WPM

Volume

Plays five random characters of the lesson. Press it again to hear the same group once more.

Accuracy in this lesson

No answer yet

Copy at least 20 characters with 90% accuracy to move on.

Characters in this lesson

Characters in this lesson
Character	Signal	Right	Accuracy
K	-.-	0 of 0	–
M	--	0 of 0	–

How to use

Press Play a group: five random characters of the lesson are sent as a tone. Press it again to hear the same group once more.
Type what you heard and press Check (or Enter). The tool shows what was sent and what you typed, and keeps the accuracy of every character.
When you copy at least 20 characters with 90 % accuracy, go to the next lesson; it adds one new character. Pick the character speed and the overall speed first: letters stay fast, the pauses between them are longer.
The lesson is kept in the link, so you can return to it. Your answers are kept on this page only.

Characters introduced in the first five lessons

Lesson	Characters
1	K M
2	K M U
3	K M U R
4	K M U R E
5	K M U R E S

How it works

The Koch method, published by Ludwig Koch in 1936, teaches Morse code by sound at full speed from the start. You begin with just two characters, K and M, and every time you copy strings of the known characters with 90 % accuracy, one more is added. Hearing each character as a whole rhythm, not as counted dots and dashes, is what makes copying fast later.

The characters are added in the order used by LCWO, a popular online course: 41 characters, so 40 lessons. Their signals follow the international Morse code, ITU-R Recommendation M.1677-1. Speed is counted in words per minute with the 50-unit word PARIS, so one unit lasts 1.2 / WPM seconds: at 20 WPM a dot is 60 ms. Farnsworth timing keeps the characters at that speed but lengthens the pauses between them until the overall speed you choose.

Each group is scored character by character in order: a character typed in the wrong place or left out is wrong. The 90 % rule here counts everything you answered in the lesson, and asks for at least 20 characters so a lucky first group does not move you on. This is a guide for practice, not an exam.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Koch method?

A way to learn Morse code by ear: full-speed characters from the first lesson, two characters first, and one more each time you copy the known ones with 90 % accuracy.

Which speed should I choose?

Many learners keep the character speed at 20 WPM and lower the overall speed to 10 or less at first. Letters then sound like the real thing, with time to think between them.

Why do I hear some characters more often?

Every group contains the newest character of the lesson, so the one you are learning is practised the most.

Is my progress saved?

Only the lesson number is kept, in the link. Nothing is stored on your device or sent anywhere, so a reload starts the accuracy count again.

Do spaces and lowercase letters count as mistakes?

No. Scoring ignores spaces and letter case. The remaining characters must match in order.

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