March 18, 2025
Learning Morse Code
I learned the Norman keyboard layout and switched to Doom Emacs a few years ago. I made notes of my progress in a blog post. I lost that blog post*, but I remember it being a valuable exercise and I thought I'd do it again while learning morse code.
I'm using the Koch method with the software Just Learn Morse Code.
Character speed of 20 WPM and overall speed of 20 WPM.
Session length of 5 minutes.
Here's the baseline that I'm starting from on 2024-03-18. Prior to this, I spent only a couple of hours playing around with phone apps and other methods of learning Morse code.
| Letters | Accuracy |
|---|---|
| km | 99% |
| rs | 83% |
| au | 46% |
| pt | 40% |
From here on, it's strictly the Koch method with the Just Learn Morse Code software.
| Time | Letters | Accuracy | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-03-20T23:50:00 | 3 | 88% | |
| 2025-03-21T00:00:00 | 3 | 92% | |
| 2025-03-21T00:05:00 | 4 | 60% | |
| 2025-03-21T00:10:00 | 4 | 77% | |
| 2025-03-21T00:20:00 | 4 | 68% | |
| 2025-03-21T17:10:00 | 4 | 69% | |
| 2025-03-21T17:20:00 | 4 | 73% | I felt like this one was going to be < 50%! |
| 2025-03-21T17:25:00 | 4 | 74% | Same... I feel like I'm getting worse. But the numbers keep going up. |
| 2025-03-21T17:35:00 | 4 | 76% | |
| 2025-03-21T17:45:00 | 4 | 76% | Even with the previous two notes... this one felt atrocious! |
| 2025-03-22T22:55:00 | 4 | 83% | |
| 2025-03-22T23:00:00 | 4 | 82% | |
| 2025-03-22T23:05:00 | 4 | 82% | |
| 2025-03-22T23:10:00 | 4 | 80% | |
| 2025-03-22T23:15:00 | 4 | 74% | |
| 2025-03-22T23:15:00 | 4 | 77% | |
| 2025-03-23T15:25:00 | 4 | 86% | |
| 2025-03-23T15:30:00 | 4 | 87% | Note: I'm taking a 1-2 minute break between each round |
| 2025-03-23T15:40:00 | 4 | 85% | but I'm rounding everything to 5 minute intervals. |
| 2025-03-23T15:45:00 | 4 | 79% | |
| 2025-03-23T15:55:00 | 4 | 82% | |
| 2025-03-23T16:00:00 | 4 | 81% | I'm getting better at grouping the letters. I'll wait until I hear a 2- or 3-letter combo before typing. I'm also getting better at recovering from fumbles/distractions. |
| 2025-03-24T17:15:00 | 4 | 92% | |
| 2025-03-24T17:20:00 | 5 | 63% | 100 minutes to hit 90% on the 4th letter. |
| 2025-03-24T17:25:00 | 5 | 67% | |
| 2025-03-24T17:30:00 | 5 | 62% | |
| 2025-03-24T17:35:00 | 5 | 65% | |
| 2025-03-24T17:35:00 | 5 | 70% | Thought this one would be terrible. Tried hitting a key for everything I heard. Before this, I would only hit keys where I was pretty sure they were correct... |
| 2025-03-26T03:35:00 | 5 | 63% | ...A lot of letters I left blank. I wonder how the algorithm works. I don't want to be gaming it. I think I'll go back to only hitting keys when I'm confident. |
| 2025-03-26T03:40:00 | 5 | 75% | |
| 2025-03-26T03:45:00 | 5 | 67% | |
| 2025-03-26T03:50:00 | 5 | 71% | |
| 2025-03-26T04:00:00 | 5 | 75% | |
| 2025-03-26T04:05:00 | 5 | 72% | |
| 2025-03-26T15:40:00 | 5 | 70% | |
| 2025-03-26T15:45:00 | 5 | 72% | |
| 2025-03-26T15:50:00 | 5 | 72% | |
| 2025-03-26T15:55:00 | 5 | 73% | |
| 2025-03-26T16:00:00 | 5 | 73% | |
| 2025-03-26T16:10:00 | 5 | 75% | |
| 2025-03-27T16:40:00 | 5 | 76% | |
| 2025-03-27T16:45:00 | 5 | 75% | |
| 2025-03-27T16:50:00 | 5 | 74% | |
| 2025-03-27T16:55:00 | 5 | 74% | |
| 2025-03-27T17:00:00 | 5 | 79% | |
| 2025-03-27T17:05:00 | 5 | 74% | I took a break before this to practice keying for the first time. Big mistake. It threw me off. |
| 2025-03-28T16:35:00 | 5 | 86% | |
| 2025-03-28T16:40:00 | 5 | 77% | |
| 2025-03-28T16:45:00 | 5 | 80% | |
| 2025-03-28T17:00:00 | 5 | 77% | |
| 2025-03-28T17:05:00 | 5 | 86% | |
| 2025-03-28T17:10:00 | 5 | 79% | |
| 2025-03-30T03:35:00 | 5 | 80% | |
| 2025-03-30T03:40:00 | 5 | 89% | |
| 2025-03-30T03:45:00 | 5 | 78% | |
| 2025-03-30T03:50:00 | 5 | 93% | Finally! |
| 2025-03-30T03:55:00 | 6 | 64% | |
| 2025-03-30T03:55:00 | 6 | 69% | |
| 2025-03-30T22:15:00 | 6 | 71% | |
| 2025-03-30T22:20:00 | 6 | 69% | |
| 2025-03-30T22:25:00 | 6 | 68% | |
| 2025-03-30T22:30:00 | 6 | 74% | |
| 2025-03-30T22:35:00 | 6 | 71% | |
| 2025-03-30T22:40:00 | 6 | 80% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:20:00 | 6 | 76% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:25:00 | 6 | 73% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:30:00 | 6 | 74% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:35:00 | 6 | 71% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:40:00 | 6 | 69% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:35:00 | 6 | 74% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:40:00 | 6 | 94% | Beginning to try Farnsworth. Speed 15/20. |
| 2025-03-31T17:50:00 | 7 | 93% | |
| 2025-03-31T17:55:00 | 8 | 86% | |
| 2025-03-31T02:50:00 | 8 | 81% | |
| 2025-03-31T02:55:00 | 8 | 88% | |
| 2025-03-31T03:00:00 | 8 | 94% | |
| 2025-03-31T03:05:00 | 9 | 90% | |
| 2025-03-31T03:10:00 | 10 | 82% | |
| 2025-03-31T03:15:00 | 10 | 89% | |
| 2025-03-31T03:15:00 | 10 | 93% | |
| 2025-04-01T16:00:00 | 11 | 75% | |
| 2025-04-01T16:05:00 | 11 | 73% | |
| 2025-04-01T16:10:00 | 11 | 80% | |
| 2025-04-01T16:25:00 | 11 | 78% | Practiced keying for a few minutes again before this one. |
| 2025-04-01T16:30:00 | 11 | 84% | |
| 2025-04-01T16:55:00 | 11 | 79% | |
| 2025-04-01T16:55:00 | 11 | 78% | |
| 2025-04-02T15:10:00 | 11 | 76% | |
| 2025-04-02T15:15:00 | 11 | 94% | Moved to 10/20 Farnsworth. |
| 2025-04-02T15:20:00 | 12 | 97% | |
| 2025-04-02T15:25:00 | 13 | 97% | |
| 2025-04-02T16:20:00 | 14 | 90% | |
| 2025-04-02T16:25:00 | 15 | 97% | |
| 2025-04-02T17:10:00 | 16 | 89% | Missed a lot of A, T, and I. |
| 2025-04-02T17:15:00 | 16 | 96% | |
| 2025-04-02T17:20:00 | 17 | 93% | Missed a lot of R. |
| 2025-04-02T17:25:00 | 18 | 87% | |
| 2025-04-02T17:30:00 | 18 | 90% | |
| 2025-04-02T17:50:00 | 19 | 93% | Missed a few J and N. |
| 2025-04-02T17:55:00 | 20 | 66% | Oh dear. |
| 2025-04-02T18:00:00 | 20 | 90% | |
| 2025-04-02T23:00:00 | 20 | 74% | |
| 2025-04-02T23:05:00 | 20 | 88% | |
| 2025-04-02T00:50:00 | 20 | 91% | |
| 2025-04-02T00:55:00 | 21 | 87% | |
| 2025-04-02T01:00:00 | 21 | 77% | |
| 2025-04-02T01:05:00 | 21 | 89% | |
| 2025-04-02T01:10:00 | 21 | 93% | |
| 2025-04-02T01:15:00 | 22 | 86% | |
| 2025-04-02T02:30:00 | 22 | 79% | Missed lots of V and G. |
| 2025-04-02T02:35:00 | 22 | 83% | |
| 2025-04-02T03:25:00 | 22 | 89% | |
| 2025-04-02T03:30:00 | 22 | 85% | |