Morse Code

This program teaches you to receive Morse code. It starts with a few letters and adds more when it sees that you are ready. The program won't teach you to send code except that sending is easy to learn on your own once you know how the letters sound.

Getting Started

In the top-left, choose the order in which you'd like to learn, and whether you wish to learn numbers, symbols, or only letters.

"Q7ZG..." is the order used by Ward / Jim's versions of this software,
"KMRS..." is used by PU5EPX's Koch tutor on epxx.co, and reccommended by Dave Finley, N1IRZ for SuperMorse.
"KMUR..." is a similar order used by most other Koch Method morse trainers such as lcwo.net,
"TEAN..." is used by CWops by Stephen C Phillips, and CWops Academy by Rob Brownstein.
"Vic VE3YT's order" is a slight variation of the above, taught by Vic DiCiccio VE3YT (co-author of The Successful Ham Radio Operator's Handbook) in his KWARC CW course and also in his MP3s.
You can also choose to learn alphabetically.

It probably doesn't make much difference which you pick, but I'd reccommend you pick one and stick to it.

In the top-right, set the Speed fast enough that letters sound like a single sound, not a sequence of dots and dashes. Adjust the Tone to a pitch that you find pleasing.

Click in the text field to start the program sending. It will send one letter and then wait for you to type it. It ignores wrong answers and does not penalize you for guessing. If you don't type the right letter the program will eventually show you the letter and send it again. Let it do this a few times to learn a new letter. Press the ESC key to pause, and click in the box again to resume.

The program shows blue bars for the letters it has chosen for your practice. Letters it is saving show in gray. The length of the blue bars indicate how much emphasis the program gives each letter. You can also click on the bars to enable/disable letters yourself if you feel you need more control, but you wouldn't normally need to do this.

Learn Quickly

You will enjoy learning the code more if you do it quickly. You will need determination that lasts for a week or two. These tips will help you learn faster.

Spend at least an hour in every practice session. Let the program start from scratch each time. Show it what you still know.
Rest for at least 15 minutes in peace and quiet when you are done. Your mind has to consolidate what you've learned. Other activity will interfere.
Use the program at least once a week but no more than once a day. Ward's wife learned the code in four sessions in as many days.
The program sends characters quickly but with all the space between letters you need. Expect to average at about 5 words per minute. That is good enough for all ham licenses. Use something like lcwo.net, tapes, or on-the-air practice if you want go faster.

Share the Program

You will find versions of this program for many operating systems at the source distribution site: http://c2.com/morse ... or you can download this Javascript/HTML version

The Nilex Morse Tutor

This Javascript/HTML version is by Nick Waterman, based very heavily on an FLTK/SDL 2004 multimedia version of the program by Jim Wilson, which in turn was based very heavily on Fully Automatic Morse Code Teaching Machine first described in a May 1977 QST (ARRL, Newington, CT) article of the same name by Ward Cunningham.

Distributed under the GNU GPL V2 license

See http://noseynick.net/va3nnw/cw/ and http://c2.com/morse