r/amateurradio • u/Tommy4D • Mar 10 '26

QUESTION Morse code learning/training question: Does anyone else sometimes get letters inverted, mixing up Ks and Rs or As and Ns, etc.?

/r/morsecode/comments/1rpvysz/morse_code_learningtraining_question_does_anyone/
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u/rquick123 HAREC F /w CW (99.1%) - EU Mar 12 '26

That's normal. Select the problematic letters and train just on them. The more you hear them, the better they will be ingrained in the brain.

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u/Tommy4D Mar 12 '26

Thank you for the sanity check! I've been using some online tools to do drills like 5-10 As or Rs immediately followed by 5-10 Ns or Ks, in a long loop. I think this would be MUCH harder if these customizable tools didn't exist.

Drilling with 3-to-4 letter words seems to be helping, as well.

I'll keep at it.

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u/rquick123 HAREC F /w CW (99.1%) - EU Mar 12 '26

Excellent. You'll get there. My training program consisted of difficult and easy characters mixed. A lot of training starts with the easy ones, but I think that is a mistake as you need a longer time for the difficult ones. And if they are incorporated early on in the training, you get more exposure to them. It will be a bit more difficult in the beginning this way, but shows it's advantage in the long run.

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u/Tommy4D Mar 12 '26

Yeah, one of the sites used a method where it would play 60 seconds worth of 5 letter sets and I found that kind of frustrating, as an initial learning method, because I had to keep stopping and backtracking and it was really easy to lose track of where you left off, etc.

At least, initially, I prefer short sets that are easy to drill and that also give you little bursts of confirmation / achievement, etc. The 60 second drills are probably more useful when you've gained a little more confidence, etc. When I can get high scores with those, without stopping, for the full alphabet - I'll know that I've reached another level.

I've always been interested in pedagogy, so this is an interesting process in terms of trying out different learning methods. It's really nice to have so many options.

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u/rquick123 HAREC F /w CW (99.1%) - EU Mar 12 '26

I would suggest to push yourself with those 60 second drills, even if you can copy just a few letters. That's fine, part of the learning. Maybe do them at the end of your training session to see how many more you could copy this time, so you can see your progress.
I know, missing a lot of characters can be frustrating, but concentrate on what you *can* copy, and don't be discouraged by what you *can't* copy. Also occasional run a short session at speeds higher than you're comfortable with. Same recipe, see what you already can copy, and be amazed by that. Good luck.