Welcome to the Morse Code Trainer

This trainer uses the Koch Method combined with the toddler system.

The Koch method of learning Morse Code means learning each individual letter at a normal coding speed, then adding 1 or 2 more letters, then mixing the letters up. After achieving copying success, add 1 or 2 more letters, and so on. Remeber, there are only about three dozen characters to learn, so this goal is within your reach.

The toddler system takes you back to when you learned your first language, as a toddler. The toddler system brings three elements of toddler learning to Morse Code.
  1. Toddlers learn their first language before they can read, so the entire process is auditory only. This is why some code teachers say, Don't look at code tables, listen to code!"
  2. Toddlers learn their first language at normal speaking speed. In other words, toddlers learn thier first language by listening to others speaking normally, not at some artificially slower speed.
  3. Toddlers start by using simple words and then expand their their vocabulary as their skills increase
This site enhances that method by starting with the simplest letters first. This trainer starts with single and double combinations of dots and dashes.

In learning Morse code, the toddler system means three things

  1. Start the learning process at 20 WPM, normal code speed, just like toddlers hear normal speech.

    "But, it makes no sense to me at that speed." says the beginner, and the beginner is correct. It does make no sense when you first hear it.

    We make our second learning mistake when we slow down the code until our inexperienced ears can grasp the code we're hearing. Bad idea.

    Instead, just relax and keep listening to the code at 20 WPM.
    • We start with one and two character letters
    • Next, we'll spend time with one and two letter words, then some short phrases.
    • We'll do these exercises using just the simplest letters; A, E, I, M, N, and T.

    You will be amazed at how quickly your ear adapts to 20 WPM. Belive it or not, it will start to sound pedestrian in a very short time.

  2. Avoid all lists, charts and images of Morse code.

    If slowing down the code is the second learning mistake, describing an audio code in written form is the first learning mistake.

    Pay no attention to dots and dashes, these do not exist in Morse code. This is a sound medium, it's never read visually. Instead, focus on what you will hear and send, di and da.

    Images of code are conspicously absent from this trainer. Reading or memorizing visual representations of the code only slows you down. Why use superflous information by adding a a second layer of processing to your comprehension? Toddlers learn to talk years before they learn to read.

    Instead, the letters are represented here as sounds only. When a new letter is introduced, it is described in di and da. There are no representations of the code for word study because you need to have the sound of the letters memorized to move forward. We've already shown we can learn using purely audio information, so there is no need for any visual representation of the code at all.

  3. Spend your early efforts just listening to the code in the trainer.

    • Start with the limited list of one and two character letters, A, E, I, M, N, T (they spell INMATE!). Give your ear and your mind a chance to acclimate to the 20 WPM speed. Listen to the letters until you can easily distinguish one letter from another.

    • Next, start listening to the very short two letter words and short phrases using the limited letter set. Listen to the pace of the letters in the code to pick up breaks between letters words.

    • After you are comfortable hearing the short words, start listening to the short phrases made up of short words. These phrases aren't necessarily sentences, just short collections of short words. Listening to these phrases will let your ear and mind learn to difference between the pauses in code in a letter, between letters between words. Learning to hear these three different paues will make learning the rest of the letters a snap.

    • Continue to move forward, first to longer words and phrases in the first six letters and then to new letters, longer words and longer phrases.

Practice pages