Koch Method Morse Practice
Last verified: August 2026. Indexable lessons cover the first eight steps; the live course is the trainer.
Ludwig Koch’s approach (popularized for radio Morse in the 1930s) is simple: send characters at the speed you eventually want to copy, and grow the alphabet only when accuracy is high. Slowing characters to “count the dits” trains a habit that collapses above about 10 WPM.
MorseCoder’s trainer follows a 36-character Koch order starting with K and M at 20 WPM character speed. That is practice software in a browser, not a substitute for on-air mentoring.
Pair Koch with Farnsworth spacing if you need extra time between letters while keeping character speed honest. Comparison: Farnsworth vs Koch.
Lessons 1–8
- Koch Lesson 1: Characters K and M
Start Koch Morse with K (-.-) and M (--) sent at full character speed. Why this pair, how they sound, and a shareable trainer link.
- Koch Lesson 2: Add the Letter R
Koch lesson 2 adds R (.-.) to K and M. Hear how R is the dit-framed inverse of K, then open the trainer at lesson 2.
- Koch Lesson 3: Add the Letter S
Koch lesson 3 adds S (...). Contrast three dits with M’s two dahs, then practice the four-letter set in the live trainer.
- Koch Lesson 4: Add the Letter U
Koch lesson 4 adds U (..-). Tell it apart from S (...) by the closing dah, then open a shareable five-character session.
- Koch Lesson 5: Add the Letter A
Koch lesson 5 adds A (.-), a high-frequency English letter. Contrast it with R and U, then share a six-character Koch room.
- Koch Lesson 6: Add the Letter P
Koch lesson 6 adds P (.--.), the first four-element letter in this course. Hear the palindrome, then train the seven-letter set.
- Koch Lesson 7: Add the Letter T
Koch lesson 7 adds T (-), the single-dah letter. Contrast it with M, then open an eight-character shareable session.
- Koch Lesson 8: Add the Letter L
Koch lesson 8 adds L (.-..). Build it from A plus two dits, finish the first eight indexable lessons, then continue in the trainer.
Lessons 9–36 (O through X in this order) stay in-app so we do not ship dozens of near-identical pages.