Using The Nilex Morse Tutor

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. It picks letters, numbers, symbols, words, and phrases that it thinks you need to practice more. It tries to avoid letters, numbers, symbols you are already very good at. 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.

Quick Start

Test your sound in the top-right corner. Assuming you can hear morse, just click where it says "Click here to begin", and try to type the morse that you hear. If you go wrong, you'll see the correct letter in [square brackets]. Type it. Enjoy!

Details Details Details...

In the top-left, choose the order in which you'd like to learn...

• "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,
• "AENT... is used by CWops CW Academy (thanks, Mary VE3INE, and of course Ken Rainey AC5EZ, Rob Brownstein K6RB)
• "TEAN..." was used by previous CWops by Stephen C Phillips, and CWops Academy by Rob Brownstein.
• "ANET... 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.
• "ETI5..." is used by The Ham Whisperer in their series of YouThube videos
• You can also choose to learn alphabetically.
• (Let me know if you want any other orders, they're quite easy to add)

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

You can choose to learn Numbers, Symbols, or only letters. Usually the program will automatically add extra letters / numbers / symbols as you progress. You can disable this by un-ticking "Progress" if you wish to stick with a fixed set of letters. You can also choose to disable Words and/or Phrases (but they are so much fun!), QSO bits (CQs, RST reports etc), Ham Radio Bands, X+Y=Z maths ("5 MINUS 3 IS 2" etc), Units ("30 ohms", "3DB", "48KB").

In the top-right, set a comfortable volume. 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. You can also adjust the KeyShape / keying envelope, from a very slow rise-and-fall to a super-sharp clicky square edge. Feel free to "test".

Click in the "Click here" 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 [in square brackets] and send it again. Let it do this a few times to learn a new letter. Press the TAB key, or click outside the text box to pause, and click in the box again to resume.

The program shows blue bars for the letters it has chosen for your practice. In gray are letters it is saving for later. 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.

• Try to 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 several times 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 on-the-air practice, lcwo.net, Vic VE3YT's MP3s, CDs, tapes, gramophone records, or phonographs, if you want go faster.

Share the Program

If you enjoy using this Morse Tutor, please spread the word! Tell your friends! Tell your local radio club! Leave me a review on eham.net!

You can download your own copy of this Javascript / HTML5 Morse Tutor by simply choosing "File / Save Page As" (or similar) in your browser - this Morse Tutor page has no other external dependencies, requires no special plugins, and should run OK offline. Alternatively, you can find simpler versions of this program (without the words / phrases) for many operating systems at Ward's source distribution site: http://c2.com/morse

About The Nilex Morse Tutor

© Copyright 1998-2019 "Nosey" Nick Waterman. This Javascript / HTML5 Morse Tutor is somewhat based on an earlier 2004 FLTK/SDL 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.

Changes

This version was originaly very similar to Jim/Ward's version, except ported to JavaScript / HTML5 to run in a web browser. A major rewrite in Oct 2019 added...

• A new WebAudio sound library, written by my son AwesomeAidenW. This replaces the previous implementation that downloaded an MP3 for each letter when required, and/or an even earlier one that relied on Shockwave Flash for sound. The new WebAudio library enabled KeyShape / Keying envelope to be tweaked, and also allowed the page to work fine offline.
• Better mobile support. Smartphone keypress events don't work quite how you'd expect, we have to handle input differently.
• Best of all: Words! Phrases! Ham radio equipment! Quotes! These are taken from...
• 3000 of google's top words (cleaned by manually removing rude/offensive words)
• 2284+ "General Service List" words (most popular words / "greatest general service"), tweaked to include English and American spellings of some of the words
• 2 and 3-letter ISO country codes. (Most) Capital cities and countries of the world. US states and big cities. Canadian provinces / territories and big cities. UK counties. Some other large world cities.
• 100 each of the most common US male and female names 2018.
• Days of the week, months of the year, etc.
• Periodic table of elements (and abbreviations).
• A load of quotes from history, movies, books, songs. These are loads of fun!
• A few famous scientists, authors, and radio hams.
• Many Ham Radio Q-codes. Electronic components (names, some common part numbers). Some common ham abbreviations, jargon, terms, bands, modes, some top equipment (EG most popular eham reviews). Some example call signs (EG club repeaters, celebrity hams). Short bits of QSOs.
• The program also generates sequences (NNNNN, EEEE, etc), Maths (X PLUS Y IS Z), Units (23 OHMS, 110VAC, 27 WATTS, 31KHZ, 3DB GAIN), Bits of QSOs (CQs, RSTs).

To Do

• Prosigns like <BT>, <AR>? Any idea how you should type them? Perhaps by holding SHIFT? (credit K4EGP)
• More CW QSOs. More natural QSOs. Perhaps auto-generate realistic-looking callsigns, or take the top 100+ real calls off of RBN or dx spots or something? I already have 4000+ CWOPS calls but need to use them.
• Web app manifest - will make it easier to install like an app
• Save progress? ... but starting again from scratch next time helps you "get back into the swing" a bit?
• Save settings?
• Scoring / Scoreboard / "Achievements" to unlock? Fireworks for unlocking new letters or reaching new levels of speed, accuracy, round numbers of letters copied, or copied without error.
• Easter eggs - perhaps audio snippets corresponding to some of the quotes?
• Visual morse mode - flash the dits and dahs instead of sound. -- thanks Edward G Prentice"
• Add QRM/QRN! Configure signal:noise ratios, fading, etc
• Add (option for) deliberately bad keying rather than perfect timing
• Once you're really good, don't wait. Start to get more than 1 char ahead, reduce the sorta-farnsworth gap until morse spacing is completely natural, slowing down (/repeating?) only if you get too far behind.
• Add (optional) band noise? Lightning crashes? Birdies? Other QRM/QRN? Tuning?
• Teach sending? How? Use your spacebar as a straight key, or 2 keys as a paddle? Key to USB HID device of some sort? 🤨
• Email me if you have any other ideas!

Thanks

Many thanks to my son AwesomeAidenW for his WebAudio library help, and to Vic DiCiccio VE3YT and his class of CW students for their inspiration and beta testing.

If you enjoy using this Morse Tutor, please spread the word! Tell your friends! Tell your local radio club! Leave me a review on eham.net!

Distributed under the GNU GPL V2 license. See https://noseynick.net/va3nnw/cw/ for the latest release.