Farnsworth Method for Learning CW: Fast Characters, Slow Gaps

The Farnsworth method is the most common way to teach Morse code to a beginner without ruining the way the letters sound. The idea is simple: every character is sent at its full target speed, say 18 words per minute, but the pauses between characters and between words are made much longer, so that the overall speed is only 5 or 8 words per minute. You hear each letter as a short, quick melody and you get time to think between letters. This guide explains where the method comes from, how the numbers work, how to set it up in your practice software and how to leave the slow gaps behind as you improve.

Why Slow Characters Are the Wrong Way to Start

A beginner who learns CW from a chart often starts with slow, stretched letters: a long dah, a slow dit, another long dah. This feels natural, because the speed is low and every element can be counted. The problem is that it teaches you to count. When the speed goes up, the counting no longer works, because a letter at 20 words per minute lasts a fraction of a second. You have to unlearn the habit and learn a new sound for every character, which is the reason many learners get stuck around 8 to 10 words per minute for months.

The better approach is to learn the sound of the whole character from the first day. The letter C is not dah-dit-dah-dit, it is a rhythm, the same way that a short word is heard as a word and not as separate letters. To get this, each character must always be sent at a speed where the rhythm is clear, which is usually 15 to 20 words per minute or even higher. At that speed the elements cannot be counted, so the brain learns the pattern as a single sound.

Where the Method Comes From

The method is named after Donald R. Farnsworth, W6TTY, a radio amateur who proposed the idea for training. Whatever its exact history, the principle is widely used by training programs and by the League and club courses that teach CW: fast characters, extra time between them. It is sometimes confused with the Koch method, but the two solve different problems. Farnsworth spacing answers the question of how the characters should sound. The Koch method, developed by the German psychologist Ludwig Koch, answers the question of which characters to learn and in which order. In practice, they are used together, and most good trainers allow both settings at once.

You can read the general background on the code and its timing on the Morse code article on Wikipedia. For the basic unit lengths, such as the dit, the dah and the three-unit gap between letters, see our guide to Morse code timing and the PARIS standard.

How Effective Speed Is Calculated

Standard Morse timing counts the word PARIS as 50 units. Of these, 31 units are the dits, dahs and the short gaps inside the letters, and 19 units are the gaps between letters and the gap between words. With Farnsworth spacing, the 31 units are sent at the character speed, and only the 19 units of spacing are stretched, so that the whole word takes the time of the slower, overall speed.

If c is the character speed and s the overall speed, both in words per minute, then one word at the overall speed lasts 60/s seconds. The characters themselves take 37.2/c seconds, because 31 units at 1.2/c seconds each make 37.2/c. The rest of the time is spacing, and it is divided by 19 to get the length of one stretched spacing unit:

t = (60/s − 37.2/c) / 19 seconds per spacing unit.

A letter gap is three of these units and a word gap is seven. For example, with characters at 18 words per minute and an overall speed of 10 words per minute, the stretched unit is (6 − 2.07) / 19, which is about 0.21 seconds. A normal unit at 18 words per minute is 0.067 seconds, so each gap is about three times longer than normal. The table shows how the stretch factor changes when the character speed stays at 18 words per minute.

Most practice programs do this calculation for you. You choose a character speed and an overall speed, and the program inserts the correct gaps. What matters for you is to understand that the character speed is the one that sets how the letters sound, and the overall speed only sets how long you wait between them.

Choosing Your Speeds

The common advice is to set the character speed at 15 to 20 words per minute from the beginning. If you pick a value lower than 12, the letters lose their rhythm and you are back to counting. If you pick a value above 25, you may feel lost for the first weeks, because the sounds pass before the brain can name them. A character speed of 18 is a good default, and it is also the speed at which many contest and net operators send, so you are learning at a speed you will really meet on the air.

The overall speed starts as low as you need. Many learners start at 5 words per minute and are surprised how easy it is to copy a letter that arrives with a pause of a second or more afterwards. As soon as you copy a session with more than 90 percent accuracy, increase the overall speed by 1 or 2 words per minute while leaving the character speed unchanged. Over a few weeks the gaps shrink until the overall speed meets the character speed, and then you are copying normal CW with nothing left to unlearn.

Do not lower the character speed

The most common mistake is to raise the overall speed by lowering the character speed, or to lower both when a session feels hard. If copy becomes difficult, keep the character speed and slow the overall speed again. The only thing that should change is the gap. This feels strange at first, because the letters seem to rush past, but it is exactly what keeps the rhythm of the characters intact.

Combining Farnsworth With the Koch Order

In the Koch method you start with just two characters, sent at the full character speed, and copy random groups of them. When you reach about 90 percent accuracy, a new character is added, and so on until the whole alphabet, the digits and the punctuation are included. The two characters at the start are easy, because they are very different in sound, and every new character is learned in the context of those already known.

Farnsworth spacing fits this method well. With only two characters the gaps can be long, perhaps an overall speed of 5 words per minute, and the sessions are still pleasant. As the alphabet grows you reduce the gaps. Many trainers on the web and for phones use exactly this combination, and some let you choose the order of the characters, so that you can learn the ones you need first. Whichever program you use, check that it keeps the character speed fixed when you change the overall speed, because a few programs do not.

A Daily Practice Plan

Short and regular sessions, a principle known from spaced repetition, work much better than long, tiring ones. Two or three sessions of 10 to 15 minutes each day will take you further than one session of an hour at the weekend. The following plan is a reasonable start for most people.

• Week 1 to 2: character speed 18, overall speed 5. Learn the first eight to ten characters in the Koch order. Copy by writing on paper, without looking at the screen.
• Week 3 to 6: add the remaining letters and the digits. Raise the overall speed to 8. Start to copy short words and call signs, not only random groups.
• Week 7 to 12: raise the overall speed to 10 to 13. Practise call signs, the typical contest exchange and plain text from a real source.
• After that: bring the overall speed close to the character speed and move to real on-air practice, such as slow CW nets and sprints.

Try to copy on paper first and only later in your head. Writing makes you commit to a letter before the next one arrives, which is the habit you need on the air. Do not look back at the previous letter. If you miss one, leave a dash and go on, because stopping to think about the missed letter makes you lose the next two.

Moving to Real Operating

When your overall speed is around 10 to 12 words per minute, you can start to listen on the air. Choose a slow net or a practice session and copy what you can. You will notice that real operators do not send with Farnsworth spacing, so at first the gaps will feel too short, and you will have to work to keep up. This is a normal step. Try software such as Morse Runner for practice with call signs at the speed of a contest, and learn the usual short forms from our list of CW abbreviations and prosigns.

For a broader plan that covers motivation, equipment and the first contacts, see the guide on learning Morse code and building CW speed. When you start to send as well as receive, take care that your own timing is regular. Uneven spacing, a well-known problem of beginners, makes your signal harder to copy for the other operator, and a keyer set to a steady speed, or the guidance in our article about iambic keying, can help to make it uniform.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The first mistake is to stop at the slow stage. Some learners stay at an overall speed of 5 or 6 words per minute for a long time, because it feels comfortable. The method only works if the gaps get shorter over time. Set a calendar reminder and raise the speed when the accuracy allows.

The second mistake is to mix methods. If you spend a week learning letters from a chart with dots and dashes, then switch to sound, you spoil the work. Do not visualise dots and dashes at all. Think of the character as a sound, and give it a name only when you write it down.

The third mistake is to practise only with random groups. Random groups train the ear, but real CW consists of words and call signs, which have patterns the brain can predict. Mix both kinds of text in each week of practice. The last mistake is to practise while tired or distracted. The brain learns well in short, focused sessions, so stop when your accuracy begins to fall.

The Bottom Line

The Farnsworth method keeps every character at a speed of 15 to 20 words per minute and stretches only the gaps, so that you learn the sound of each letter rather than a count of dots and dashes. Choose a fixed character speed, start with an overall speed that gives you 90 percent accuracy, and raise the overall speed in small steps while the character speed stays the same. Combine it with the Koch order, practise in short daily sessions and move to real on-air copy when the overall speed reaches about 10 to 12 words per minute.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Farnsworth method in Morse code?

It is a way of sending Morse code in which the characters are sent at the full target speed, but the gaps between characters and words are stretched, so that the overall speed is lower. It helps you learn the sound of each letter.

What character speed should I use for Farnsworth practice?

Most trainers recommend 15 to 20 words per minute. Below about 12 the letters lose their rhythm, and above 25 a beginner may find the practice too fast.

How do I calculate the effective speed?

Divide 60 by the overall speed and subtract 37.2 divided by the character speed, then divide the result by 19. This gives the length in seconds of one stretched spacing unit. A letter gap is three of them and a word gap is seven.

What is the difference between Farnsworth and Koch?

Farnsworth spacing sets how the characters are timed, while the Koch method sets the order in which you learn them. The two are often used together.

When should I reduce the gaps?

When you copy a session with about 90 percent accuracy, raise the overall speed by one or two words per minute and keep the character speed unchanged.

Do operators on the air use Farnsworth spacing?

Normally not. Most operators send with standard timing, so you should move from Farnsworth practice to normal timing as your overall speed approaches the character speed.