A Morse code practice generator for radio operators
This is a training tool for learning to receive and send Morse code, also called CW. It generates random practice text, sends it as clean audio, and shows it on screen so the same text can be used for sending practice with a straight key, a bug or paddles. Everything runs in the browser. Once the page has loaded it keeps working without a connection.
How to practise receiving
Press Hide text, then Play, and write down what you hear on paper. The transmission starts with VVV= and ends with AR, the same way a real practice transmission does. When it finishes, press Show text and compare. Copying by hand and checking afterwards is what builds the reflex; reading along while listening does not.
Choosing a character set shows practice text straight away, and changing the number of groups or their length redraws it; the Generate button is there when you simply want a different draw of the same kind. Beginners should keep groups of five characters and start with a small alphabet. Put three or four letters in the Emphasise these characters box so they dominate the text, learn those, then add more. Working through the alphabet a few letters at a time is the method behind most successful CW courses.
How to practise sending
Leave the text visible and use it as a sending script. The character being transmitted is highlighted as the audio plays, so you can key along with it and hear where your rhythm drifts. Sending is where most operators develop bad habits: dashes too short, spacing between letters too wide, a swing that nobody can read. Matching a machine-perfect signal is the cheapest way to fix that.
The Print button puts the text on paper on its own, without the controls, for practice away from the screen.
Speed, and why Farnsworth spacing helps
Speed is given in words per minute using the standard PARIS word, where one word equals fifty dot lengths. Twenty words per minute is a common target; twelve is enough for comfortable ragchewing.
The trap is learning at a slow character speed. Anyone who learns to count dots and dashes at five words per minute hits a wall around ten and has to unlearn the habit. The Farnsworth method avoids this: characters are sent at full speed, so each one is heard as a single sound with its own rhythm, while the gaps between them are stretched to give you time to write. Set Character speed to 18-20 wpm and Effective speed to whatever you can actually copy, then close the gap as you improve. The characters never have to be relearned.
Wider gaps between groups
Farnsworth stretches the gap between characters. Word spacing is a separate control that stretches only the gap between words and between code groups, leaving the characters and the gaps inside them alone. Standard spacing is seven units; the slider goes up to thirty-five. It is worth reaching for at higher speeds, where the characters themselves are comfortable but there is no time to finish writing one group before the next one starts. It is also useful for sending practice with a bug or paddles, where a longer pause gives you time to settle before the next group.
What the tool can send
- Letters, numbers, mixed - random groups, from one to ten characters each, up to a hundred groups.
- Cyrillic and Cyrillic mixed - the Bulgarian and Russian Morse alphabet on its own, or together with the digits.
- Own set - practice restricted to the characters you choose, for drilling weak spots.
- Own text - anything you type, including callsigns, contest exchanges and punctuation.
- News text - plain English headlines pulled live from a news source and trimmed to one, two, four or eight minutes, for practising real prose rather than random groups.
Punctuation and prosigns go in through the Emphasise these characters box. Whatever you
put there is drawn whether or not it belongs to the set you picked, so typing . / ? = alongside
any alphabet adds those marks to the practice. A slider appears under the box to set how much of the text
they take up, from a tenth to nine tenths; half is the default. It is the same box used to concentrate on a
few weak letters, where a high share is what you want, while punctuation usually reads better around a
quarter.
Tone is adjustable from 300 to 1000 Hz. The keying uses shaped rise and fall times, so there are no clicks on the edges and the note sounds like a well-built transmitter rather than a square wave.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. No account, no adverts, nothing to install.
Does it work offline?
Yes. The whole tool is a single page that stays in the browser cache. Only the news text mode needs a connection, and it falls back to built-in practice text without one.
What speed should a beginner start at?
Set character speed to 18 or 20 wpm and effective speed to 5 to 8 wpm. That way the characters are learned at full speed from the first day, with long gaps for writing, and the gaps shrink as you improve.
Can I practise on my phone?
Yes. The layout is built for small screens and the screen is kept awake while transmitting. On an iPhone, check that the silent switch is off, otherwise the browser will not produce sound.
What are VVV= and AR?
VVV is the traditional call used to tune in and check a signal, = is the prosign BT, and AR, sent as one run-together character, means end of message. They are transmitted around the practice text but not shown on screen, so you learn to recognise them by ear.
Built and maintained by Dimitar Krastev, LZ3NY.