Morse Mentor
Morse Mentor is an Android app that provides an easy way to learn Morse Code using the Koch Method. Morse Mentor was developed by Byron as part of Smoky Ink
Download Morse Mentor at the Google Play Store. See Settings for a detailed discussion of the options you can set.
If you have any issues, please email me at smokyinkcreations@gmail.com.
Introduction
Morse Mentor uses the Koch Method to teach you Morse Code. It uses an intuitive flow to take you through lessons: Lesson Overview > Learning Session > Results > Next Lesson.
I made Morse Mentor because I wanted to learn Morse Code but there wasn't an app out there that was free, easy to use and had all the features I wanted. I'm interested in Morse Code because it was something I heard about when I was younger and decided that I should make some time to learn it.
Features
* Keeps track of your accuracy and provides a report per character at the end of a lesson.
* Intuitive keyboard with all the characters covered in the lessons, including prosigns.
* Hear how the new character sounds before a session starts so you can prepare for the lesson.
* You can opt to keep track of results yourself on a piece of paper.
* Farnsworth timing so you can reduce the effective speed if you fall behind without breaking the character rhythm (aligned to ARRL recommendations that preserves spacing ratios).
* Option to play new characters more frequently (handy for learning new characters). New characters are also *guaranteed* to appear in the lesson.
* Option to play all characters with equal probability (handy for practising all characters).
* Includes 43 characters including letters, digits, punctuations and prosigns.
* Choose the session duration, which character is next in sequence, WPM, different tone frequencies and more.
* Help is available from the app menu.
* Free (ad-supported).
The Koch Method
The Koch Method works as follows:
- Start by listening to 2 characters at 18 words per minute (WPM) for 5 minutes.
- Record the characters as you hear them.
- Compare the characters you recorded with the ones that were actually played. If you score an accuracy of 90%% or more, then add another character. If your accuracy was below 90%% then repeat the lesson with 2 characters.
- Repeat the process of adding another character until you've completed the whole sequence.
Koch Sequence
The Koch sequence contains 26 letters, 10 digits, 4 punctuation marks and 3 prosigns: KMRSUAPTLOWI.NJEF0Y,VG5/Q9ZH38B?427C1D6X<BT><SK><AR>
How does Morse Mentor help?
Morse Mentor helps you in the following way:
- The app keeps a track of the Koch sequence so you don't have to.
- You can record characters by typing them using the Morse keyboard.
- Morse Mentor will show you accuracy results and recommend if you should continue or repeat the lesson. If you prefer, you can also record it on a piece of paper and keep track of your own stats.
- There are numerous options to help you in your training, for example reducing the speed of transmission and setting the next character so you can cover a previous lesson.
Tips for training
- Keep the words per minute steady. If you fall behind, have a look at the tips below to catch up.
- Do a little bit more often rather than lots occassionally. If you find you can't sit through a 5 minute session then reduce the session duration and do more sessions on the same characters.
- Do what works for you. The options are there so play around with them.
Tips if you fall behind
Here are some tips for when you feel you're falling behind:
- Reduce the session duration to 1 or 2 minutes to give yourself time to recover more quickly.
- Enable Farnsworth Timing and set it to 15 WPM or lower. This will keep the character play speed the same but reduce the speed between words and characters to give you more time to think.
- As a last resort, decrease the WPM to 15 or lower. However, this isn't recommended as you lose the natural rhythm of the characters.