The Morse Ladder

Learn Morse by ear with letters at full speed, forty characters in ten groups and a ladder of Farnsworth speeds with a rule for climbing it, then send it where a US license allows

Our WPM and Farnsworth calculator times one pair of speeds: at 18 WPM letters and 5 WPM effective, a 66.67 ms dit and 1.57 seconds between letters. It does not say what the next pair is, when to move to it, or which letters to learn while you do. Our band chart said which band a frequency was in, but not whether your license lets you transmit there; while writing this pack we fixed it against the FCC rules, adding license-class privileges, 60 meters and four other missing US bands, a check date and an edge warning. The Morse Ladder keeps the letters at full speed and stretches only the gaps. It sorts forty characters by how long they sound into ten groups of four, sets a short daily session you score, and climbs 2 WPM a rung from 5 WPM effective to standard timing, moving up after three sessions in a row at 90% copy: a floor of 51 sessions, not a forecast. Part 2 shows where a US Technician may send Morse (850 kHz of HF against 200 kHz of phone, on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters at 200 W PEP) with a dial range 3 kHz inside every edge, times your callsign and a CQ at every rung, and writes a first contact in three lines. Every figure is computed from our own calculators, and the examples are tagged as examples. The band pages are US rules only (47 CFR Part 97, checked 2026-09-29); transmitting needs an amateur license, and the pack reproduces no exam questions. It includes 24 printable pages: seven steps, a practice log, a letter tracker, a ladder card, a station check with antenna and RF exposure safety lines, reference tables and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the speeds, frequency and callsign you enter in our tools.

Look inside

Two full pages from the pack, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Fixed Letters Rule: set a character speed once and stretch only the gaps, with every letter's length at 5 and 18 WPM
• The Small Groups Rule: forty characters sorted by sound length into ten groups of four, each with its code
• The Daily Session Rule: how many characters a session plays, and how to score your copy
• The Ninety Percent Rule: every Farnsworth rung from 5 WPM to standard timing, when to climb, and the 51-session floor
• The Inside the Segment Rule: where a US license lets you send Morse, with a dial range 3 kHz inside every edge
• The Own Call Rule: your callsign in Morse and phonetics, timed at every rung
• The Short Exchange Rule: a first contact in three lines, timed at 5, 10, 13 and 18 WPM, with the abbreviations
• Four working pages: a practice log, a letter tracker, a ladder card, and a station check with your contact card
• Reference tables of letter gaps by character and effective speed and half-wave wire starting lengths, and a quickstart
• A personalised sheet worked from the speeds, frequency and callsign you enter in our tools

The pack picks up where the free WPM and Farnsworth calculator leaves off. The calculator times one pair of speeds; the pack lays out every rung from your starting speed to standard timing, with a rule for when to climb, forty characters in ten groups, and a practice log. It then shows where a US license lets you send Morse, from the band chart, with a 3 kHz margin at every edge. Listening needs no license; transmitting needs an amateur license. The band pages follow the US FCC rules (47 CFR Part 97); outside the US, use your own regulator's band plan.