編織日和 · Games

Lighthouse Morse

A Morse code game: learn to copy Morse by ear alone

Lit2/ 41 lamps

Fog season has come. The old keeper left you a telegraph key and a logbook. The first page says just one thing: Don’t look. Listen. Every character you learn lights one more lamp on the coast, 41 in all.

Watch desk

First watch?

Spend 5 minutes on the first page of the logbook: meet dits and dahs, then learn to copy by ear alone.

  1. Read page one5 minutes to meet dit and dah. By the last step you use your ears only.
  2. Stand a few shifts a dayOne shift is 25 characters, about 2 minutes. Hear a sound, pick the character.
  3. 90% correct lights a lampEach lamp adds one character. Light all 41 and you know them all.

Turn your sound on; headphones work best. On iPhone, turn off Silent mode.

Keeper’s log

Each lamp is one character, in the order of the LCWO Koch course. Tap a lit lamp to hear it again. Your progress stays in this browser on this device.

The 41 lamps of the coast

    The bars under each lamp show mastery: a correct answer moves it up one step, a miss sends it back to the first. Characters with fewer bars come up more often.

    Watch record

    Today’s watch
    0/ 10 min
    Streak
    0days
    Characters copied
    0
    Overall accuracy
    —

    Last 14 days

    Minutes on watch per day. Koch recommended spaced practice: a little every day beats one long weekend session.

    Frequent mix-ups

      Progress card

      Light 3 lamps to make a progress card.

      The old keeper’s logbook

        Sound and speed settings

        Effective speed can’t exceed character speed. Keep the character speed at 20 WPM or more; if you can’t keep up, lower the effective speed first so the gaps between characters get longer.

        What is the fastest way to learn Morse code?
        Why by ear alone

        A summary of Koch’s original 1936 study and how current online courses apply it. Compiled by Knitting Hiyori. Last updated October 30, 2026.

        Don’t memorize a chart first. People who learn from a chart hear a sound, count the dots and dashes in their head, then look it up. That works at slow speeds but stalls at around 10 words per minute. Koch’s approach starts near full speed with just two characters, adds one more at 90% accuracy, and treats each character as one whole sound.

        6 things this game takes from the research

        • Full speed, not slowCharacters play at 20 words per minute. Koch found that below 10, listeners break a character into separate dits and dahs and never learn the whole sound.
        • Start with two charactersYour first shift has only K and M, which sound very different. Reach 90% on a 25-character shift to light the next lamp.
        • No dots or dashes after the introThe intro spends only 5 minutes on dots and dashes. After that the screen shows no patterns, so you don’t build the count-and-look-up habit.
        • Stretch the gaps, not the charactersFarnsworth spacing keeps each character at full speed and only lengthens the silence between them. If you can’t keep up, lower the effective speed instead of slowing the characters.
        • Old characters stay in the mixA new character is mixed with the ones you know from the start, so your ear has to tell them apart instead of only listening for the newest one.
        • Missed characters come back moreEach character has its own mastery level. Characters you miss, haven’t heard in a while, or often confuse with another come up more often.

        One caveat: Koch’s experiments were done in the 1930s with trainee telegraph operators, and the samples and controls differ from today’s studies. The Long Island CW Club’s 2026 method guide revisited the report and suggests reading some of its conclusions with caution. Still, practicing near full speed, adding one character at a time, and using only your ears remains the basis of mainstream online courses such as LCWO.

        Character order: the Koch course order from the LCWO source code, 41 characters (26 letters, 10 numbers, 5 punctuation marks).

        Koch, L. (1936). Berufspsychologische Untersuchung der Tätigkeit des Morseschreibens. Zeitschrift für angewandte Psychologie, 50 (full English translation, via LICW) Pierpont, W. G. (N0HFF). The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy, chapter 29: The Koch Researches LCWO (Learn CW Online) source code: Koch course character order Farnsworth timing calculation (after Bloom, J., KE3Z. A Standard for Morse Timing Using the Farnsworth Technique. QEX, ARRL) Long Island CW Club (2026). The LICW Method Guide 2.2: a re-examination of Koch’s 1936 report Cepeda, N. J. et al. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3) (spaced practice) Rohrer, D., Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning. Instructional Science, 35 (interleaved practice)

        Morse code learning FAQ

        What people most often ask before their first watch.

        What is the fastest way to learn Morse code?
        The most widely recommended way is the Koch method: play characters at full speed from the start, learn only 2 characters, and add the next one once you reach about 90% accuracy, all by ear without a chart. This game follows that method. Practicing 10 to 30 minutes a day works better than an occasional long session.
        Why not memorize a Morse code chart?
        People who learn from a chart usually count the dots and dashes in their head and then look the letter up. Koch’s 1936 study found this works at slow speeds but stalls at around 10 words per minute. Learning each character as one whole sound is what lets you keep up at real speeds.
        What is the Koch method?
        The Koch method is a Morse training approach proposed by the German psychologist Ludwig Koch in 1936. You start with two very different sounding characters such as K and M, practice near full speed, and add the next character at about 90% accuracy. Online courses such as LCWO use it today, and this game takes its 41-character order from LCWO.
        What is Farnsworth spacing?
        Farnsworth spacing keeps each character at full speed but stretches the silence between characters, giving beginners time to respond. This game defaults to a character speed of 20 WPM and an effective speed of 12 WPM, both adjustable in settings. The faster the character speed, the closer you are to real copying.
        How long should I practice each day?
        Koch’s research found about half an hour of continuous practice most effective, ideally once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and spaced practice is remembered better than one long session. The game sets a daily goal of 10 minutes, about 3 or 4 shifts.
        Where is my progress saved?
        Your progress stays in this browser on this device and is never uploaded. If you switch phones or clear your browser data, you start again from the first lamp. You can also erase it yourself at the bottom of the logbook.

        After your shift, visit a real lighthouse

        The lighthouses at the southern and northern tips of Taiwan are both still shining.

        Eluanbi Lighthouse

        Hengchun, Pingtung · southern tip of Taiwan

        First lit in 1883, it is the brightest lighthouse in Taiwan and is known as the “Light of East Asia”. It was built as a small fortress for defense; today it stands in Eluanbi Park, open to visitors all year.

        Fuguijiao Lighthouse

        Shimen, New Taipei · northern tip of Taiwan

        Its black and white octagonal tower is painted to stand out in the thick fog of autumn and winter. It was also the first lighthouse in Taiwan with a foghorn, which sounds every 30 seconds.

        Keep the lighthouse together: who lights all 41 first?

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