Morse code speed is measured in words per minute (WPM), and the "word" is always the same one: PARIS. Sent with standard spacing, PARIS takes exactly 50 timing units, so a speed of 20 WPM means twenty PARISes in 60 seconds. Everything else follows from one formula:
one unit (a dot) in milliseconds = 1200 / WPMA dash is three units, the gap inside a letter is one, the gap between letters three and the gap between words seven. So at 20 WPM a dot lasts 60 ms; at 5 WPM it lasts 240 ms. Because PARIS has five letters, a rough rule of thumb is five characters a minute for every WPM.
Hear the difference
Each button plays PARIS twice at that speed, at a 600 Hz tone. Start with 5 and work up — somewhere around 13–20 WPM the letters stop sounding like dots and dashes and start sounding like shapes.
Audio plays in your browser; nothing is uploaded. For any other text or speed, use the translator.
What each speed means
| Speed | Dot length | One PARIS takes | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 WPM | 240 ms | 12 s | The last US amateur license code test (until 2007); aviation beacon identifiers are sent at about this speed; the slowest W1AW practice. |
| 13 WPM | 92 ms | 4.6 s | The old US General-class code test, dropped in 2000. |
| 18 WPM | 67 ms | 3.3 s | The speed of W1AW's daily code bulletins. |
| 20 WPM | 60 ms | 3 s | The old US Amateur Extra test and the plain-language receiving speed required of US commercial radiotelegraph operators. Roughly the limit for writing copy down by hand. |
| 30 WPM | 40 ms | 2 s | Within W1AW's fast practice, which steps down from 35 WPM to 10. |
| 40 WPM | 30 ms | 1.5 s | Skilled operators copy in their heads beyond this. |
| 75 WPM | 16 ms | 0.8 s | Ted McElroy's copying record, set in 1939 and still standing. |
Two footnotes on the records. Sources give McElroy's figure as 75.2 or 75.6 WPM, and he copied it on a typewriter. Sending is measured differently: according to Guinness World Records, Andrei Bindasov of Belarus sent 230 Morse marks of mixed text in one minute at the IARU World Championship in High Speed Telegraphy in Bulgaria in 2005.
PARIS vs CODEX
PARIS is built from ordinary letters, so it matches plain-language text well. Random five-letter code groups contain more long characters, and for those the standard word is CODEX, which is 60 units long. The same "WPM" can therefore differ by up to 20% depending on which word a test or a program assumes. Every speed on this site uses PARIS.
Character speed vs effective speed
Most modern training separates two numbers. Character speed is how fast each letter is sent; effective speed is the overall rate once the gaps between letters and words are counted. Sending letters at 20 WPM with stretched gaps, so the text only moves at 10 WPM, is called Farnsworth timing — and it's the reason learners are told not to practise with slow letters. Slow letters teach you to count dots, and counting tends to break down somewhere past 10 WPM. The full explanation is in Farnsworth timing explained.
What speed should you aim for?
- Learning the alphabet: characters at 18–20 WPM, effective speed around 5–10. The Koch trainer defaults to 20 and 12.
- First on-air contacts: 10–15 WPM effective is plenty. A slow operator who sends cleanly is far easier to copy than a fast one with ragged spacing, and it is normal to ask the other station to slow down (QRS).
- Relaxed conversation: 20–25 WPM, where you stop writing things down and start copying in your head.
- Contesting and high-speed work: 30 WPM and up, usually with an electronic keyer.
Most people who stall do so between 10 and 15 WPM, and usually because of counting rather than any shortage of practice time. Common CW mistakes covers the other usual causes.
How to test your own speed
Receiving. Set the practice trainer to a speed and copy a few minutes of random characters. Your copying speed is the highest setting at which you still get the large majority right; if you're guessing at every third letter, step down. Test random groups as well as words, because words let you fill in letters from context.
Sending. The keyer trainer takes a target WPM from 5 to 30, times each element you send and scores how close your dots, dashes and gaps come to the ideal. Raise the target only once the score stays high — clean timing matters more than speed.
To see the exact millisecond lengths for any speed, including Farnsworth gaps, use the timing calculator.
Where to hear real Morse at a known speed
The ARRL's station W1AW transmits code practice on a published schedule: slow practice at 5, 7½, 10, 13 and 15 WPM, fast practice at 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 13 and 10 WPM, and code bulletins at 18 WPM. The text comes from QST magazine, so you can check your copy afterwards. Transmissions go out on 1.8025, 3.5815, 7.0475, 14.0475, 18.0775, 21.0675, 28.0675, 50.350 and 147.555 MHz; the days and times are on the W1AW operating schedule.
If you don't have a receiver, the random CW generator and the downloadable audio course give you steady practice at a fixed speed.
Quick answers
What is a good Morse code speed?
For casual on-air contacts, 13–20 WPM. Old US license tests were 5, 13 and 20 WPM, and those are still useful milestones.
How fast is 30 WPM in Morse code?
A dot lasts 40 ms and the word PARIS takes two seconds — about 150 characters a minute. At that speed operators copy whole words by sound rather than letter by letter.
What is the fastest Morse code ever copied?
Ted McElroy copied at just over 75 WPM in 1939, a record that still stands.
Do you still need Morse code for a ham radio license?
Not in the US: the FCC dropped the last code test on February 23, 2007. Many operators learn it anyway because CW gets through when voice doesn't — see why Morse code is still used today.