Blind copy
While the tone runs, the field takes nothing. You write afterwards - and find out how much fits in your head.
What was sent
Copying while sending goes on means always running a hand's width behind, and losing nothing by it - as long as the speed stays low. Once it rises, only one thing helps: holding the characters in your head for a moment and putting them out afterwards. Operators call it copying behind, and those who can do it still follow at 25 words per minute while others drop out at 15.
This drill forces exactly that by locking the field. No good intentions, no self-discipline needed - while the tone runs it simply is not possible.
How much fits in your head?
Less than you hope. Almost everyone holds five characters, seven is normal, and from ten on it gets tight for most. That is not a question of Morse but the capacity of working memory - the same limit that shows up in Simon.
What is remarkable is what shifts with practice: not the number, but what counts as one unit. At first, five characters are five units. Later a five-character group is one sound shape, a callsign a single block - and suddenly thirty characters fit where seven used to.
Where to start
With three five-character groups at your usual speed. That is fifteen characters, already more than the head carries in one go - so the task is honestly hard from the first minute, and the first run often ends halfway.
Five-character groups are the classic material for this drill, and not by accident: they give copying a rhythm, and when counting errors it is unambiguous where a group starts. Callsigns are the harder choice because their length varies; short words are the easiest, because meaning helps you hold them.
What the result shows
The comparison is not position by position but by alignment. The difference is large: miss one character and everything after it shifts by one place. A blunt comparison would then report every further letter as wrong - one error would become thirty, and the result would be worthless. This way it stays one error, and it has a name: missing.
Below the figures stand the mix-up pairs. Writing S for H regularly is not an S problem but a counting problem between three and four dots - and the exercise against that looks different from "repeat S".
Frequently asked questions
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Is this not the same as dictation?
No, and the difference is the whole point. In dictation you may write while it sends; here you may not. Dictation drills writing, this drills holding.
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Which speed is right?
The one you normally follow comfortably. The difficulty here sits in the amount, not the speed - start with three groups and only raise it once those are solid.
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Why is Farnsworth offered?
Because character speed and effective speed can be separated: the characters come fast, the gaps between them are longer. That way you hear the right sound shape from the start and still have time. More under timing and speed.