Hey Greg, I know the stagefright thing. I passed my 5 wpm many years ago.
Wasn t good enough to pass 13 to get My General in '76. Dropped out of ham
pretty much until 2001. Got into SSB at first and late last year regained my
interest in CW. I am still trying to break the barrier of 13 wpm but can t
copy it on paper. Download the Koch Software Program by G4FON. It will play
text on random characters from your computer. Read the free book on CW by
N0HFF. Downloadable in pdf format. I am using the 200 most common words and
playing them alternatively at 15 and 20 WPM. I use CW Morse to convert to wav
files and record them on cd. At first 20 wpm was a total blur. Now I can pick
up about half the words at 20 wpm.
Some of the experts say not to pick up a key until you can copy 13 wpm. That
may be true.
My goal is to copy CW faster than I can send it. Listen to code faster than
what you can currently copy. The best challenge is the OM who sends a couple
of words per minute more than I am comfortable with. There is an order to the
progression of a qso, so it's relatively easy to pick up name, qth, signal,
rig, etc

Have fun learning 73's
Jerry