An investigation of the generation of plasmaspheric hiss by the whistler mode instability has been carried out. Using combined ray‐tracing and growth rate calculations, the path‐integrated growth rates of a large number of waves have been calculated using a distribution function of the form F ∝ E−n sinm α. In general, the waves damp out before being magnetospherically reflected, or soon after. This is true of all the waves traced, independent of the distribution functions used for the energetic (resonant) electrons. Thus the growth rates are generally low, since the waves undergo few equatorial transits. A comparison of these results with observed spectra indicates that while some spectral characteristics are in qualitative agreement, there is a major discrepancy in the intensity levels.