Morse Code Alphabet

Letters, numbers, and punctuation

Letters A to Z and digits 0 to 9 follow Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1. The punctuation marks named in that recommendation are included as well. Four signs are not given codes there. They are the exclamation mark, the semicolon, the underscore, and the dollar sign. They are listed because most written Morse charts use these patterns: exclamation mark -.-.--, semicolon -.-.-., underscore ..--.-, and dollar sign ...-..-. The ampersand uses .-..., which the recommendation lists as the Wait signal rather than as a punctuation mark.

How to read dots and dashes

Read a pattern from left to right. A dot or a dash is one mark. Marks that belong to the same character are written with no space between them. When you write a word, a single space separates one character from the next. A slash, with a space on each side, separates words.

The letter A is a dot and then a dash, written .-. The letter B is a dash and then three dots, written -.... The word AB is .- -.... The space in the middle is the gap between letters. It is not part of A or B. Remove it and the marks run together into a different character, or into no character at all.

The translator follows that written form. One space in the Morse panel means the next group is a new letter. A slash, or a vertical bar, or three spaces in a row, starts a new word. Lowercase text is read as capitals. A line break in the text stays a line break in the Morse code.

Timing in units

The chart shows shape, not time. Sound needs both. Timing is counted in units. A dot is one unit. A dash is three units. The gap between two marks inside one character is one unit. The gap between two characters is three units. The gap between two words is seven units.

Speed is words per minute. The standard word is PARIS, which is 50 units, including the word space after it. At 20 words per minute, one unit is 60 milliseconds. A dot then lasts 60 milliseconds and a dash lasts 180 milliseconds. The translator uses that scale when you press Play. Speed can be set from 5 to 40 words per minute.

Farnsworth spacing keeps the dots and dashes at the Speed you chose and lengthens only the gaps between letters and between words. Set Farnsworth below Speed to turn it on. When the two controls match, the Farnsworth readout says Off and the gaps stay the standard length.

Learn the alphabet by sound

A chart is the right tool when you need to look a letter up. It is a weak way to learn to hear Morse. Counting dots on a page is slower than the sound, and the count falls apart once the speed rises. Learn the rhythm of each character instead of a picture of marks.

Keep the character speed steady and let the gaps stay longer while a letter is new. That is what Farnsworth spacing is for. Choose a Speed you want the marks to have, then move Farnsworth below it. The dots and dashes stay quick. The silence between letters grows, so you can name the character before the next one starts. Bring Farnsworth back up only after the rhythm is familiar.

Practice a few letters at a time. Many sound-based plans start with two characters and add another only after those two are easy to recognize by ear. Play them in the translator, look away from this chart, and write down what you hear. A letter you can recite from the table but cannot pick out of a short run is not learned yet.

Hear ABC in the Morse code translator. The link opens the translator with ABC already in the text panel.

Questions

Related pages

• Morse code numbers from 0 to 9
• How SOS is sent in Morse code
• Translate text to Morse code