Text · morse with soundMorse code

Translate text into Morse code and back — with sound, light and vibration. Tap out a message yourself on the telegraph key, or train to receive by ear.

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01Translate02Key03Trainer04Reference05About06Questions07Related
01

Text ↔ Morse

editing either field recomputes the other
Panes
Text
Morse
SOS
Takes 2.2 s to send
letters at full speed, gaps stretched
The flashing is soft and slow. If you are photosensitive, use sound or vibration instead.
02

Telegraph key

short press is a dot, hold is a dash

Short press is a dot, hold is a dash. Or use the space bar.

Your fist
Nothing tapped yet
Letters need a gap three times longer than a dot. Without it the marks merge into one long group, and no letter comes out of it.
dots 0 · dashes 0 · dash from 300 ms · letter after 525 ms
03

Listening trainer

the tool plays, you type what you heard
Mode
Set
0 of 0 · accuracy 0%
04

Reference

click a character to hear it

The base ITU table. It carries the Latin alphabet, digits and punctuation, and every national table is built on top of it.

Prosignssent as one signal, with no gaps between the letters
Q codesham radio shorthand — not Morse itself, but the words sent in it
Ready-made phrasesclick to drop one into the field
What is missing here — and why

Chinese telegraph code

Not an alphabet but a dictionary: every character has a four-digit number (中 is 0022) and the digits are what travels in Morse. A generator for it would be a digit generator, not a code one.

American (railroad) Morse

It puts gaps inside letters and uses dashes of different lengths, so the 1 · 3 · 7 scheme does not fit. It would need a separate timing engine for a curiosity nobody sends any more.

05

About Morse code

Morse code sends letters as short and long signals: dots and dashes. It was invented in the 1830s for the telegraph and is still alive — in radio, in aviation, and as the international distress signal SOS. What matters in it is not the dots but the gaps: they are what separates letters and words.

Dots and dashes

Basics
dash = 3 dots
A dot is a short signal, a dash is three times longer. Every letter and digit is built from their combinations, and the alphabet holds nothing else.

The gaps decide

Timing
1 · 3 · 7
One dot between marks, three between letters, seven between words. The grouping is what carries the meaning: the same nine marks read as SOS when split «··· −−− ···», and as SMB when split «··· −− −···».

SOS

Distress signal
··· −−− ···
Not an abbreviation of any words, but the most recognisable sequence there is — chosen for being simple and impossible to mistake through noise.

Russian chants

Mnemonics
“ay-daa” = ·−
Russia teaches Morse with sing-song phrases: a drawn-out syllable is a dash, a short one a dot. The letter is learnt as a sound, not counted out.

Speed and PARIS

WPM
PARIS = 50 units
Speed is measured with the reference word PARIS, exactly fifty units long: send it N times a minute and your speed is N words per minute.

Morse today

Legacy
radio · aviation
Ham radio, aviation beacons, emergency traffic. Morse can be sent by voice, a flashlight or by knocking on a pipe — and that is its whole point.
06

Frequently asked questions

Every letter is a set of dots and dashes: a dot is a short signal, a dash is three times longer. What you actually read, though, are the gaps: one dot long inside a letter, three between letters, seven between words. The grouping is what carries the meaning: nine marks split «··· −−− ···» spell SOS, and the very same nine split «··· −− −···» spell SMB.

Updated

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