How Morse code works
Morse code writes every letter and number as a short pattern of dots and dashes. A dot is one beat of light. A dash is three beats. Between the dots and dashes of one character there is a one-beat gap, between characters a three-beat gap, and between words a seven-beat gap. Speed is just how long a beat lasts: at 12 words per minute a beat is a tenth of a second.
Letters that are common in English get short patterns. E is a single dot and T is a single dash, while rarer letters such as Q and Z take four beats of signal. That is why the lessons here start with just two characters and add one at a time, the Koch method: you hear each character at full speed from the first lesson, so you learn the sound of the whole pattern instead of counting dots and dashes.
Why learn it by light
Most Morse courses teach by sound, but Morse is older than radio and works with anything that can switch on and off. A flashlight, a signal lamp on a ship, a mirror in the sun, a phone torch: each can carry a message where there is no signal and no power to spare. Search and rescue teams, sailors, pilots and scouts have all kept it as a fallback for exactly that reason. Reading a blinking light is also a different skill from hearing tones, so practice with a lamp is the practice that counts when the lamp is what you have.
SOS
The best known signal is SOS: three dots, three dashes, three dots, sent as one unbroken pattern with no gaps between the letters. It does not stand for any words. It was picked because it is easy to send and hard to mistake. If you ever need to signal for help with a light, flash it again and again, and pause between each run.
The Morse code chart
Every character used in the lessons, plus the plus and minus signs.
| Character | Pattern |
|---|---|
| K | −·− |
| M | −− |
| U | ··− |
| R | ·−· |
| E | · |
| S | ··· |
| N | −· |
| A | ·− |
| P | ·−−· |
| T | − |
| L | ·−·· |
| W | ·−− |
| I | ·· |
| . | ·−·−·− |
| J | ·−−− |
| Z | −−·· |
| F | ··−· |
| O | −−− |
| Y | −·−− |
| , | −−··−− |
| V | ···− |
| G | −−· |
| 5 | ····· |
| / | −··−· |
| Q | −−·− |
| 9 | −−−−· |
| 2 | ··−−− |
| H | ···· |
| 3 | ···−− |
| 8 | −−−·· |
| B | −··· |
| ? | ··−−·· |
| 4 | ····− |
| 7 | −−··· |
| C | −·−· |
| 1 | ·−−−− |
| D | −·· |
| 6 | −···· |
| 0 | −−−−− |
| X | −··− |
| + | ·−·−· |
| - | −····− |
Get the app
Signal Beacon also reads Morse from another person’s light through your camera, and sends it with your phone’s torch. Get the app.