Morse code [for S. F. B. Morse Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791–1872, American inventor and artist, b. Charlestown, Mass., grad. Yale, 1810. He studied painting in England under Washington Allston and achieved some success.
..... Click the link for more information. ], the arbitrary set of signals used on the telegraph Telex is a telegraphy system that transmits and receives messages in printed form. Today telegraphy is rarely used, having been supplanted by the telephone , facsimile machines, and computer electronic mail , among others.
..... Click the link for more information. (see code code, in communications, set of symbols and rules for their manipulation by which the symbols can be made to carry information. By this extended definition all written and spoken languages are codes.
..... Click the link for more information. ). It may also be used with a flash lamp for visible signaling signaling, transmission of information by visible, audible, or other detectable means. Since prehistoric times humans have sought and employed ever more effective means of communicating over distance. Signal fires on mountain tops announced awaited events.
..... Click the link for more information. . The international (or continental) Morse code is a simplified form generally used in radio telegraphy. The American Morse differs from the international Morse in 11 letters, in all the numerals except the numeral 4, and in the punctuation code. The unit of the code is the dot, representing a very brief depression of the telegraph key. The dash represents a depression lasting three times as long as a dot. Between the depressions there is a pause equal in time to one dot, except in a few letters and signs, when there is a wait of two dots. The pause between letters in a word lasts as long as one dash, between words it lasts as long as two dashes. The International Morse code is shown in the table entitled Morse Code Morse Code

International Morse Code
Letters
A · –
B – · · ·
C – · – ·
D – · ·
E ·
..... Click the link for more information. . Morse code is now mainly used by amateur (ham) radio operators. The U.S. Coast Guard stopped monitoring Morse code transmissions in 1995 when their use in sending distress calls had been almost entirely superseded by automated systems using satellite relay.

Morse code

System for representing letters, numerals, and punctuation marks by a sequence of dots, dashes, and spaces. It is transmitted as electrical pulses of varied lengths or analogous mechanical or visual signals, such as flashing lights. The original system was invented by Samuel F.B. Morse in 1838 for his telegraph; the International Morse Code, a simpler and more precise variant with codes for letters with diacritic marks, was devised in 1851. With minor changes, this code has remained in use for certain types of radiotelegraphy, including amateur radio.

Morse code

A character code invented by Samuel Morse that is represented by the duration of a single tone. Written as dots, dashes and spaces, the first Morse code message was sent in 1844 over a newly constructed telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington. It was also used in World War II for signaling with flashes of light. A variation of Morse's original code was made by Friedrich Gerke in 1848, which evolved into the International Morse Code that is still in use.

The coding system was based on the frequency of letters used in the English language, E and T being the most frequent, hence one dot, one dash. The written system is dot and dash, but it is pronounced "dit" and "dah." Timing within the code is one dit between each dit and dah, three dits between letters and seven dits between words. See telegraph.

  International Morse Code

  A   .-       U   ..-    
  B   -...     V   ...-   
  C   -.-.     W   .--    
  D   -..      X   -..-   
  E   .        Y   -.--   
               Z   --..   
  F   ..-.
  G   --.      0   -----  
  H   ....     1   .----  
  I   ..       2   ..---  
  J   .---     3   ...--  
               4   ....-  
  K   -.-      5   .....  
  L   .-..     6   -....  
  M   --       7   --...  
  N   -.       8   ---..  
  O   ---      9   ----.  

  P   .--.     Period      .-.-.-
  Q   --.-     Comma       --..--
  R   .-.      ? Mark      ..--..
  S   ...      Hyphen      -....-
  T   -        Apostrophe  .----.
               Colon       ---...
  U   ..-      Quotation   .-..-.
  V   ...-     Slash       -..-.
  W   .--      @ sign      .--.-.
  X   -..-
  Y   -.--
  Z   --..

(communications)

Morse code - A coding system invented by Samuel A. Morse, for use in sending character data over extremely low-quality pathways -- such as telegraphs and low-quality radio. Morse code expresses characters as pulses of different durations. Short signals are called "dots" and long signals are calles "dashes". The coding assigns shorter sequences to the most frequently used characters.

American Morse code is the first and original Morse code character set. Character sets adapted to other languages were developed later.

American Morse Code:

A . __ J . . S . . . 1 . __ __ . B __ . . . K __ . __ T __ 2 . . __ . . C . . . L ___ U . . __ 3 . . . __ . D __ . . M __ __ V . . . __ 4 . . . . __ E . N __ . W . __ __ 5 __ __ __ F . __ . O . . X . __ . . 6 . . . . . . G __ __ . P . . . . . Y . . . . 7 __ __ . . H . . . . Q . . __ . Z . . . . 8 __ . . . . I . . R . . . 0 ____ 9 __ . . __

Where . is a short pulse, __ a long pulse, ___ a very long pulse and ____ a extra long pulse. There are also long and short spaces character-internal. Intercharacter spaces are very long and interword spaces are extra long. There is no standarisation in these durations, and they vary depending on the coder's preference and on the quality of the line.

Continental Morse Code or International Morse Code is a widely used de-facto standard. This table summarises the Western European usage of Continental Morse Code:

A .- G --. M -- S ... Y -.-- 4 ....- B -... H .... N -. T - Z --.. 5 ..... C -.-. I .. O --- U ..- 0 ----- 6 -.... D -.. J .--- P .--. V ...- 1 .---- 7 --... E . K -.- Q --.- W .-- 2 ..--- 8 ---.. F ..-. L .-.. R .-. X -..- 3 ...-- 9 ----.

A-umlaut (1) .-.- E-acute ..-.. A-acute .--.- N-tilde --.-- A-corona (11) .--.- O-umlaut (1) ---. CH (2) ---- U-umlaut (1) ..--

Punctuation Marks: Other Signs:

period .-.-.- warning .-..- comma --..-- error ........ question mark ..--.. repetition (ii ii) .. .. hyphen -....- wait (AS) .-... colon (3) ---... interruption (BK) -...-.- underline (4) ..--.- understood (VE) ...-. apostrophe .----. transmission received (R) .-. quotation mark .-..-. beginning of message (KA) -.-.- parenthesis open (5)-.--. end of message (AR) .-.-. parenthesis (close) -.--.- end of transmission (K) (6) -.- equal sign (7) -...- end of transmission (KN) (8) -.--. plus sign .-.-. closing mark (SK) (9) ...-.- multiplication sign -..- closing station (CL) -.-..-. fraction mark -..-. separator (10) .-..-

(1) Note: 'umlaut' is also known as 'diaeresis' (2) Used only in German; not in Dutch. (3) also: 'divided by' (4) before and after the word to be underlined (5) purportedly replaced by -.--.- for both "(" and ")" (6) both and invitation to any station to start transmission (7) also used as spacing between parts of transmission (8) also an invitation to one station in particular to start transmission (9) connection will be closed. (10) in fractions, for example. (11) A-ring ?

Where '.' is a short pulse, '-' a long one. A '-' is three times as long as a '.'; character-internal spaces are as long as '.'s. Intercharacter space are as long as -'s. Spaces between words are as long as seven '.'s.