·· / −· · · −·· / ···· · ·−·· ·−−·
"I Need Help" in Morse code is ·· / −· · · −·· / ···· · ·−·· ·−−·.
Leave a short gap between letters and a longer gap between words. In writing, letters are separated by a space and words by a slash. At standard timing a dot lasts one unit, a dash three units, the gap inside a letter one unit, the gap between letters three units and the gap between words seven. "I Need Help" takes 77 units, about 4.6 seconds at a speed of 20 words per minute.
Meaning: Morse code for "I Need Help" (phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
Letter by letter: I is ··, N is −·, E is ·, D is −··, H is ····, L is ·−·· and P is ·−−·.
How do you pronounce it?
di-dit / dah-dit dit dit dah-di-dit / di-di-di-dit dit di-dah-di-dit di-dah-dah-dit
What mistakes should you avoid?
Keep the gaps between letters. Without them, I ·· can be read as E and E · ·, which changes the message.
When do people say it?
SOS is sent as one unbroken signal, ···−−−···, without the usual gaps between letters. It was adopted as the distress signal in 1906 because it is easy to send and hard to mistake.
Did you know?
- Alfred Vail, who worked with Samuel Morse, gave the shortest signals to the most common letters. That is why E, the most frequent letter in English, is a single dot.
- In the United States, amateur radio licences stopped requiring a Morse code test in 2007, yet many operators still use it on the air.
