Morse code translator

Morse code encodes each character as a sequence of short and long signals — dits and dahs. Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail assigned the shortest codes to the most common English letters, which is why E is a single dit and Q is four symbols. It is a hand-built variable-length code, arrived at a century before Huffman coding formalised the idea.

The timing is the code

Everything is measured in one unit, the dit:

dit = 1 unit dah = 3 units gap in a letter = 1 unit gap between letters = 3 units gap between words = 7 units

Speed is quoted in words per minute against the standard word “PARIS”, which is exactly 50 units long — so one unit is 1200/WPM milliseconds. At 15 WPM a dit is 80 ms.

SOS is not an acronym

It stands for nothing. ... --- ... was chosen in 1906 purely because it is unmistakable and easy to send under stress. “Save Our Souls” was invented afterwards.

Still in use

Amateur radio operators use it daily, aviation navigation beacons identify themselves in Morse, and it remains usable when nothing else is — a torch, a mirror, or tapping on a pipe all carry it fine.