This help topic covers information on the modern International Morse code. There was an earlier style of code called American Morse Code and some important differences are detailed Here.
This website is a good source of information about learning the code:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/learncw/
Useful books:
Highly recommended! The Art and Skill of Radio-Telegraphy, William G. Pierpoint N0HFF. Published in paperback by SWARM Enterprises, Canada and also available for free download from many locations.
Morse code: Breaking the Barrier. Dave Finley, N1IRZ. published by MFJ. ISBN 1-891237-19-5.
The basic element of Morse code is the dot and all other elements can be defined in terms of multiples of the dot length. The word PARIS is used because this is the length of a typical word in English plain text, it has a total length of 50 dot lengths. If the word PARIS can be sent ten times in a minute using normal Morse code timing then the code speed is 10 WPM.
The character speed is related to dot length in seconds by the following formula:
Speed (WPM) = 2.4 / (Dots per second)
Dash |
3 x Dit. A dash is normally referred to as a “dah” |
Space between dit and dah |
1 x Dit |
Space between characters |
3 x dit |
Space between words |
7 x dit |
Note:
It is common to “stretch” the code by extending the pauses between characters and words when learning Morse code. Most of the supplied sample sets have alternative wordspace and character space files included to allow the code to be stretched. Copy the alternative files to CharacterSpace.wav and Wordspace.wav