Morse Code — Learning Something “Useless”?
All Morse code sequences that I type will be encapsulated by single quotes. Short duration signal = • Long duration signal = — (em dash)
Though I was very tempted to write the title of this post in Morse code, it probably would have been far too long and far too complicated. I think that was a good idea.
As you may know, Morse code is a method used in telecommunication that encodes text (primarily Latin-derived alphabets) into standardized sequences of two distinct signal durations: short and long (or dots and dashes, or dits and dahs). Created by Samuel F.B. Morse in the 1830s, Morse code became a revolution method of communication with the help of the telegraph. With Morse code, messages no longer needed to be delivered on horseback, which was not only slow, but also unreliable. Horseback message delivery was also inefficient for the purposes of sending messages over extremely long distances (and wasn’t even possible if an ocean was along the route).
However, Morse code is rarely used today, only finding recognition in the archetypal SOS message of ‘••• — — — •••’ and remaining obsolete otherwise. But I’m not here to make a call to action for the revival of Morse code. I’m just pointing out that knowing Morse code isn’t all that useful, especially for the average citizen. With Morse code usage diminishing in areas of specialization like military branches, what’s the point of learning it. Isn’t it useless?
Before I delve into the utility of Morse code, perhaps we should learn it first. We don’t want to give excuses to ourselves to miss an opportunity to learn something, right? Right.
Now this might look scary… and it is. I’m not going to lie and say “Now this might look scary, but it’s really quite simple. Allow me to explain.” *adjusts glasses*
Though we’ll only be taking a look at the 26 letters of the English alphabet, it’s not a bad idea to pick up the sequences for the 10 decimal digits as well. The reason why the Morse code sequences for the 26 letters of the alphabet look so intimidating is because they don’t intuitively map to the letters themselves. Of course, there have been attempts to make intuitive mappings between the sequences and letters, but those don’t always turn out so well. Just take a look at this so-called “visual guide” to Morse code:
Though I strongly recommend NOT learning Morse code with this visual guide, you can do whatever you want. Even so, it’s quite self-evident that this Morse code guide is very inconsistent and has little spatial logic behind it. Taking a look at the letter A makes sense, considering that we read from left to right and from top to bottom. Though there is no horizontal “movement” in the letter, the same can’t be said for the vertical axis. The ‘•’ comes first, followed by the ‘ — ’ below it. This corresponds correctly to the Morse code for A: ‘• — .’ Don’t get confused by the period; that’s just me adhering to grammar rules :). The letter B also seems to make sense. The ‘ — ’ definitely comes first, and there is nothing left to follow except for ‘•••.’ As a result, this diagram also accurately describes the Morse code for B: ‘ — •••.’ When we get to the letter C however, everything falls apart. Knowing that we read from left to right and from top to bottom, shouldn’t the ‘•’ come first? Well, that’s not the case, since C’s Morse code is ‘ — • — •.’ We then realize that this was designed to be read counterclockwise (which unbelievably unintuitive). You might argue that this makes plenty of sense, since we write C by going counterclockwise. That’s a fair argument, but let’s skip ahead to F. If the dots and dashes correspond to how the letter is written, why isn’t that the case for F? It seems that if we followed the process by which we write the letter F, the code would be ‘• — ••,’ but that isn’t correct at all. The correct Morse code for F is ‘•• — •.” The logic behind C’s visual Morse code falls apart even further (somehow) when you take a look at J, which is actually constructed in the reverse direction that the letter would be written. The letter J is conventionally written with a clockwise stroke, but the Morse code is ‘• — — — ,’ which can only be read counterclockwise on the diagram. There are some atrocities, like X (which makes some sense spatially, but looks horrible) and Z (which is logically sound, but you can’t help but imagine Z’s Morse code being ‘ — — — ,’ since it is just three lines after all [this applies to many other letters, by the way]), and Q is just a war crime. I mean, look at those slanted dashes!
Hopefully you’re now convinced that learning Morse code through a visual guide is not a good idea. Then how do we go about learning Morse code then? Should we brute force each sequence starting with the letter A, essentially playing a very difficult game of Simon? You can certainly go with that method, but the way I ended up learning Morse code was far more enjoyable and surprisingly quick:
Mnemonics
The official definition of “mnemonic” from Oxford Languages (the source of all Google’s definitions) is as follows: “a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something.” This definition describes exactly what we are going to use to learn Morse code. Instead of directly trying to learn the sequences of dots and dashes, we’re going to learn mnemonics with emphasis on particular words/syllables that correlate to the dits and dahs. Unstressed syllables will be dits and stressed syllables will be dahs. I’ll link the video from which I learned most of the Morse code sequences from:
What follows are Morse code mnemonics for the 26 letters of the English alphabet alongside my own tips/explanation in italics. If they don’t make sense, it’s probably because they’re best supplemented with audio, which you’ll find in the video above (or in the timestamps in the list below).
5:05 Letter A ‘• — ’ a-PART
Emphasis on the first syllable would sound really weird. Just think about it. “UH-pirt” VS “uh-PART.” I’ll be using this tip for a few other sequences down the line.
5:33 Letter B ‘— •••’ BOOT to the head
Don’t get too violent with this one please. Just keep in mind that “BOOT” is the only stressed syllable, and this sequence becomes fairly easy.
5:37 Letter C ‘—• — •’ COca-COla
This one is fairly easy to remember. Knowing that “CO” is a stressed syllable, you can conclude that everything else, by process of elimination, is unstressed.
5:40 Letter D ‘—••’DOCK wor-ker
You might mix this one up with letters G, U, and W, so practice those at the same time as this one. You also might want to brute force this one a few times in your head to make learning its “permutations” a bit easier (where a permutation is a sequence of the same number of signals [3 in this case] and stressed and unstressed syllable combinations compose all possibilities).
5:44 Letter E ‘•’ EH!
EH!
5:47 Letter F ‘••—•’ Get a HAIR-cut
It has nothing to do with the letter F. That’s why it’s so easy to remember. Along with the letter L, it’s pretty rhythmically satisfying.
6:02 Letter G ‘— —•’ GOOD GRA-vy
Keep the same trick in mind as the letter D. Brute forcing this one a few times in your head is not a bad idea.
6:05 Letter H ‘••••’ hip-pi-ty hop”
This one is pretty funny. Just don’t make any offensive memes with it.
6:08 Letter I ‘••’ “AYE, AYE”
This one can be remembered in a similar way to the letter E. It’s also kind of funny.
6:10 Letter J ‘• — — — ’ let’s JUMP JUMP JUMP
If you know that the word “JUMP” has emphasis, then this sequence is one of the more unforgettable ones.
6:14 Letter K ‘—• — ’ KANG-a-ROO
Opposite of the letter R, so practice accordingly.
6:18 Letter L ‘•—••’ to ‘ELL with it
One of the better sequences rhythmically speaking. Also somewhat comedic.
6:20 Letter M ‘— — ’ MMM-MMM
It’s the sound you make when you eat/smell something good. It’s not just random Ms.
6:24 Letter N ‘—•’ NA-vy
Opposite of the letter A. The same syllable stress logic can be applied to this one. Practice it with the sequence for A to get it down pat.
6:27 Letter O ‘— — —’ ONE OF US
I don’t use this one, since O and S are part of the universal SOS. I just knew the letter O already. I would also recommend trying to stay away from a mnemonic for this letter. Having a few letters that you just “know” without an indirect mnemonic for reference can actually pretty helpful. Later on, you’ll already have eliminated the need to “translate” between sounds and letters with your memorized mnemonics or vice versa.
6:30 Letter P ‘•— — •’ a POO-PY smell
This is just funny. It might not be the easiest to remember interestingly enough, since the stressed syllables aren’t completely intuitive. You could definitely brute force this one into your memory to serve as a foundation for the letter X.
6:33 Letter Q ‘— —• —’ GOD SAVE the QUEEN
The trick that I use for this one is keeping in mind that the word “the” is the only insignificant word in the phrase. If it was a book title, everything except for the word “the” would be capitalized.
6:37 Letter R ‘• — •’ ro-TAT-ion
Opposite of the letter K. You just need to remember which one sandwiches the dit and which one sandwiches the dah. Also this sequence looks like a funny little face.
6:40 Letter S ‘•••’ Sí Sí Sí
Just like the letter O, I just know S, since it’s part of the universal SOS. I would try to learn S without a mnemonic.
6:43 Letter T ‘—’ TALL
Though the letter T certainly isn’t part of SOS, I just remember that it’s one long duration signal. “TALL” isn’t particularly useful to me. You could also just learn this one without keeping the mnemonic in mind.
6:46 Letter U ‘•• —’ Un-der-WEAR?
I think this one is the funniest mnemonic. It can be interpreted as the phrase “Under where?” as well as “Underwear?” (with appropriate stressed syllables, of course). You probably won’t get it confused with D, G, and W as much, since it’s so memorable. You could also start with this letter before really drilling the other three sequences it often gets confused with later on.
6:49 Letter V ‘••• — ’dun dun dun DUNNN(Beethoven’s Fifth)
It’s just Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. This one is unforgettable if you’ve heard the infamous musical progression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOk8Tm815lE
6:57 Letter W ‘• — —’ a WHITE WHALE
This one was pretty hard for me to get down. It gets confused alongside, D, G, and U. I’d often just use the sequence for G in place of the correct one by accident. There’s not much else you can do than consistently practicing these few sequences specifically (and learning U as a foundation as I just mentioned).
6:58 Letter X ‘ — •• —’ X marks the SPOT
The opposite of P. If you mix up the stressed and unstressed syllables on this one, you’ll probably end up mixing the stressed and unstressed syllables for P as well. Although mixing up the stressed and unstressed syllables for P is much harder. If you’re having difficulty between these two, try to get P’s sequence down pat. Then use its “opposite” to lock down X’s sequence into memory.
7:02 Letter Y ‘— • — —’ YEL-low YO-YO
If you know that both syllables of “yo-yo” are stressed, then all there is to worry about is the word “yellow.” Similar to A’s sequence, try switching the stressed and unstressed syllables. It sounds completely wrong: “YEL-low” VS “yuh-LOW.”
7:05 Letter Z ‘— — ••’ ZINC ZOO-kee-per
This one is a little bit hard to remember. In a way, Z is like Y on steroids. There is an easy syllable to remember that is stressed: “ZINC.” Then there is a word with stressed and unstressed syllables that you need to remember correctly. With words like “yellow” and “apart” there are only two syllables in total. For these two, you have to only test two different “permutations,” and you’ll immediately recognize which one sounds horribly incorrect. However, the word “zookeeper” has three syllables,” so you have to test three different permutations (assuming you know that there is only one stressed syllable, which is a challenge in and of itself). “ZOO-kee-per” VS “zuh-KEE-per” VS “zuh-keh-PER.” The good part is that it’s very easy to tell which one sounds correct.
Practice, Practice, PRACTICE
I can’t stress this enough. PRACTICE Morse code once you’ve learned it (and even more when you’re in the process of learning it). Remember, if you don’t use it, you lose it! Don’t take that in the wrong context…
One of the simplest ways of practicing Morse code is to simply list out the sequences for all of the letters on a piece of paper. Grab a notebook or an empty sheet of paper and a writing utensil. List all 26 letters first, and then try to write down all of the sequences correctly without referencing any sources. This is also a great way to refresh your Morse code if you haven’t used it in a few months and find that you can’t quite put your finger on a sequence or two. Doing this will immediately identify what you need to brush up on, and since you’ll be isolating just a few sequences, it becomes a much simpler task than trying to unnecessarily relearn the entire alphabet’s sequences again. If the power goes out, and you’re left with nothing to do, practicing your Morse code isn’t a bad idea either (prior to reading a book, of course).
There are also a few websites that are pretty useful for practicing your Morse code, most of which I very recently discovered. One of my favorites so far is morsecode.me, which allows you to join a room with fellow Morse code enthusiasts and practice your telegraph abilities with your mouse/keyboard. Another great thing about this website is that is emphasizes getting the timings correct with short and long duration signals as well as the gaps of time in between letters, words, and lines — that is, if you wait long enough, the system will recognize that you are inputting for a new letter, if you wait longer, the system will recognize that you are inputting a new word (and will create a space), and if you wait even longer, the system will create a new line (like hitting ENTER on a word processing software). There are different rooms that indicate different typing speeds, but honestly you should just stick to the default room, 1. This room usually has the most people (the lowest I’ve ever ran into was 2 people, one other person and myself), and is the most active. Though the site has a few bugs with signal durations and doesn’t have an SSL certificate (as indicated by the “Not secure” message in your browser), it’s still a great way to practice Morse code. Since you’re not entering sensitive information like credit cards or passwords, the fact that it doesn’t have a secure connection doesn’t really matter.
The timing on morsecode.me might be a little too fast for a beginner (though I believe you can learn fastest by jumping right into it), so for a slower pace I would recommend stendec.io. The timings are much slower, to the point that you might actually combine letter sequences together. You have to wait an absurdly long time just to get a space between letters and even longer to create a new line. If you’re up for a challenge (and have learned more than just the 26 letters of the alphabet) you can take a look at this module on stendec.io. Turns out that listening to fast Morse code and interpreting it is much more challenging than just keying in Morse code yourself. I’m honestly unable to interpret Morse code at the default speed on this module. I can tell a few obvious characters apart from others, but if I were given a whole word, I would be completely lost.
Useless? Definitely not…
It’s undeniable that Morse code itself is practically obsolete. You probably won’t run into some hostage situation in which you communicate critical, life-saving information with Morse code to police forces without raising the suspicion of your captors. On top of that, knowing Morse code isn’t going to help you land that job or internship. So why learn Morse code?
Well, I already answered that in that question. “Why learn Morse code?” Morse code presents itself as a learning opportunity — something that I already alluded to earlier. Giving up a learning opportunity (or a lot of opportunities that would be good for you) isn’t the best idea. This also ties into the fact that learning Morse code, among learning many other skills/activities like how to solve a Rubik’s cube, is beneficial to your long-term cognition. It was found in a study that learning Morse code alters microstructural properties in the brain, particularly those concerning white matter:
Learning relies on neuroplasticity, which has mainly been studied in gray matter (GM). However, there is mounting evidence indicating a critical role of white matter changes involved in learning processes. One of the most important learning processes in human development is language acquisition. However, due to the length of this learning process, it has been notoriously difficult to investigate the underlying neuroplastic changes. Here, we report a novel learning paradigm to assess the role of white matter plasticity for language acquisition. By acoustically presenting Morse Code (MC) using an in house developed audio book as a model for language-type learning, we generated a well-controlled learning environment that allows for the detection of subtle white matter changes related to language type learning in a much shorter time frame than usual language acquisition. In total 12 letters of the MC alphabet were learned within six learning session, which allowed study participants to perform a word recognition MC decoding task. In this study, we found that learning MC was associated with significant microstructural changes in the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). The fractional anisotropy (FA) of this associative fiber bundle connecting the occipital and posterior temporal cortex with the temporal pole as well as the hippocampus and amygdala was increased. Furthermore, white matter plasticity was associated with task performance of MC decoding, indicating that the structural changes were related to learning efficiency. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate an important role of white matter neuroplasticity for acquiring a new language skill.
‘ — •/ — — — / — //•••/ — — — //•• — /•••/•/• — ••/•/•••/•••//• — /•• — •/ — /•/• — •//• — /• — ••/• — ••’
