Morse Code

Morse code assign to each letter, digit, or punctuation sign, a unique combination of signal made of short and long impulsions (usually represented with a dot . and a dash -).

The alphabet or complete table of Morse Code is

Example: DCODE is coded in Morse language -.. -.-. --- -.. .

Impulsions can be electric, acoustic or luminous. Any telecommunication format is possible.

Messages sometimes starts with △ -.-.- (start of transmission) and end with ▽ .-.-. (end of transmission)

The code .-.-. is also the code for the character +.

By convention, when writing, each character is separated by a space and each word is separated by a slash /. Sometimes the characters are separated by a / and the words by a double slash //.

Morse decryption/translation in English uses the same alphabet as encryption, but in order to accelerate the translation process, decoders use a tree like this:

The ciphered message is mainly composed of dots and dashes (or sometimes, any other couple of characters).

Morse code is an auditive code, any long and short bip sounds, it can be Morse

Example: bip biiiip bip = .-.

Same with syllables in I or E for short and A or O for long.

Example: TATITA = -.- (long, short, long)

There is not really a good way or official method of writing Morse. It is first a sound code. Visually the written Morse code should be arranged on the same line. Computers, however, has trouble writing it with the dashes - or _ and the dots . which are not at the same level.

The key is to differentiate the characters: example ▄ (short) and ▄▄▄▄ (long).

Listen the message and type simultaneously on a keyboard . (dot) for a short/acute sound and - (dash) for a long/grave one.

Morse deciphering without separator can be cracked, but hardly, as possibilities are exponential. dCode has some tools, such as a brute-force attack or a dictionary attack.

Example: -.-. (4 characters) can mean 8 different things : C or KE or NN or NTE or TR or TAE or TEN or TETE

It is possible to replace the two characters for short and long by others like A and B for example. It is even possible to switch them in order to fool the decoder.

There is a fairly well known overencryption: Fractionated Morse cipher.

A variant encodes morse with a kind of mountain profile:

There no real rules, however, frequent characters (E, T, A for example) are coded with short signals (1 or 2 impulsions). The less frequent letters are coded with 4 signals maximum, digits with 5.

Many methods are used, the principe is to remember 26 words, and with these word find the corresponding association between a letter and its code.

Here is a list of words where each vowel is a dot, each consonant is a dash.

Example: V is described by oooh, that has three vowels and one consonant, so V is coded in Morse with ...-

Another method used English pronunciation, stressed syllables standing for a dash and unstressed syllabes stands for a dot.

Example: PSYCHOLOGY, begins with a P, and contains 2 syllables in O, P is then coded in Morse .--.

To train yourself, morse code kits are available (for children and adults) to transmit Morse here (link)

SOS is coded ... --- ... (3 shorts, 3 longs, 3 shorts)

In practice, when a letter is finished, the morse encodes the end of a character with empty sounds (silence) or empty visual a bit long. When retranscribing, a slash / or any separating character can be added.

Morse Code has been invented in 1835 by Samuel Morse