Morse Code Converter

Text to ITU Morse and back, with signal units and send time.

What it does

Morse code turns letters into dots and dashes on a fixed clock. SOS becomes ... --- ... with single spaces between letters, and at 20 words a minute the 27 units take about 1.6 seconds to key. The tool above encodes and decodes to the ITU international standard with timing beside it.

Timing is the part most charts skip. Dots last 1 unit and dashes 3, with 1 unit inside letters, 3 between letters, and 7 between words. Counting SOS gives 5 plus 3 plus 11 plus 3 plus 5, which is 27 units, and each unit at 20 wpm is 0.06 seconds.

The standard behind the table is ITU-R M.1677, in force for international Morse across amateur and former maritime services. Its set holds 26 letters, 10 digits, and 12 punctuation marks including period, comma, question, slash, and the at sign added in 2004. Marks like exclamation and ampersand ride along unofficially and stay out of this converter.

Decoding runs the table backwards with slashes splitting words. Unknown groups stop the tool with an error instead of a guess, so check dot counts on long digits where five signal patterns blur together.

How to use

1. Pick text to Morse or Morse to text.
2. Type the message; encoding accepts letters, digits, spaces, and standard marks.
3. For decoding, separate letters with spaces and words with /.
4. Set keying speed in words per minute.
5. Read the result first, timing beside it.

Formula

unit

One dot length; 50 units make a PARIS word minute.

wpm

Words per minute keying speed.

/

Word separator in Morse text.

ITU M.1677-1 character set only. Prosigns, accents beyond E, and nonstandard marks are rejected rather than guessed.

Worked example

Reference table

Limits

• ITU set only; ! ; & $ _ rejected.
• No prosigns or accented letters.
• Timing assumes perfect spacing.
• Case ignored; all output is uppercase.

Common mistakes

• Typing ! or & and expecting standard codes.
• Merging letters without spaces.
• Using line breaks instead of / between words.
• Reading digit patterns as letters.
• Ignoring speed when estimating air time.

Try it yourself

Quick checks. Answers sit tucked under each question.

Questions

Sources

• ITU: M.1677 International Morse code
• ARRL: Morse Code chart (PDF)

Related calculators