Morse Table

This is an archived document and is no longer being updated (Spring 2009). See the new International Morse Code Page at KryptosRevisited.com. "What hath God wrought!" was the first public message sent by Samuel Finley Breese Morse in 1844 over his single-wire telegraph, which was modified from the traditional five-wire device.  Morse developed a 'language' that translated letters of the alphabet and numerals into individual code symbols.  He subsequently invented a 'sounder device' that could be heard as well as read on paper.  This dots and dashes communication system would become known as Morse Code. Morse was told of electromagnets in 1832 and spent three years trying to invent a telegraph based on electromagnetism.  In 1835 he built his first device consisting of an electromagnet pendulum carrying a pencil in constant contact with a moving strip of paper.  His partner, Alfred Vail, suggested a device with a lever on one end and an armature at the other.  Vail agreed to build this device by modifying Morse's and secured American and foreign patents. The code printed from the first telegraphs had its readability problems, so Vail continued to modify the invention and eventually restructured the device from the ground up.  With those significant changes came a new code much different than Morse's original version.  It was actually Vail who introduced the world to the modern version of Morse Code. By the 1850s, telegraph lines crossed Europe and spanned the United States. In the mid 19th century, the final frontier in Morse Code was to lay a cable under the sea.  In 1847 Michael Faraday presented a water-proof solution for insulating electrical wires with a latex-type extract known as Gutta-percha.  After several failed attempts and improvements, the first underwater, international telecommunications device opened to the public on September 18, 1866.  With the aid of the first amplifier, a Marine Galvanometer, mirrors and light allowed the faint electrical impulses sent 1,852 miles to be read. Letters have from one to four components. Numbers have five components. Punctuation symbols have six components. A dash is equal to three dots. The space between parts of the same letter are equal to one dot. The space between two letters is three dots. The space between two words is equal to five dots. MORSE CHARACTER INVERSE ·- A N -··· B V -·-· C   -·· D U · E E ··-· F L --· G W ···· H H ·· I I ·--- J   -·- K K ·-·· L F -- M M -· N A --- O O ·--· P P --·- Q Y ·-· R R ··· S S - T T ··- U D ···- V B ·-- W G -··- X X -·-- Y Q --·· Z   ·---- 1 9 ··--- 2 8 ···-- 3 7 ····- 4 6 ····· 5 5 -···· 6 4 --··· 7 3 ---·· 8 2 ----· 9 1 ----- 0 0 ·-·-·- PERIOD   --··-- COMMA COMMA ·-· --·- REQUEST CONFIRMATION (RQ)   ··--·· INTERROGATIVE (?) INTERROGATIVE (?)  ···---··· DISTRESS CALL DISTRESS CALL -·· · FROM (DE)   -·- INVITATION TO TRANSMIT (K) INVITATION TO TRANSMIT (K) ·-··· WAIT (AS)   ········ ERROR (EEEE) ERROR (EEEE) ·-· RECEIVED (R) RECEIVED (R) ·-·-· END OF MESSAGE (AR) END OF MESSAGE (AR) The Telegraph: The First Telecommunications http://www.connected-earth.com/Journeys/Telecommunicationsage/Thetelegraph/thetelegraph.htm Pacific Offshore Rigging: The International Morse Code http://pacificoffshorerigging.com/morsecode/morsecode.htm