The Letter H in Morse Code
H is ····: 4 short dis and no long dah, di-di-di-dit. It lasts 7 units.
····di-di-di-ditFacts about H
- Code
····· di-di-di-dit- Elements
- 4 — 4 dots, no dash
- Length
- 7 units + 3 before the next letter
- Time
- 0.42 s at 20 WPM · 1.05 s at 8 WPM
- Tree
- E → I → S → H · below it: 5, 4
- Frequency
- 5.05% of English letters, 9th of 262
- Koch order
- 29th sign of the course
- Spelling
- Hotel
- Same signal
- Х in Russian Morse · Η in Greek Morse · ヌ in Wabun
§ 1Don’t confuse H with
- Hthis letterdi-di-di-dit
- Sone element shorterdi-di-dit
- Vlast element differsdi-di-di-dah
- Felement 3 differsdi-di-dah-dit
- Lelement 2 differsdi-dah-di-dit
- Bfirst element differsdah-di-di-dit
- 5one element longerdi-di-di-di-dit
- 4one element longerdi-di-di-di-dah
- 6one element longerdah-di-di-di-dit
- CHmirror: every di and dah swappeddah-dah-dah-dah
Blue marks the elements that differ from H.
§ 2How to remember H
hur-ry-hur-ry (····) — H is four even dits, one more than S (···) and one fewer than 5 (·····), so count them in pairs.
§ 3Words with H
§ 4Questions about H
- How do you count the dots in H?
- Count them in pairs, two and two, like I sent twice without a pause. Beginners often lose count at four or five dots, so practise H, S and 5 side by side until the difference sounds natural.
- What does HH mean in Morse code?
- Eight dots sent as one signal mean error, and the run sounds like H twice with no gap between. ITU-R M.1677-1 lists it as the error signal; the sender then repeats the last word correctly.
- What does HI mean in Morse code?
- HI is laughter, the smile of a Morse contact. Sent as ···· ··, it is easy to spot as a long rattle of six dots split by one short letter gap.
- Is H the same as CH in Morse code?
- No. CH is four dashes (−−−−), the exact mirror of H, and belongs to German and a few other extended alphabets rather than the basic ITU letters.