Common Morse Code Phrases & Messages

HELP is an English word, not an international distress prosign. Use SOS when you need a widely recognized distress signal.

A longer emergency word is useful for practicing clear character gaps under pressure.

Keep the seven-unit word gap clearly longer than the gaps between letters.

HELLO is useful practice because the two L characters repeat. Keep a full letter gap between their identical rhythms.

HI is a compact beginner phrase: four dots for H, a full letter gap, then two dots for I.

This phrase combines repeated letters with a clear word break.

Listen for the contrast between the long O rhythms and the shorter letters in NIGHT.

A practical two-word phrase for learning the longer pause between words.

YES moves from a four-signal letter to the single dot E and three-dot S.

NO is a short contrast between N and the three-dash O.

Repeated E characters make the one-dot rhythm easy to recognize in context.

The slash is a written marker for a seven-unit word gap. It is not spoken or transmitted as a slash character.

LOVE is common in jewelry and notes; verify every gap before using a permanent design.

The repeated S characters make accurate letter spacing especially important.

CQ is a general call used by an operator looking for any station that can reply.

QSL is a Q-code used to confirm that a message or contact was received.

73 is a familiar closing expression in amateur radio communication.

In formal Morse procedure, operators normally use procedural signals rather than spelling this voice-radio word.

For efficient operating, the single-letter R or QSL is often used instead of transmitting the full word.