Morse code words

General Memory Chat
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Here’s a method I came up with for learning Morse code easily.

All you need to do is become familiar with 26 “Morse code words”, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet:

Amy
Bread
Cobra
Doll
Eh
Flash
Good
Heidi
Ice
Jenny
Knit
Large
Mop
Nod
Oops
Pasta
Quran
Ring
Safe
To
Ugly
Vicar
Wasp
Xraay (note - double a)
Yukon
Zoned

These could be linked together in a story, or just learned by repetition.

Now, to get the Morse code for a particular letter, take the word beginning with that letter, and go through the letters in the word, starting with the 2nd letter. If a letter is in the first half of the alphabet (A-M), it’s a dot, and if it’s in the second half of the alphabet (N-Z), it’s a dash.

For example, what is the Morse code for B? The word is Bread. R = dash, E = dot, A = dot, D = dot. So the Morse code for B is dash, dot, dot, dot.

What is the Morse Code for W? The word is Wasp. A = dot, S = dash, P = dash. So the Morse code for W is dot, dash, dash.

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That looks quite great, can’t wait to try this.

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That’s genius!

Let me get this right;

If I was to write EROL and translate this to Morse code, would this be correct?

E = h
R = ing
O = ops
L = arge

E = dot
R = dot- dash - dot
O = dash - dash - dash
L = dot - dash - dot - dot

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That’s right!

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Excellent approach, Simon.

This reminded me of a similar technique in Harry Lorayne’s first book from 1957, “How To Develop a Super Power Memory”. I believe it was the book that first introduced me to mnemonics. I was happy to discover that I still own a PDF version.

Anyway, he had a method for learning Morse code that I thought was very nifty. Take a look at his word list:

A rat
B terror
C torture
D tearer
E air
F rear tire
G tighter
H rarer rye
I rower
J ratted
K trout
L retire her
M toad
N tier
O touted
P rotator
Q tethered
R writer
S roarer
T toe
U rarity
V re-arrest
W retied
X turret
Y treated
Z teeterer

Fun question: Do you see how to use his word list to reproduce the Morse code?

:smiley:

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Yes, I see :slight_smile:

That seems rather more difficult though, because there is no natural link between the word and its letter, so I guess you would need to use a bunch of mnemonic images to associate them. With my system, each word starts with its letter.

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Exactly. The way he did it, it was necessary to do an extra step to link the letter to the word. I think both methods are very cool, but yours definitely has an advantage for that reason.

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I agree and thanks for the recommendation of your method.

I found the best book to learn about Morse Code according to many reviews.
Morse Code: The Essential Language

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Interesting comments. I learned the morse code at the age of 12 and studied and got my Amateur (Ham) Radio License from the FCC. Through the 60 some odd years that has been my primary way to communicate with other Amateurs all over the world with my Ham Radio transceiver…If you plan to use it to communicate with others you learn the letters by sound…as example the letter A is a dit and a dash or pronounced as dit dah…the letter B is dah dit dit dit. Once you learn the sounds for letters you can then begin receiving and sending words…the more proficient you become the faster you can copy and send words… Hope this helps. John L

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I found this,it looks interesting.

IMG_20200502_230434
IMG_20200502_2304341080×1263 560 KB

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In addition to my post last night the book Ghost mentioned book is published by the American Radio League (ARRL)…it is a good book…if you google ARRL CW practice files you will see the archive morse code files at different speeds…click on the 5 WPM files and choose one to listen to morse code sent at 5 WPM…this is the files to begin learning to copy morse code…furthermore if you google Morse Code you can find the complete code including letters, numbers and punctuation. In addition if you google k7qo.com you will see Chuck Adams’s code course for free…it is downloaded to the computer in a ISO format. Then click on the ISO file and it will open up the complete course teaching the code letters, numbers, etc by sound and gradually moves you along to copying words, etc and progressively to faster speeds… It also includes text of what was sent so you can check the accuracy of you copy, etc. Hope this will be of help John

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I’ve just found an interesting video that also teaches the rhythms.

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Here’s what I use:
an A
BOB is the man
CO-ca CO-la
DAN-ger-ous
eh?
fetch a FIRE-man
GOO-GLE it
hip-pi-ty hop
i-raq
just DO IT NOW
KAN-ga-ROO
to 'ELL with it
MOM-MY
NEV-er
OH MY GOD
a PEE-PEE smell
GOD SAVE the QUEEN
a RACE-car
stop stop stop
T (the letter)
un-der WHERE?
vic-to-ry V
the WORLD WAR
X marks the SPOT
YAN-kee DOO-DLE
ZED ZE-ro man

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Errol. That training video was used by the army during WWll and continued to be used with updates until the army discontinued using Morse Code. Note that it also teaches how to print the letters to copy the letters clearly and at faster speeds as well as the phonetic alphabet that was used during that time. Today the code is learned by writing it out as you can copy at faster speeds that way. When I received my license in the late 50’s the ARRL had published a book titled Learning The Radio Telegraph Code for 50 cents. That is the book I used to learn the code. It was based on the military way. First learning the letters, then receive groups of five different letters and finally simple words and then longer words and numbers and punctionation if I recall correctly. Originally Morse Code was used for ship to shore communication (remember the Titanic) and over lines during the civil war…Thomas Edision was very proficient at morse code and taught it to his second wife before they were married. When he asked her to marry him he went to ask her at work and sent “will you marry me” by tapping the palm of her hand so those around didn’t know what he was asking. She sent back in Code Yes…JohnL

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That list looks awfully familiar… did you happen to get any inspiration from this video? :slight_smile: I really like this way of learning Morse Code, and because you learn it phonetically it’s quite helpful for applying it quickly to a sound, or even a flashing light.

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Seems that I did, and then modified the ones that didn’t work for me.

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This is good information. I always like to make multiple connections for same information. This page gave be 4 ways to remember the Morse code alphabet. Just for my reference I have collected all that data in one info-graphic. Posting it here for everyone’s reference.

morse-code-collection
morse-code-collection1467×1338 102 KB

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That’s a very memorable piece of information, very romantic and unique :slight_smile:

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Nice idea, Simon.

This was my take on it (well a couple versions, anyways):

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Hi Nelson…the code sent at the beginning of your video above is the word MEMORY. It was sent at approximately 30 WPM…once you learn and use the code frequently it just becomes a second language inwhich eventually you copy words by the rhythm of the complete word sound rather than writing individual letters down…as example the word the is: Dah Dit Dit Dit Dit Dit…Johnl

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