Hello in Morse Code

Hello in Morse code, letter by letter

HELLO is 5 letters and 16 marks. A space separates the letters:

• H: .... (di-di-di-dit)
• E: . (dit)
• L: .-.. (di-dah-di-dit)
• L again: .-.. (di-dah-di-dit)
• O: --- (dah-dah-dah)

Hello, hi or hey: which is shortest

Morse code is timed in units. A dot is 1 unit, a dash is 3, the gap inside a letter is 1 and the gap between letters is 3. At the default 20 WPM, 1 unit lasts 60 ms.

HI is the quickest greeting to tap on a table or blink with a light, and HELLO takes almost four times as long. All three start with H, four quick dits. Counted in units:

• HI: .... .. is 6 marks and 13 units, about 0.8 seconds.
• HEY: .... . -.-- is 9 marks and 27 units, about 1.6 seconds.
• HELLO: .... . .-.. .-.. --- is 16 marks and 49 units, about 3 seconds.

Radio operators don't send HELLO

On the air, Morse code operators greet each other with short forms. To start a contact, a station calls CQ, which means calling any station, several times and then signs with its call sign: CQ CQ CQ DE, then the call sign, then K. DE means from, and K means go ahead.

When someone answers, the greeting depends on the time of day: GM for good morning, GA for good afternoon and GE for good evening, often followed by the other operator's name. GA can also mean go ahead, so it is read from context. At the end, operators send 73, best regards, and GN for good night.

One trap: HI on the radio is not hello. Sent as HI HI, it means a laugh, the Morse version of "ha ha". If you want to say hi to a ham radio operator, send GM, GA or GE.

The Morse code words page lists more of this radio shorthand with what each one means.

HELLO WORLD in Morse code

HELLO WORLD is .... . .-.. .-.. --- / .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. The slash marks the gap between the two words, which lasts 7 units. The whole thing takes about 7 seconds at 20 WPM.

The phrase comes from programming. The first known program that prints it is in Brian Kernighan's 1972 tutorial for the B language, and the 1978 book The C Programming Language made "hello, world" the usual first program. It makes a good first message for a homemade Morse code blinker or buzzer too: two words, both letters and gaps, and easy to check by ear.

Tap, flash or sound hello

You can send hello with anything that makes a short and a long signal. Keep a dash about three times as long as a dot, and pause between letters.

• Tap it: on a desk, a wall or someone's hand. H is four quick taps, E is one, each L is short long short short, and O is three long presses. Try it on the Tap tab first to check your timing.
• Flash it: press Flash to blink hello as a light on the screen, small or full screen. On Android in Chrome, Use flashlight blinks the phone's own flashlight. iPhones can't switch the flashlight from a web page.
• Sound it: press Play, or Download and pick WAV audio or MP3 audio to keep a sound file of your hello. Turn on Loop to repeat it until you press Stop.