SOS in Morse Code
SOS is three dots, then three dashes, then three dots, written ... --- ... and already in the box on this page so you can read it, copy it or hear it at four speeds. It was adopted in 1906 because those nine marks are unmistakable coming out of noise, not because the letters stand for anything. The one thing a chart rarely says is that the real signal runs the nine marks together as a single symbol, with no gaps between the letters.
The international morse alphabet
Click any character to add it to the input.
Common questions
- What is SOS in Morse code?
- Three dots, three dashes, three dots, which is written ... --- ... and is nine marks in all. Written as the three letters S, O and S it is those same nine marks, which is why the pattern is remembered by its letters even though it was never meant to be read as a word.
- Does SOS stand for save our souls?
- No. The 1906 radiotelegraph conference picked the pattern for its sound, and the letters are what those nine marks happen to spell in the alphabet. Save our souls, save our ship and survivors on ship were all attached to it afterwards.
- Is SOS three letters or one signal?
- One signal. It is a prosign, written with a bar over the letters, and it is sent as nine unbroken marks with no letter gaps in it. The player here sends S, O and S with the standard three unit gap between the letters, which is the same nine marks with pauses in them and is what almost every SOS you will hear online does.
- How do you send SOS with a light?
- The same pattern works in any medium that can be short or long: three short flashes, three long, three short, with the long ones about three times the length of the short. Press Play as sound at 10 words a minute to hear the rhythm slowly enough to copy with a torch or a whistle.
- Is SOS still the distress call today?
- Marine and aviation distress traffic moved to voice and to automated digital systems decades ago, and Morse was retired from the international maritime distress service in 1999. SOS survives as the pattern everybody recognises, which is why it is still what people flash, sound or lay out on the ground.
Exact for the ITU-standard international Morse alphabet, digits and common punctuation. Audio plays at the speed you set with standard PARIS timing: a dot is one unit, a dash three, and the gaps inside a letter, between letters and between words are one, three and seven units. Characters with no agreed Morse equivalent are reported rather than approximated.