SOS in morse code
Three dits, three dahs and three dits, with no pause between the letters. Press Play to hear it and see it blink. On an Android phone it can flash your flashlight too.
...---...
The flashlight needs camera access. Nothing is recorded or sent.
How to blink SOS with a flashlight
Count a steady beat. A dit (the short signal) is one count of light, and a dah (the long one) is three.
- Give three short flashes. Each flash lasts one count, with one count of dark after it.
- Give three long flashes. Each lasts three counts, with one count of dark after it.
- Give three short flashes again.
- Stay dark for seven counts, then start again from the first step. Keep every count the same length.
Download SOS in morse code
The pattern as a picture, each letter named under its marks, for a card, a craft project or a tattoo sketch. The PNG is ready to print or share; the SVG scales to any size.
SOS as a morse code bracelet
Each dit is a round bead and each dah a tube three times as long, with a small spacer between letters. For a 7 in bracelet in 3 mm beads: 6 dit beads, 3 dah tubes, 2 spacers and 43 plain beads.
Why SOS runs together
SOS isn’t sent as the three letters S, O and S. The International Telecommunication Union’s record of the 1906 conference that adopted it writes the signal as one group of nine marks, so there’s no letter gap between them. That’s why the drawing above has the same short space between every mark.
Where SOS comes from
The International Radiotelegraph Conference met in Berlin from October 3 to November 3, 1906, and decided that the SOS distress signal would have priority on the air. For most of the century that followed, it was the distress call ships sent by radio. Since the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System was fully in place on February 1, 1999, ships use that system instead.
Questions
What is SOS in morse code?
Three dits, three dahs and three dits, sent as one signal with no pause between the letters. A dit is the short signal, and a dah lasts three times as long.
How do you blink SOS with a flashlight?
Give three short flashes, three long ones and three short ones, each long flash three times as long as a short one. Wait the length of seven short flashes, then start again.
Is SOS still used?
Ships no longer send it by radio. They raise the alarm with the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), which was fully in place on February 1, 1999.
More morse tools
- Morse code translator
Type any text to hear it in morse, or paste morse to read it.
- Printable morse code chart
Every letter and number drawn to scale, for US Letter and A4.
- Morse code numbers
0 to 9, and the pattern that makes them quick to learn.
More phrases in morse code
- Thank you in morse code
Eight letters in two words, 22 marks in all.
- Yes in morse code
Three letters and 8 marks.
- Happy birthday in morse code
Thirteen letters in two words, 41 marks in all.
- Hello in morse code
Five letters and 16 marks, with the double L in the middle.
- Help in morse code
Four letters and 13 marks.
Sources
- Codes and timing follow Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1 (10/2009), International Morse code (International Telecommunication Union, 2009).
- International Radiotelegraph Conference (Berlin, 1906) (International Telecommunication Union).
- Global Maritime Distress and Safety System: introduction and history (International Maritime Organization).