Timing at 20 WPM
International Morse timing is measured in units: a dot is 1 unit, a dash 3, the gap inside a character 1, the gap between letters 3 and the gap between words 7. At 20 words per minute, one unit is 1200 ÷ 20 = 60 ms.
| Character | Morse | Sounds like | Units | Time | Gap after |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H | .... | di-di-di-dit | 7 | 420 ms | 3 units (180 ms) |
| I | .. | di-dit | 3 | 180 ms | — |
In total, HI is 13 units — 0.78 seconds at 20 WPM: 2 characters, 6 dots and 0 dashes. At a beginner's 5 WPM it would take 3.12 seconds.
Sound it out
Operators learn Morse as sound, not as dots to count. Say “di” for a dot inside a character, “dit” for a final dot and “dah” for a dash, with a pause between letters:
di-di-di-dit di-dit
Letters in HI that are easy to mix up
These letters differ from the ones in HI by a single dot or dash — one flipped element, or one extra or missing at the end — so they are the usual misreadings when you are copying by ear or by light:
| Letter | Morse | Easily confused with |
|---|---|---|
| H | .... | B (-...), F (..-.), L (.-..), S (...) |
| I | .. | A (.-), E (.), N (-.), S (...) |
About HI
HI is one of the easiest words in Morse: H is four dots and I is two, so the whole word is six dots with a letter gap in the middle.
To radio operators, HI usually is not a greeting. In amateur Morse, HI — often doubled as HI HI — is the conventional way to laugh, the telegraph version of 'ha ha'. Amateur clubs' abbreviation lists give it as 'laughter on CW'.
Related radio abbreviations
| Abbreviation | Morse | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| HI HI | .... .. / .... .. | Laughter |
HI in other codes
| NATO phonetic alphabet | Hotel India |
|---|---|
| Binary (UTF-8) | 01001000 01001001 |
Convert your own text with the Morse code translator, the NATO alphabet converter or the binary translator, or print the Morse code alphabet.