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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | -. | dah-dit | 5 | 300 ms | 3 units (180 ms) |
| O | --- | dah-dah-dah | 11 | 660 ms | — |
In total, NO is 19 units — 1.14 seconds at 20 WPM: 2 characters, 1 dot and 4 dashes. At a beginner's 5 WPM it would take 4.56 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:
dah-dit dah-dah-dah
Letters in NO that are easy to mix up
These letters differ from the ones in NO 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 |
|---|---|---|
| N | -. | D (-..), I (..), K (-.-), M (--) |
| O | --- | G (--.), K (-.-), M (--), W (.--) |
About NO
NO is one of the shortest words in Morse: N is dash-dot and O is three dashes. Conveniently, the spelled-out word is also the official abbreviation — ITU-R M.1172 defines NO as 'No (negative)', and the same document notes that Q-code signals can be given a negative sense by sending NO after them.
In amateur radio the single letter N is also used for 'no' in casual contacts, and in contests N is a common short form of the figure 9 (as in 5NN for 599).
Related radio abbreviations
| Abbreviation | Morse | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| NO | -. --- | No / negative (ITU-R M.1172) |
| N | -. | No; also short for the figure 9 in contests |
NO in other codes
| NATO phonetic alphabet | November Oscar |
|---|---|
| Binary (UTF-8) | 01001110 01001111 |
Convert your own text with the Morse code translator, the NATO alphabet converter or the binary translator, or print the Morse code alphabet.