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Morse code accented letters

Only one accented letter, É, is in the International Morse code standard. The rest are national extensions: codes that operators who share a language use with each other. Several of them share one code, so the letter depends on the language.

Accented letters in use

Morse code for accented and non-English letters
LetterMorse codeITUPlay
Édot dot dash dot dotYes
Ädot dash dot dashNo
Ödash dash dash dotNo
Üdot dot dash dashNo
Ådot dash dash dot dashNo
Ñdash dash dot dash dashNo
Chdash dash dash dashNo
Çdash dot dash dot dotNo

Letters that share a code

National tables reuse codes, so the same signal means different letters in different languages. Read it in the language of the message.

Codes shared by more than one accented letter
Morse codeLetters
.-.-Ä, Æ, Ą
---.Ö, Ø, Ó
..--Ü, Ŭ
.--.-Å, À
--.--Ñ, Ń
----Ch, Š, Ĥ
-.-..Ç, Ć, Ĉ

One extension even collides with a standard signal: the Esperanto letter Ŝ uses ...-., which the ITU defines as “understood”.

What to send instead

If the other station may not know the extension, spell the letter with plain characters. Every operator can copy these.

  • Ä → AE
  • Ö → OE
  • Ü → UE
  • Å → AA
  • Ñ → N
  • Ch → CH (C then H)
  • Ç → C

By language

German
Ä, Ö, Ü, Ch
Swedish and Finnish
Ä, Ö, Å
Norwegian and Danish
Å
French
É, Ç
Spanish
Ñ, É
Czech and Slovak
Ch, É
Turkish
Ç, Ö, Ü

Looking for the standard alphabet? See the full Morse code alphabet.

Sources: ITU-R M.1677-1, the International Morse code standard (É only). Other codes, shared codes and fallbacks follow national tables and common on-air practice.