P in Morse code

P wraps two long tones in two short ones. At 18 WPM the dots last 66.7 ms and the dashes 200 ms each, with 66.7 ms of silence between the marks: about 733 ms for the letter.

• Say it:

  di-dah-dah-dit, light, heavy, heavy, light.

• Tap it:

  a quick tap, two long presses, a quick tap.

• Flash it:

  short, long, long, short.

• Write it:

  a period, two hyphens and a period, .--. with no gaps.

Say “a PRAY-ING abe” with the stress on the two middle syllables: the stressed beats are the dashes, the light first and last syllables the dots. “Is PA-PA in?” has the same rhythm and ties in the NATO word.

In Douglas Harder's written mnemonics, tall letters are dashes and short letters dots. His word for P is apps: a short a, two tall ps and a short s. More of these are in the Morse code mnemonics guide.

• W:

  last dot dropped, .-- stops after the dashes.

• J:

  last dot held long, .--- ends on a third dash.

• F:

  first dash shortened, ..-. has one dash.

• L:

  second dash shortened, .-.. has one dash too.

• X:

  every mark swapped, -..- is P's opposite.

W is the usual mix-up: the two letters sound the same until the end, where P adds a final dot. If you hear a dot after the second dash, it is P. The Sound-alike drill trains pairs like this one.

PAPA, P's own word in the NATO phonetic alphabet, is .--. .- .--. .- in Morse code, 41 units or about 2.7 seconds at 18 WPM. Spell out any other word on the Morse code translator.

Radio operators write PSE for please, as in “PSE QRS”, please send more slowly. PARIS, the word used to define Morse speed, also starts with P: one WPM means sending PARIS once a minute, counting the gap after the word.

American Morse, once used on US landline telegraphs, sent P as five dots, the pattern International Morse gives to the number 5. See P beside the other letters on the alphabet chart.