R in Morse code

R is a long tone between two short ones. At 18 WPM the dots last 66.7 ms, the dash 200 ms and each gap 66.7 ms, about 467 ms for the letter, the same length as D, H, M and U.

• Say it:

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

• Tap it:

  a quick tap, a long press, a quick tap.

• Flash it:

  short, long, short.

• Write it:

  a period, a hyphen and a period, no gaps.

ROGER is .-. --- --. . .-. in Morse code, R at both ends, 47 units or about 3.1 seconds at 18 WPM. Try any other word on the Morse code translator.

Say ro-TA-tion with the stress in the middle: the stressed syllable is the dash and the light ones on either side are the dots. “A RAB-bit” starts the same way. Some learners picture a racecar from the side instead, two wheels for the dots and the body for the dash.

Douglas Harder's written mnemonic is rye: short r and e for the dots, the tall y for the dash. The Morse code mnemonics guide has phrases like these for every letter.

• K:

  every mark swapped, so -.- is R's mirror image.

• A:

  the last dot dropped, so .- stops after the dash.

• L:

  one dot added, so .-.. ends on two dots.

• S:

  the dash shortened, so ... is three dots.

Change the first or last dot into a dash and R becomes G or W. Because R is the same in both directions, there is no reversed form to learn; the pair to watch is R and L, which differ only by the final dot. Practice them by ear in the Sound-alike drill.

Sent alone, R tells the other station its message was received as sent. Voice operators turned the letter into a word, “roger”, and kept the meaning.

R also opens RST, the signal report radio amateurs exchange: readability, strength and tone, as in 599, the best report there is. Those and other shorthands are listed under Morse code abbreviations.

The old American Morse code, used on US landline telegraphs, sent R as one dot, a longer space and two more dots, written . .., which International Morse would read as EI. It gave the dot-dash-dot pattern to F instead.