Morse code is made up of dots and dashes. How did telegraph operators keep from losing track of where one letter ended and another began?

Question

In the movies, morse code comes through so fast it’s hard to tell a dot from a dash. Hoe did they keep from getting lost?

In: 1001

Answer 1

The pauses are of different lengths. How long a pause in between the dots and dashes depends if you are in a character (letter, digit, or other symbols), between characters, and between words. So if you learn it you will be able to tell the pauses apart

The timing is includes how long the dots and dashes are themself
* dot 1 unit
* dash 3 units
* Pause between dots and dashes within a character 1 unit.
* Pause between characters in a word 3 units.
* Pause between words 7 units

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[https://morsecode.world/international/timing.html](https://morsecode.world/international/timing.html)

You can use a website like https://www.meridianoutpost.com/resources/etools/calculators/calculator-morse-code.php? and generate the sound, it is quite clear at low speed that it is different even for a novice. It is noticeable even at high speed that pauses are not identical even if you might not there the it exactly right.