I Built a Morse Code Tool to Help Me Actually Learn It

A while ago I decided I wanted to actually learn Morse code.

Not just recognize “SOS.”

Not just paste text into a translator.

But understand how it works, how it sounds, and how spacing really matters.

So I did what I usually do when I want to understand something better.

I built a tool around it.

That project became MorseWords, a small web app for translating, listening to, and practicing Morse code.

Why Build It at All?

Because building something forces you to understand the rules.

If you are writing the encoder, you have to define:

• What exactly counts as a letter break?
• What counts as a word break?
• How should spacing be handled?
• What happens when input is messy?

If you are writing the decoder, you cannot hand wave boundaries. You have to formalize them.

That process taught me more than simply using a translator ever would.

Text to Morse

The encoding side is intentionally predictable.

• Input is normalized and uppercased
• Each character maps to standard International Morse
• Output formatting is strict
  • 3 spaces between letters
  • 7 spaces between words

Example:

HELLO WORLD

Becomes:

....   .   .-..   .-..   ---       .--   ---   .-.   .-..   -..

Spacing is part of the output. That detail matters more than I realized when I started.

Morse to Text

Decoding made me appreciate how important boundaries are.

The decoder reads chunks of dots and dashes and uses separators to decide where letters and words end.

Rules are simple:

• 1 to 6 spaces means a letter gap
• 7 or more spaces, a slash, or a new line means a word gap

If a sequence is not recognized, it becomes ?.

That choice was intentional. When you are learning, seeing mistakes clearly is useful.

Audio Made It Practical

Reading Morse visually is one skill. Hearing it is another.

So I added playback with:

• Adjustable speed in WPM
• Pitch control
• Volume control
• Repeat mode
• Flashlight signaling

Being able to slow things down and gradually increase speed made practice much more engaging.

It stopped being just a translator and started feeling like a small training tool.

What I Learned

The most interesting part was not the interface. It was defining constraints.

Morse looks simple, but once you start formalizing:

• Character maps
• Spacing rules
• Input normalization
• Error handling

You realize how much structure is hiding under something that seems minimal.

Building it made the system clearer in my head.

And that was the entire goal.

If you are learning something new, building a small focused tool around it is underrated. You understand the edges, not just the surface.

If you are curious, the project is MorseWords