Yes in Morse Code: Dots, Dashes and the Radio Reply C

Yes in Morse code is -.-- . .... Y is dash, dot, dash, dash, E is one dot, and S is three dots. This page covers yes at a glance, a letter-by-letter breakdown, the correct way to write it, how to send yes by sound, tapping, flashlight and blinking, the short replies radio operators use instead, a side-by-side comparison of yes and no, and how to agree a one-signal yes and no with a person who cannot speak.

Yes in Morse Code at a Glance

Yes in Morse code has 3 letters, 8 signals and a length of 25 timing units. The table below comes straight from the translator’s engine.

A timing unit is the length of one dot. International Morse code, defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1, sets every other length from that unit: a dash lasts 3 units, the gap inside a letter lasts 1 unit, the gap between letters lasts 3 units and the gap between words lasts 7 units. Yes contains 5 dots and 3 dashes, so the signals add up to 14 units, and the silences add up to the remaining 11 units.

Letter-by-Letter Breakdown of Yes

Yes breaks into 3 letter patterns: Y, E and S. Press the play button beside any letter to hear it alone.

Y: dash, dot, dash, dash

-.-- is the hardest letter in yes. Y is spoken dah-di-dah-dah and takes 13 of the word’s 25 units, more than half the total. Two neighbours cause most errors. C is dash, dot, dash, dot, so a Y with its last dash cut short becomes C. Q is dash, dash, dot, dash, so a Y with its first two signals swapped becomes Q. Y and Q are exact reverses of each other.

E: one dot

. is a single dot, the shortest pattern in Morse code. The 3-unit gaps before and after E keep the dot a separate letter.

S: three dots

... is three dots, spoken di-di-dit. The trap in S is the count: four dots is H, not S. The risk is highest right after E. An E dot followed too closely by the three S dots produces four even dots, and a listener writes H.

How to Write Yes in Morse Code

To write yes in Morse code, replace each letter with its pattern and put a single space between the three patterns. The written result is -.-- . ..., with no slash, because a slash only marks the break between two words.

A slash appears as soon as the message has a second word. The question “yes or no” becomes:

There are 4 common mistakes when writing yes in Morse code:

1. Cutting the last dash of Y. Dash, dot, dash, dot is C, so the word turns into CES.
2. Swapping the start of Y. Dash, dash, dot, dash is Q, so the word turns into QES.
3. Dropping the space after E. The E dot and the three S dots merge into four dots, and the decoder reads YH.
4. Adding a fourth dot to S. Four dots at the end spell YEH.

Paste any version into the Morse Code Translator before you copy it, and check that Y, E and S come back as three separate letters.

How to Send Yes by Sound and Tapping

To send yes by sound, play a short beep for each dot and a beep three times as long for each dash, then leave silences of 1, 3 and 7 units between signals, letters and words. Press Play on the answer card at the top of this page to hear yes as a continuous wave (CW) radio tone.

There are 3 steps to sending yes by hand:

1. Choose a unit. A dot of 240 milliseconds (0.24 seconds) gives 5 words per minute (wpm), a comfortable beginner pace.
2. Send the 8 signals. Say the rhythm aloud first: dah-di-dah-dah, dit, di-di-dit.
3. Hold the letter gaps. Wait a full 3 units after Y and after E, then stop after S.

At 5 wpm yes takes 6 seconds, at 13 wpm it takes 2.3 seconds, and at 20 wpm, where one unit lasts 60 milliseconds, it takes 1.5 seconds (1,500 milliseconds). The homepage timing rules explain how the unit changes with speed.

Tapping works the same way, with one difference: a tap marks a start but has no length. There are 2 reliable ways to show a dash with taps:

• Hold the press on a touch screen or button, so the listener sees or feels the duration.
• Knock harder for a dash and tap lightly for a dot, if the surface cannot show duration.

The tapping guide covers both methods.

How to Flash or Blink Yes

To flash yes with a light, keep the light on for 1 unit for each dot and 3 units for each dash, and keep it dark for 1, 3 or 7 units between signals, letters and words. A unit of half a second (500 milliseconds) is readable across a room or a campsite, and at that unit yes takes 12.5 seconds.

The demonstration below flashes yes with the translator’s own timing.

Blinking yes is slower, because a natural blink already lasts roughly 100 to 400 milliseconds. A 1-second unit is workable: close the eyes for 1 second for a dot and 3 seconds for a dash, and keep them open for 3 seconds between letters. Yes then takes 25 seconds. The flashlight guide covers distance, background and lens covering.

How Radio Operators Say Yes in Morse Code

Radio operators say yes in Morse code with a single letter or a short signal instead of the full word. There are 4 standard ways to answer yes on the air:

C is the ITU signal for yes. Recommendation ITU-R M.1172, the ITU list of miscellaneous abbreviations and signals, defines C as yes, or as an instruction to read the previous group in the affirmative. C differs from Y only in its last signal, a dot instead of a dash.

R means received: R confirms that the last transmission arrived, not that the operator agrees with the transmission. Amateur operators often send R twice, as R R, before a reply. The CW abbreviations guide lists R, C, OK and the rest of the operator shorthand.

Q codes answer yes by dropping the question mark: a Q code with a question mark asks, and the same Q code without one answers. QSL? asks “Can you acknowledge receipt?”, and the reply QSL states “I am acknowledging receipt”. M.1172 also lets an operator add C after certain Q codes to give them an affirmative sense. The Q codes guide covers these rules in full.

Yes vs No in Morse Code

Yes is 6 timing units longer than no in Morse code. YES lasts 25 units and NO lasts 19 units. The engine gives these figures:

The difference is 0.36 seconds (360 milliseconds) at 20 wpm and 1.44 seconds at 5 wpm. NO carries more dashes than YES despite being shorter, because O alone holds 3 dashes. The first 4 signals of YES and NO are identical: dash, dot, dash, dash. Only the silence after the dot tells the two words apart. Inside Y that silence lasts 1 unit, and in NO the same silence is the 3-unit gap between N and O. A sender who rushes the gap in NO sounds like the start of YES, so hold the letter gap in both words. The No in Morse code page breaks down N and O in detail.

Agreeing a Yes and No Code for Tapping or Blinking

To agree a yes and no code with a person who cannot speak, choose one signal for yes and a clearly different signal for no before any questions start. Spelling YES takes 25 units and NO takes 19 units, while a one-signal answer takes 1 to 3 units. People with limited speech or movement, for example after a stroke, sometimes answer questions with eye blinks, finger taps or hand squeezes.

There are 2 common one-signal schemes:

• Count-based: one blink or tap for yes, two for no. Counting is easier to read than duration.
• Length-based: one short signal (the Morse E) for yes, one long signal (the Morse T) for no. Length keeps every answer to one signal, but tired hands and eyes blur the difference.

There are 5 rules that keep a one-signal code reliable:

1. Agree the code in advance and write it on a card the person can see.
2. Ask closed questions, one at a time, that have a plain yes or no answer.
3. Wait a fixed time, such as 5 seconds, before reading the answer.
4. Repeat the answer back (“You said yes?”) and ask for the same signal again to confirm.
5. Add a third signal, such as three blinks, for “stop” or “I need a rest”.

Once yes and no are settled, the Help in Morse code page covers the next word most people need.

Practice Yes in Morse Code

Yes in Morse code is -.-- . ...: 3 letters, 5 dots, 3 dashes and 25 timing units. Learn the letter-by-letter breakdown with Y first, write yes with single spaces, and send it by sound, tapping, flashlight or blinking at a slower unit. On the radio, C and R answer faster, and for yes and no with a person who cannot speak, a one-signal code is faster still. The Morse code words hub has the rest of the common words, including hi and no.