6 in Morse Code (-....): Sound, Timing and How to Tell It from B

What is 6 in Morse code?

6 in Morse code is -.... : a dash, then four dots, separated by silences one dot long. That pattern comes from the ITU standard for International Morse Code (Recommendation M.1677-1), which is why a 6 sent from Texas copies as 6 on a receiver in Tokyo.

Some charts call 6 a "letter." It is a figure, and figures follow a stricter rule than letters: all ten are exactly five signals long, so a 6 never looks shorter or longer than the numbers around it.

How to send 6 in Morse code

To send 6, give one long signal and then four short ones, with even one-unit silences between them. The opening dash carries the whole character, so hold it for a full three dot lengths.

1. By sound: whether you use a straight key, a buzzer or just your voice, say or send "dah-di-di-di-dit." Lean on the first syllable, then keep the four dits light and evenly spaced.
2. By light: hold a flashlight or phone torch on for one long beat, follow with four quick blinks, then stay dark for three units to close the number. To match a steady rhythm, open the Morse code light tool with 6 already loaded.
3. By tap: one knock, a longer pause, then four knocks close together. A knock cannot be held, so the longer pause stands in for the dash; the Morse code tapper lets you practice the spacing on screen.
4. In writing: keep -.... as one unbroken group, leave a single space before the next character, and mark a word break with a slash. 66 is written -.... -.... and 6 PM is -.... / .--. --

The usual failure is a weak opening. If the dash comes out no longer than the dots, the receiver hears five dots, which is 5.

Morse code for 6 timing at different speeds

The Morse code for 6 takes 11 units: a 3-unit dash, four 1-unit dots and four 1-unit gaps inside the character. Operators rate speed in words per minute against PARIS, a standard word 50 units long; at any speed, a unit in milliseconds equals 1200 ÷ WPM.

Adding only the dash and four dots (180 + 4 × 60) gives 420 ms at 20 WPM, but that leaves out the four gaps inside the character. Counted properly, 6 lasts 660 ms at that speed, and the 3-unit silence after it (180 ms) is what stops 66 from running together into one long string.

How to remember 6 (-....)

The dependable way to remember 6 is the digit rule: from 6 to 9, count the opening dashes and add five. One dash plus five gives 6, two dashes gives 7, and so on up to 9 (----.), with 0 written as five dashes (-----).

6 is also 4 played backward. 4 is ....- and 6 is -...., the same one-dash, four-dot set in reverse order, so learning the pair together halves the work. You can also build 6 one dot at a time: T (-), N (-.), D (-..), B (-...) and finally 6 (-....). The full Morse code alphabet chart lays out that dash-first branch so you can see 6 sitting at its end.

Once the rule has done its job, stop counting. A working 6 should land as one sound, a heavy "dah" that tips into a quick run of dits, because counting dots at 20 WPM is slower than the code itself.

Characters confused with 6

The characters most often mistaken for 6 are B, which is one dot shorter, and 4, which has the same signals in reverse. The table shows how each one differs from -.... and what to listen for.

Two rows need care. The hyphen begins exactly like 6, so a 6 followed too quickly by T (-) reads as a hyphen; the 3-unit gap after the digit is the only thing separating them. And in American Morse, the old US railroad code, -.... means 8 while 6 is six dots (......), so a pattern copied from an old telegraph chart may not mean what the international table says.

To drill the look-alikes, alternate B and 6 until the fifth signal registers, then pair 4 with 6 to train your ear on where the dash sits.

Common mistakes when sending 6

• A short opening dash. If the first signal shrinks toward a dot, 6 becomes 5 (.....).
• Dropping a dot. Four dits blur at speed; send only three and the receiver writes B (-...).
• No pause after the digit. Run a 6 straight into T or another dash-first character and it can arrive as a hyphen (-....-).
• A stretched dot. If the third dot drags into a dash, 6 turns into -..-. , the slash; keep all four dots the same length.

6 on the air: call signs, the 6-meter band and cut numbers

In US amateur radio, the digit in a call sign marks a call area, and call area 6 is California. Calls such as W6 or K6 put -.... in the middle of every CW identification, so W6 is sent .-- -.... and K6 goes out as -.- -.... on the key.

The number also names a band. The 6-meter band runs from 50 to 54 MHz in the United States and is known among operators as the "magic band," because it sometimes carries signals far beyond its usual range.

Contest operators shorten some digits into single letters, called cut numbers, to save time in repeated exchanges. 6 is not one of them: in the usual cut-number table it has no short form and is sent as -.... like any other time.

When a log or contest number contains a 6, expect to hear it at full length, even when the digits around it are cut.

Numbers that use 6

Writing the 6 Morse code pattern inside longer numbers shows whether your digits stay separate. In the table, a space marks the 3-unit pause between digits; two separate numbers need a 7-unit pause, shown in writing as a slash.

66 is the test to start with: two identical groups of five, where only the character gap tells the receiver it is 66 and not one ten-signal mistake. 60 then puts the single dash of 6 next to the five dashes of 0, which checks whether your dash length stays consistent.

Practice 6 on Morse Beacon

Send a 6 into your phone's microphone and let the audio decoder tell you what it heard. If it prints B, a dot is missing; if it prints 5, your opening dash is too short. The practice set for 6 then tests the number by ear, with no chart to lean on.

Start on Slow (8 WPM), where the gap after the dash is easy to hear, and move back up to 14 WPM once the four dots stop blurring. The digits on either side, 5 (.....) and 7 (--...), are the natural next drills, and the Morse code translator plays any number, from a phone extension to a year, at whatever speed you are working toward.