Morse code most common letter in English, the letter "E", has the shortest code: a single dot. Because the Morse code elements are specified by proportion rather than specific time durations, the code is usually transmitted at the highest rate that the receiver is capable of decoding. The Morse code transmission rate ("speed") is specified in "groups per minute", commonly referred to as "words per minute". Morse code is usually transmitted by on-off keying of an information carrying medium such as electric current, radio waves, visible light or sound waves. The current or wave is present during time period of the dot
Hog-Morse Hog-Morse Hog-Morse was the tendency of inexperienced telegraph operators to make errors when sending or receiving in Morse code. It is so called after one example, "home" () becoming "hog" (), which is just a subtle error in timing. The term was current in the United States in the period when American Morse code was in use. The American code was a little different to the International Morse Code currently in use. With the American code it is easier to make timing errors of this sort because there were several more symbol timings than there are in the international code.