Common Abbreviations

Abbreviations, along with Prosigns and Q–Codes in Morse Code serve two primary purposes. First they save motion. This is not as important when using paddles, but when using straight keys, it becomes very important, as anyone who has spent laong streetches of time on a straight key can tell you. Second, they save time. This is kind of related to the first reason, but goes a little further. In fact, even numbers have abbreviations.

Modern texting also use abbreviations, many of which were in use by hams long before texting was invented.

Following is a list of some of the more common abbreviations used in Morse Code. This is not an exhaustive list, but only the more common abbreviations encountered while working CW.

Cut Numbers

Because of the length of numbers, from dididididit (5) to dahdahdahdahdah (0), CW operators have come up with a shorthand method of sending numbers, well most numbers, 4 and 6 get sent in their entirety. This shorthand is known as cut numbers and involves sending letters in place of the numbers. For instance you might get a signal report of 5NN instead of 599, as its quicker and easier to send an N rather than a 9.

The following short table lists the numbers and their cut number equivalent.