Morse code consists of a series of dots and dashes for each character. It was originally designed for communication via telegraph and was widely used for that purpose. Morse code's versatility lies in that it can be transmitted by pretty much anything that can represent on or off including a flashlight, audio beeps, or even smoke signals if you're desperate.

So, dot's and dashes make a character, but what's a dot or a dash? Well, a dot is "on" for one. One what? One anything! The length of time you hold a dot for will define the length of everything else. For this lesson, we're going to make a dot 1 second. A dash is three times the length of a dot, so 3 seconds. The space in between dots and dashes of the same character is 1 second (the same as 1 dot), and the space between two characters is 3 seconds (the same as 3 dots). Finally, the time between words is the same as 7 dots, 7 seconds. Here's a picture to clear things up a bit:

In the image above we move from left to right counting the seconds. The letter H is 4 dots separated by 1 second each. Then 3 seconds to space the letters. Then one dot for E.

To communicate in Morse code we're going to need a touch sensor or button plugged into pin 2. We'll also need an led and a light sensor for use later.

Plug your touch sensor or button into pin 2 and tap it to continue.

H is four dots. Remember, each part of a letter is separated by a space a dot wide.
So that means you'll touch the sensor for a count of one, then release it for a count of one to space the dots. When you've tapped four dots click Finished.

Now we're going to add E. E is a single dot. When tapping multiple letters, remember to put a 3 count space in between them. Click Finished when you're done.

For the next section we're going to need an led plugged into pin 6 and a light sensor plugged into analog pin 2. When that's done, you should see the led light up when you press the touch sensor and the readings for the light sensor change depending on how bright the room is.

Now that you've learned some of the basics of Morse code you're going to transmit a small message to another student. First, one of you must set yourself in recieve mode and the other send mode. Then the sender should place their led so that the top of it faces the light sensor of the reciever (it will have to be very close). Then the sender will tap out the word hello just like we've done with the other letters. Remember, click Finished after you've tapped the last letter.
When you're finished, have the sender recieve and the reciever send. All the letters have been included for easy reference. Don't worry if someone makes a mistake, just click reset on both the senders lesson and the recievers lesson and try again.

Mode
Send Mode  
Recieve Mode