Where Is Morse Code Still Used Today?
It stopped being required for a pilot’s or sailor’s license decades ago — but Morse code never actually went away. Here’s everywhere it quietly survives.
Morse code hasn’t been required for a commercial radio operator’s license since the 1990s, and no country still mandates it for an amateur radio license. By most measures, it’s obsolete. And yet it keeps showing up — in cockpits, in accessibility software, in emergency signaling, and even in video games. That’s not nostalgia. Each of the uses below survives because Morse code still does something better than its replacement: it works when bandwidth is near zero, when a person can only make one deliberate motion at a time, or when a single sound has to carry unambiguous meaning across noise and static.
Where It’s Actively Used Right Now
VOR and NDB ground beacons — the radio stations pilots tune into for navigation — continuously broadcast a short Morse code identifier (two or three letters) alongside their signal. Pilots cross-check that identifier against their charts to confirm they’ve tuned the correct station and that it’s actually transmitting. GPS has taken over most day-to-day navigation, but these beacons and their Morse identifiers are still active as a backup and cross-check today. See our deep dive on how VOR and NDB Morse identifiers work for worked examples.
Google’s Gboard keyboard includes a built-in Morse code input mode, letting people who can only reliably make one or two physical motions type by dot and dash using switch access hardware. See our full guide to Morse code for accessibility and AAC for how it compares to switch scanning and what hardware it works with.
This is Morse code’s biggest living community. CW (the on-air term for Morse code operation) is still one of the most popular modes in amateur radio, prized because it can punch through weak, noisy signals that would garble voice completely. See our full guide to Morse code for ham radio for license info, QSO structure, and the prosigns and Q-codes operators use.
Commercial maritime Morse requirements ended when the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) replaced it in 1999, but Morse hasn’t vanished from the water. It’s still taught and used as a low-tech backup: a flashlight, a signal lamp, or a whistle can send SOS or basic signals when radios fail or aren’t an option — exactly the scenario it was designed for.
Morse code keeps surfacing as a puzzle mechanic and Easter egg — from escape rooms to blinking lights in films and shows. One of the more unexpected examples: Roblox players use Morse-style tap patterns as a jump-and-sidestep chat trick to get around chat filters. We wrote up exactly how it works in our Roblox Morse code trick post.
Why It Hasn’t Disappeared
Every use case above shares the same underlying reason: Morse code is the simplest possible way to send unambiguous information through a single channel — one light, one tone, one switch, one beacon. Voice needs bandwidth and clarity; text needs a keyboard and a screen. Morse code needs one on/off signal and a receiver who knows the pattern. That’s a low bar that keeps clearing, even as everything built on top of it gets replaced.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Morse code still required for any license?
No. The International Telecommunication Union dropped the Morse code requirement for maritime radio operators in 1999, and the FCC removed it from U.S. amateur radio licensing in 2007. No country currently requires Morse proficiency for an amateur radio license, though many operators still learn and use CW by choice.
Do commercial airline pilots still need to know Morse code?
No, pilots aren’t required to translate Morse code by ear. They just need to recognize the pattern well enough to match it against the printed identifier on their navigation chart — a quick pattern-check, not fluent decoding.
Why does Gboard have a Morse code keyboard?
Google built it with input from Tania Finlayson, a switch-access user who communicates primarily in Morse code. For someone who can only reliably make one or two deliberate motions, tapping dots and dashes on one or two large switch targets is often faster and more accessible than aiming at small on-screen keys. It’s a rare case of Morse code being the more modern, more accessible option rather than the legacy one.
Is CW (Morse code) still popular in amateur radio?
Yes. Despite no longer being required for any license, CW remains one of the most active modes in amateur radio, especially for long-distance (“DX”) contacts, because its narrow bandwidth lets it punch through weak or noisy signals that would make voice unintelligible. See our ham radio & CW guide for how operators actually use it on the air.
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