Posted on 02/23/2007 6:45:07 PM PST by vintage patriot
Morse code is in need of some serious SOS.
The language of dots and dashes, first used during the infancy of electronic communication in the mid-1800s, is going the way of Latin.
Beginning today, amateur or "ham" radio operators in the United States won't be tested in Morse code – also known as Continuous Wave – in order to be licensed by the federal government.
In an effort to advance the hobby, the Federal Communications Commission in December agreed to eliminate the five-words-per-minute Morse code requirement for people seeking their upper-level class licenses.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Plenty of 'crazies' in the amateur service right now. See my post #52.
77,670 hits on Glopple.
;0)
All of my operators knew Morse but rarely used it, except when the ionosphere was messed up! I had gotten 25 Teletype machines, surplus, and they all began broadcasting RATT (Radio Teletype) messages. The FCC had opened up some new UHF bands and some of my radio operators were converting their radio shacks to TV studios and were broadcasting line of sight TV!!!
When I was stationed in Minot the NCOs assigned to my section were Radio Intercept Operators. They could listen to a radio channel, (split headset and a foot switch to switch channels) and transcribe International Morse by typing the Dit Dah as alpha numeric characters. Today computers can do this job as can transmitting spread spectrum digitally coded messages without human error.
Yes the horse and waggon had its day but today's SUV is better.
Yes, very much so. And the equipment is easier to make
too. A low power CW transmitter can be made with a very
small parts count and with 1 watt of output power and the
right conditions you can be heard hundreds or even
thousands of miles away.
Mike
You missed the thirties. My dad was a kid in the thirties, and grew up with radio. He built a crystal set in an age when it was a cheap and effective way to listen to the radio, and his education and abilities tracked the increasing sophistication of radio technology.
To him, television was an advanced form of radio, and he had all the repair manuals - big thick things - for the color set that he bought when it came out. I remember him poring over a schematic spread over the dining room table muttering, "Ohhhh, I see." I also remember him huddled in the corner with his tools behind the TV when we would hear a big electrical "ZAPPPP!" and he would call out, "I'm OK!"
Tubes were still around when I was a kid, but that's when transistor radios came out, which we called "transistors", and it was Katie bar the door.
It's kind of amazing that Morse Code has lasted as long as it has. I learned it for Boy Scouts ( I recognized the B and the M in "B U M P" ) but even though I would like to believe that it will live forever, I guess it really will die.
In 1972 I was riding with a friend on a trip through a bank drive-thru to deposit our paychecks.
This was in Mobile, Alabama. He had his CB on (with a linear...a "Courier" linear that matched his transceiver perfectly and really looked legal) and as we were pulling under the drive-thru aluminum roof, he had clear contact with a guy in Arizona. Stayed clear while we were there doing our banking and then we lost contact after pulling out from under the aluminum roof but he was freaked out by what had happened.
I told him he had just seen the tip of the iceberg but, to make a long story short, he passed his General test about 8 months later and is still "elbow-deep" in ham radio.
Thanks, doublecansiter.
It's odd that the Morse has never left me, even though I have not used it in the 40 plus years since I last did use it. I have a strong interest in getting back into the analog transmission world, since I think it may be very important in the near future. Are you familiar with the techniques of repeaters, etc. for transmitting digital signals, that are used by Hams for their own version of the Internet?
Hank
-.. .- -- -. --..-- .. .... .- ...- . -. .----. - ..- ... . -.. - .... .. ... ... .. -. -.-. . ... -.-. --- ..- - .. -. --. -.. .- -.-- ...
I still shudder at the idea of adding more to their numbers.
Just returned from PI. I suffered no hangover.
When I was in Boy Scouts we were taught to use Morse Code with a semaphore flag by waving it left or right for dot or dash. Of course, this was extremely laborious and the actual semaphore code is much more effective, but Morse Code was accepted as a universal standard. I continue to believe they should have taught us semaphore. It's still in Webster's Eleventh Collegiate!
But . . . this is part and parcel of Station VRWC! They can't take it away!
My goodness
Code vs know code.
CW @ 13 WPM = 66 hz bandwidth
PSK31 as fast as you can type = 31 hz
Save bandwidth, use real digital comms.
Yes, I did get my extra way back then. But then I was a professional radio hacker for the USAF for 22 years : )
Many years ago as a young seaman I was okay with morse on flashing light, but if you don't practice you lose it fast.
There's no license to use a cell-phone radio that you can use to talk to anyone anywhere in the world who has a similar one. The 'wow'-factor of being able to do that with an HF rig is over.
Do you remember the scene in "Independence Day" when all hi-tech communications were wiped out when the aliens seized control of the communications satellites? What did the Israels do?
The went to Morse Code to communicate with the US and the rest of the world.
We should always have simple but tested communications available as back-up systems, esp. when hi-tech communications can be wiped out, as was the micro-wave units in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina.
Also, people should be given a basic course in Morse Code just for normal emergencies, esp. if you need to tell people you need help. Dot, Dot, Dot; Dash-Dash-Dash, Dot-Dot-Dot ( three short taps, three long taps, three short taps).
If it ain't broke, don't fix it or abolish it.
How did you learn CW? I'd like to learn it with my kids, provided we can get in some of those shortcuts. Have a textbook you'd recommend?
Thanks.
-FC
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