Very interesting, thanks. I just can’t understand why some people feel the need to throw F-bombs at every single thing they comment on, relevant or not.
Thanks for posting this interesting bit of history.
Telegraph aint an “Telephone”
As a side note; we still use giant 48 volt battery plants in telecommunications facilities.
The junction location where I once worked at had least six of these with large exhaust fans and barrels of soda in each room in case of acid spills.
I love Morse Code. :-)
The Civil War history of telegraphy is indeed interesting.
Many operators were boys of just 12...amazing.
They used the old American Morse Code though, now the International Morse is the norm. American Morse worked well with the old ‘sounder’ equipment..(clicketty clack clack)
Many consider the Morse Code as the first binary communications protocol but that is incorrect. Morse does not use the binary system of on/off or zero and one. It uses on,off and various lengths of empty space(time). Without the spaces it would be meaningless noise.
The various spaces are based on the length of the single dit. One dit length space between the elements of a character, three between characters...etc.
Morse is mostly just a curiosity in the modern world. It was once a requirement to get an Amateur Radio license.
Morse is the best way to get a signal through in noisy conditions.... if sent at extremely slow speed and decoded by a computer you can communicate worldwide with less than a milliwatt of power.
I love Morse :-)
QRP 4ever
Sorry, the premise is waaaaaaayyyyyyy offbase. Technically speaking, there is a distinct difference between a telegraph and a telephone and the two do not operate the same. To call the Civil War Telegraph Wagon the "First Car Phone" may be cute, but it is technically inaccurate.