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.