Morse code or texting ?

[sarabande]

place your bets on which is quicker.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80519289/


and as an aside, how many people here still can read morse ? (I'm not saying how many words per sec, though !)

 

[VicS]

place your bets on which is quicker.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80519289/


and as an aside, how many people here still can read morse ? (I'm not saying how many words per sec, though !)

I reckon I can still remember about half the letters. I originally learned it as a Boy Scout -ty - years ago.

 

[Beadle1]

I used to be able to work at about 20wpm if it was good Morse.

Rather out of practice nowadays but a few minutes listening and it quickly comes back.

A friend of mine can work at 60 wpm which is incredible to listen to. Working someone in the same league, both with break-in working (listen to receive between characters) they could hold a conversation almost as fast as speaking

Sadly I was never in that league.

The other thing with Morse is how recognisable an individual's sending is. Once you have listened a few times its as recognisable as their voice.

I really enjoy working Morse much more satisfying that speech

Afraid I couldn't get the video thing to work

 

[nigelmercier]

I know only: O, S, (obviously), E, T (most frequent), and K (dah di dah). Not much use unless I want to say Stoke!

An interesting representation on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_...common_characters_in_International_Morse_code

 

[alahol2]

Originally had to learn it for the VHF certificate, I think, or maybe one of the RYA certs.
Later re-learned it in one of these 'motivational' talks where the speaker got about 200 people sending and receiving full morse code in the space of about 2 hours flat. It was all based on the shape of the letters and the rhythm of the code somehow. Can't remember more than the odd few letters now.

 

[wooslehunter]

At a guess those guys were doing around 30 words a minute. I may be able to do around 5 these days. I did it for amateur radio years ago & could probably do around 15wpm which is really slow. You still hear it quite a bit on amateur radio bands. Some people claim to be able to copy well over 100 wpm.

 

[[70521]]

I am not sure where I can get the eye shades!

 

[BrianH]

At a guess those guys were doing around 30 words a minute. I may be able to do around 5 these days. I did it for amateur radio years ago & could probably do around 15wpm which is really slow. You still hear it quite a bit on amateur radio bands. Some people claim to be able to copy well over 100 wpm.

If true (100 wpm) that would be phenomenal. I didn't watch the video but I do remember my national service RAF passing out test as an air signaller at 22 wpm, which had been very difficult for me to reach - the last 2 wpm was an almost insurmountable obstacle. But as that, and the subsequent military use, was well over 50 years ago I'm not sure if I could even remember all the characters any more. Perhaps it is like the proverbial bicycling, one never really forgets.

Hang about, now that I remember, I did use it in the days of RF DF (before GPS, for you newcomers) - to identify the beacon call-signs.

 

[Malabar]

Happy days hunched over the old seafix/homer heron, trying to sort out St Cats from PBL etc. Really slow morse but yes, we did need it for Yachmaster then. Interestingly, our professional megayacht crews still need to know most of the morse code letters for their OOW Certificate of Competence. Finally, how many flashes for a RACON with a letter 'M' on the chart?

 

[Bosun Higgs]

place your bets on which is quicker.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80519289/


and as an aside, how many people here still can read morse ? (I'm not saying how many words per sec, though !)

I got up to 30 words per minute and there were morse users much faster than me. No way can you text at that speed.

 

[BrianH]

I got up to 30 words per minute and there were morse users much faster than me. No way can you text at that speed.

I could read much faster than I could send - dexterity was not my strong point. Later in Canada I met a 'bug' key for the first time - a side to side instead of up and down mechanical key that poured out the dits automatically when pressed to the corresponding side - a weighted pendulum could be adjusted for the repetition rate - and my speed improved significantly.

 

[nigelmercier]

... I met a 'bug' key ...

We had one of these in the "shack" at my amateur radio club, awesome to watch. I never did get round to doing my CW licence.

G1NDM (off-line)

 

[Lakesailor]

Would it be rude of me to say it's a pointless anachronism?

 

[nigelmercier]

Would it be rude of me to say it's a pointless anachronism?

Texting?

 

[BrianH]

Would it be rude of me to say it's a pointless anachronism?

No, not really, we all know that - it's self evident for the morse code. But some of us are old farts who like to reminisce - meaning myself anyway - surely you don't begrudge that?

 

[elton]

Would it be rude of me to say it's a pointless anachronism?

Given that it's perfectly feasible to automatically convert morse code to text, I don't think so. I imagine a single phone key to send morse messages would be a minor revolution in SMS.

 

[nigelmercier]

As a transmission mechanism, perhaps. But as a means of identifying lights or beacons, it is ideal.

 

[25931]

Perhaps someone will remind you of that after you´ve failed to repond to .. _

Would it be rude of me to say it's a pointless anachronism?

 

[Lakesailor]

I'm over 60 and have never had any cause to use morse code in my life.

I think that could be the case for the majority of people.

 

[Ric]

I had to learn it to 20wpm in the army for backup transmission on HF. It is still occasionally useful in my current job (pilot) as navigation beacons (VOR and NDB) transmit an identification code in morse. However, most aircraft avionics now automatically decode the morse and indeed most of my younger colleagues have no knowledge and have to look at a crib sheet if they need to decode a signal.