Morse Code: Practical Uses & Benefits?

[FeDeX_LaTeX]

Hello;

Thank you for the link, but I live in London, UK, not London, Ontario!

I have no real desire to become a military officer, but it is good to know that this is one example of a great practical application in the working world.

Thank you for all your replies.

 

[JaredJames]

Here's the UK: http://www.rsgb.org/

Google "UK HAM Radio" and you get loads of links.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

BTW, for those who didn't know this, Morse code was used for early radio communications because it has a much better signal-to-noise ratio for attenuated, noisy signals, as compared to voice.

I think this is why it was required long after it had become practically irrelevant. It was hoped that ham operators would be able to communicate during the worst of disasters. My brother got his ham license more than 40 years ago and he learned it. I was an avid DXer ( that's a hobby where you try to hear long distance radio signals) and wanted a ham license but was unwilling to learn the code and never got it. Now that I don't need it, I am no longer interested in it. Most of what I could do with difficulty DXing is done easily over the net.

 

[Gokul43201]

Of course, a knowledge of Morse Code is invaluable. It might, for instance, help one answer the following trivia question (without recourse to Google et al):

Because of a striking similarity between the Morse Code signal for a particular letter of the alphabet and the opening notes of a famous symphony, it is often conjectured that there might be a connection between them (though no evidence of such connection has been documented). Which letter? Which symphony?

Here's another trivia question that is somewhat more likely to be answered correctly by someone that knows their Morse Code well (you could also accidentally come up with an acceptable answer if you went by general knowledge):

What's the standard Morse Code distress signal?

 

[cobalt124]

Because of a striking similarity between the Morse Code signal for a particular letter of the alphabet and the opening notes of a famous symphony, it is often conjectured that there might be a connection between them (though no evidence of such connection has been documented). Which letter? Which symphony?

Must be Beethovens Fifth Symphony, don't know what the letter is.

 

[Gokul43201]

Must be Beethovens Fifth Symphony, don't know what the letter is.

It's guessable: fifth => "V" (di-di-di-dah)

 

[JaredJames]

Here's another trivia question that is somewhat more likely to be answered correctly by someone that knows their Morse Code well (you could also accidentally come up with an acceptable answer if you went by general knowledge):

What's the standard Morse Code distress signal?

Asked and answered above. No knowledge of morse code by the answerer outside of that particular 'phrase'.

 

[BobG]

Of course, a knowledge of Morse Code is invaluable. It might, for instance, help one answer the following trivia question (without recourse to Google et al):

Because of a striking similarity between the Morse Code signal for a particular letter of the alphabet and the opening notes of a famous symphony, it is often conjectured that there might be a connection between them (though no evidence of such connection has been documented). Which letter? Which symphony?

Here's another trivia question that is somewhat more likely to be answered correctly by someone that knows their Morse Code well (you could also accidentally come up with an acceptable answer if you went by general knowledge):

What's the standard Morse Code distress signal?

Beethoven's Fifth, and the 5 could be represented by the Roman numeral 'V'. Obviously, Beethoven didn't consider this when he wrote his symphony, since he wrote it before Morse Code was invented. I guess it's theoretically possible Morse could have considered Beethoven's 5th, but it would make more sense to consider the frequency of letters in the English language (much the way the population of different areas of the country were considered when assigning area codes).

The fewer key strokes required, the the more info that can be sent; so it would make sense to have frequently used letters have shorter patterns. If he used even this as his criteria, he didn't perform more than a cursory analysis. There's six 1 and 2 symbol letters and 5 of the letters are the most frequently used letters, but 'm' is an exception (or does that represent a little serendipity that would add support for the 'v' myth).

The idea of letter frequency breaks down when you get to the 3 symbol letters - or does it, since the duration of a dash should be equal to 3 dots.

But 'v' is just 'b' backwards - fitting considering the sounds involved and also the only reason I remember 'v'. I remember 'b' for obvious reasons.

 

[Gokul43201]

Asked and answered above. No knowledge of morse code by the answerer outside of that particular 'phrase'.

If the answer said SOS, that would be incorrect, though \overline{sos} would be correct. If the answer is three dots, three dashes, three dots, I might call that acceptable, even though it might be a case of accidental correctness.

SOS is actually just a convenient tool for helping remember the actual distress signal, which is di-di-di-dah-dah-dah-di-di-dit (SOS is di-di-dit dah-dah-dah di-di-dit, the gaps are important in Morse Code). Over time, the mnemonic aid SOS has come to be used synonymously with it (perhaps also because it is easier to say in speech), even though the original distress signal is just a single long character rather than a string of 3 characters.

See, for instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS

 

[Gokul43201]

Beethoven's Fifth, and the 5 could be represented by the Roman numeral 'V'. Obviously, Beethoven didn't consider this when he wrote his symphony, since he wrote it before Morse Code was invented. I guess it's theoretically possible Morse could have considered Beethoven's 5th, but it would make more sense to consider the frequency of letters in the English language (much the way the population of different areas of the country were considered when assigning area codes).

This - the frequency of usage - is, in fact, believed to be the correct reason for assigning Morse Code symbols to different letters. Commonly occurring letters (like E and T) got the shortest symbols (dit and dah), and less frequently used letters (like J, Q and X) were assigned to the longer symbols (di-dah-dah-dah, dah-dah-di-dah and dah-di-di-dah). Incidentally, Samuel Morse only came up with a code for numbers; letters and other special characters were added by a close collaborator, Alfred Vail.

 

[cobalt124]

di-dah-dah-dah, dah-dah-di-dah and dah-di-di-dah

Thats a song by The Police, isn't it?

 

[berkeman]

Hello;

Thank you for the link, but I live in London, UK, not London, Ontario!

Oopsies!

SOS is actually just a convenient tool for helping remember the actual distress signal, which is di-di-di-dah-dah-dah-di-di-dit (SOS is di-di-dit dah-dah-dah di-di-dit, the gaps are important in Morse Code).

I did not know that! Learn something new here ever day...

 

[lisab]

If the answer said SOS, that would be incorrect, though \overline{sos} would be correct. If the answer is three dots, three dashes, three dots, I might call that acceptable, even though it might be a case of accidental correctness.

SOS is actually just a convenient tool for helping remember the actual distress signal, which is di-di-di-dah-dah-dah-di-di-dit (SOS is di-di-dit dah-dah-dah di-di-dit, the gaps are important in Morse Code). Over time, the mnemonic aid SOS has come to be used synonymously with it (perhaps also because it is easier to say in speech), even though the original distress signal is just a single long character rather than a string of 3 characters.

See, for instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS

I'll forget if which is S and which is O, dit-dit-dit or dah-dah-dah. I guess if it ever came down to it, I would just tap out SOSOSOSOSOS and hope the person on the receiving end isn't an idiot..."Hmm, I wonder why that person keeps saying so, so, so, so?"

 

[TurtleMeister]

My friend was browsing the gamming forums and came across a poster who was inquiring about the morse code that was in one of his video games. It was an xbox game, but I can't remember the title. He thought the morse code might reveal some important information about the game play so he was looking for someone who had decoded it. A few posts later, after no one had provided an answer, he said he was going to try and find some old people to decode it for him. lol

Another bit of trivia; the code that uses dots and dashes (dits and dahs) is actually called the international morse code. The original morse code uses only dots. Hams refer to the international morse code as CW (continuous wave).

 

[cobalt124]

Another use would be to identify the murderer in the TV series "Inspector Morse", where sometimes the incidental music incuded their identity in morse code.

 

[JaredJames]

Another use would be to identify the murderer in the TV series "Inspector Morse", where sometimes the incidental music incuded their identity in morse code.

Really? Wow, now there's something I've learned today.

 

[BobG]

If you watch the movie "Enemy of the State", the spy satellites that track Will Smith transmit in Morse code. (All in all, that might be the worst 'satellite' movie ever.)