Subscribe by EmailThe lost art of Morse code
October 21, 2008 by Mark O'Neill | 7 comments
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
I’ve taken up a new hobby recently and that’s learning Morse code. I’ve been wanting to learn this lost art for a long time, and was finally inspired to get started by this Art Of Manliness article, which supplied a printable card of all the Morse code characters for the alphabet along with various handy weblinks.
You might be wondering the practical use of Morse in this day and age when we have things like mobile phones, SMS and the internet. Well for one, it’s interesting. Secondly, it’s a very useful survival skill to know. I often travel down to the Bavarian Alps and mobile phone reception can be spotty down there. If I’m up a mountain and I break a leg and I suddenly can’t get mobile phone reception, wouldn’t Morse code be a good skill to have if I find myself in a position to use it?
I find it a shame that something like Morse code is gradually dying a slow death due to SMS, mobile phones and the net. This is something that should be kept alive and that everyone should learn.
Do you know Morse code? If so, where did you learn?
Oh and to show you that Morse code is indeed better than a SMS message, don’t take my word for it. Here’s Jay Leno to show you :
- Spammers moving from email to the cellphone
- Automated Assets: After the tone, please enter your express service code
- A passport will be needed to buy a British mobile phone
- Google Confirms Mobile Phone “in Development”
Eh Mark, if you get caught up a mountain and have nothing to generate the signal, what do you do? :)
well I don’t know about other mountains but on the Bavarian Alps, they have huts on various places on the mountains where stranded climbers can shelter.
When I was in one of those huts a few years back, I found a Morse code sending and receiving device. :-)
The amateur radio community in Alberta runs weekly province wide Morse code classes on a network of voice repeaters.
Among the amateur radio community Morse code, or CW as it’s more frequently called, is still in use. Of course the new practitioners aren’t filling the ranks of those who were trained in the military or who worked in remote locations in Canada and who are dying off.
I’ve always wanted to do a morse code SMS application. iPhones are too expensive though. Maybe I’ll try to get an Android as long as I can convince myself to sign another cell contract.
If you’re doing morse code, why not take the next step and get your ham license!
Even though it’s not required for a license anymore (I don’t know code, yet) it’s still heavily used on the air.
-Adam
I used to know it. Heck, I even had my ham radio license, but I let it lapse years ago.
I had to work long an hard to learn the code. I took the amateur license tests back when the FCC actually gave them. I eventually got the opportunity to go to sea as a commercial radio operator. This was before GMDSS, enjoyed the experiance and regret the loss of the Radio Officer position on ships. However, I don’t think there is any going back for the world. I believe that the human condition is at a point now that it is likely impossible for people to learn morse, no sense of committment and inability to focus.
Thanks;
Frank D