Morse Code?

[Swing]

Has anyone learned to send and receive Morse Code? Good in a survival situation as it will get through man made and natural noise better than voice.

I once could send and receive, but have not used it in years. It's not required any longer for getting a ham license.

 

[Weedygarden]

Has anyone learned to send and receive Morse Code? Good in a survival situation as it will get through man made and natural noise better than voice.

I once could send and receive, but have not used it in years. It's not required any longer for getting a ham license.

I never learned it, but had a student whose last name was Morris (close enough for him), and he would write notes in the dot and dash form for fun. I agree that it would be a good thing to know in a survival situation. A whole bunch of people would have no clue, and currently that includes me.

 

[Amish Heart]

I'm not fast and have to look and cheat. One of our daughters caught on to it pretty well.

 

[phideaux]

At one time I had a great side paddle, electronic Morse code machine, and would use it many times over voice,
because I could send and receive code faster than actual voice.

I actually liked code _._. _ _._

That was way back in the early 70's.



Jim

 

[ssonb]

No I have not yet, I just have not got one ov dem urges ...I seem to do that, almost ignore a subject then something just clicks and I wont quit till I know it.

 

[kd4ulw]

I studied for it to pass my General Exam (13 wpm) but that was 20 years ago. I probably remember 95% of it now but never really used it. I can send it a whole lot better than I can receive.

A fellow Ham once said with Morse Code you get “more miles per watt” which is true, I just always preferred voice.
​

 

[dademoss]

I've got a straight key for the rig, and a cheat sheet in the station binder. Send REALLY slow.

 

[backlash]

With so few people still using Morse Code I don't think it would be a good use of my time to learn.
Even if I could send and receive who would I communicate with?

 

[Swing]

I studied for it to pass my General Exam (13 wpm) but that was 20 years ago. I probably remember 95% of it now but never really used it. I can send it a whole lot better than I can receive.

A fellow Ham once said with Morse Code you get “more miles per watt” which is true, I just always preferred voice.
​

I had to have it for General. Took it in front of FCC in Detroit back in early 1970's. So, I sorta remember it, but I learned it pretty quickly back then. I would hope to pick it back up reasonably quickly. I liked the punctuation marks.

 

[Bacpacker]

I learned it just well enough to get my General License. Haven't used it since and I seriously doubt I could recall more than a dozen letters now. The wife picked up the code better than the written test. If she had kept at it she would have been able to work 20wpm or better. The guys that tested us were all code gurus and were lining up around her as she was testing. They were blown away that she got the code so well.

 

[Swing]

I've got a straight key for the rig, and a cheat sheet in the station binder. Send REALLY slow.

I used a straight key. But have an Iambic paddle packed away. And if you are sending and receiving, you are GOOD, even with slow and cheat sheet.

 

[UncleJoe]

I knew it fairly well in Boy Scouts but that was a loooooooooooooong time ago.

...---...

That's about the extent of what I remember.

 

[Flight]

Not sure but I heard you don't need Morse code anymore to get ham licence. I could be wrong though.

 

[viking]

Back in the early 1960's I had a Novice license, KN7RHK, Morse Code was the only way I could be on air, I was working for a General Class license but wasn't doing too well (girlfriend?), those days there was a lot of tough stuff one had to learn and I wasn't the swiftest guy for figuring it all out but I did like making electronic things and that turned out to be a hobby for many years.

 

[BBQJoe]

I can just imagine an end of the world morse code call answered:

Hi.
Hi.
How are you?
I'm fine how are you?
I'm fine too, did you have enough to eat today?
Yes.
What's your location?......
di-di-di-dah-di-dah

 

[Patchouli]

There has to be some way...so you're saying we can text faster, but anyone can read it.
In "The Imitation Game," Benedict Cumberbatch plays a role where he's cracking the code the Germans are using in WWII. At this point in time, it would take little time for coders to break a Morse code message.
I also recall the Navajo Code Talkers and I just bought a book on that.
Edited to add: could still be useful to learn Morse code though, I agree

 

[bkt]

Morse is a great way for sending text/numbers over otherwise sketchy communications where voice would not be possible, but it is not secure.

There are many methods to inject security into communications. One time pads is probably the most secure and it's pretty easy to use. Another is to buy everyone in your group a copy of the same book. A sequence of numbers denoting page, line and word comprise one word of your message. This isn't NSA-secure, but as long as no one else knows what book you're using you should be in pretty good shape.

Obligatory disclaimer: Please bear in mind that sending coded messages using amateur radio frequencies is illegal (unless you're controlling spacecraft, which most folks here aren't likely to be doing).

 

[ssonb]

Some might be,on this site.