4:16 the device he is using is called a "bug". When pressed in 1 direction it creates a dot when v prodded the opposite direction it creates a dash. When you are good it is possible to transmit 40 words a minute.
I was a Ham operator. As an airline Captain I could identify the navigation radio identity, in code, by hearing it one time. The copilots always asked how I did that. I told them “Captains are blessed with all knowledge”
Being a Morse Code send/receive instructor at Ft. Ord Radio Operators school after Vietnam in the late 60's helped me get my first ticket in 1980. Thank you U.S. Army!
I was a USMC Radio/Telegraph Operator 1963-69 and I still have the dits and dahs in my mind...cannot shake 'em, even if I could try - it is truly "indelible" !! .- .-.
This was an interesting video. I had no idea telegraphy via landline was still alive in 1962! OTOH, as an Extra Class ham I'm acutely aware of wireless telegraphy. I wish they'd all taken up amateur radio when they retired.
I’m 87 and became a Telegraphist at 18 after a 9 month course in Brisbane. I was transferred to Thursday Island postoffice in 1956 where there was a combination of landline and radio morse due to passing ships through the Torres Strait. I visited the Beechworth museum a few times just to hear it again.
all these folks mentioning ham radio which is what i came to say, too -- i really enjoyed this, and i hope these fellas are keeping it alive over the air!
It is so unfortunate the amateur radio operators are not required to be proficient in Morse Code. One would think that Morse would at least be required for the most advanced Extra Class license. That would be an Extra for sure!
Never could discern individual letters out of morse code. That being said, just trying to discern individual words out of air traffic control talk gibberish is pretty much as hard and incomprehensible.
In my 30’s and I’m learning Morse for Amateur Radio. My Son is 9 and listens too. He picks up the letters much faster than I do… he just doesn’t have the serious drive to really learn. But if I keep using it around him he might just learn it passively. So no worries old timers, people will keep Morse alive for you :)
This is a lovely documentary! I’d love to get over to Australia and meet this group some day! I love operating CW, even though I’m really only good for about 18wpm on a good day. When I took my ham radio exams twenty years ago they had dropped the 5wpm code requirement in the US for the Technician exam, but thankfully my Elmer was wise enough to tell me to learn CW anyways. I’m forever grateful that he did.
I was in the ASA through the 60's and 70's. Mostly in Vietnam. Intercepting enemy communication. It was at times a little bit dangerous and other boring. It was the best years of my life.
A Morse transmitter is the simplest type of radio transmitter that can be built, which is an big advantage of the format. It will be around for many more tears. Plenty of Radio Amateurs still use Morse Code. Because of its low bandwidth requirements it can often be the only means of radio transmission and reception which is useable for various connections. It also requires lower power than voice or other digital formats. I knew one man who built a transmitter with a single transistor, and a handful of other components. It fitted into a shirt pocket-sized metal tin, and it was powered by a 9 Volt radio battery. It could produce a maximum signal of about 100 milliwatts - one tenth of the power of a flashlight. With that transmitter, he had numerous contacts with people across the Atlantic from England. A minimum distance of over 5,000 kilometres. In comparison, my best voice transmission distance was about 2,500 kilometres using 3 Watts. Thirty times the power to cover half the distance. I encourage any youngsters out there to learn the format, and to earn themselves an Amateur Radio license. Neither are difficult, and both can be interesting, educational and enjoyable hobbies. I earned my first license in 1978, after a few weeks of self-training, and the full license was issued in the 1990’s when returning to the hobby and spending a few weeks learning Morse Code at home, and have never regretted it.
Morse code is FAR from dead! Listen to the lower section of each amateur radio band and you will find a morse code conversation ANY nearly time of the day! I am 52 and use morse code.
This was brilliant mate. Surprised I haven't seen it sooner. I'm only a young buck (41) but would love to build a small station on some acreage I live on. Hopefully that will compliment my amateur radio station once I get my foundation ticket (many years in progress, life gets in the way hihi).
I'm curious how they connect. I did see the one post about using sites on the internet as if they were land line. I was also curious that they used what appear to be sideswipe keys. I'm learning or trying to learn Morse for ham radio, at least.
A nice little video, but fails to mention that professional Radio Telegraphy went on for many years, and also that it continues in the Amateur Radio service which includes Morse Code with many new operators learning the skill. I learnt Morse Code in the RAAF in 1979. Most of the guys on Ham Radio operating Morse are a lot younger than me.
Learned morse in the military and also became a Ham Operator. Great past time. Amateur Radio should have never dropped this requirement as it made sure people were serious about the hobby and not just CBers (of which I was in the seventies before I joined the military) who wanted to have more power (1000 watts vice 4). Now I focus on low power (called QRP) under 5 watts.
I just completed my third CW only POTA activation and I would never have bothered to get on hf if code had still been a requirement. SSB was just the gateway drug. Ironically, I think that dropping the code requirement is leading more people to learn code. I know it worked to lure me in.
Thank you for your service. Morse lives on gentlemen in amateur radio. Morse is my primary mode of operation, its alive, growing and doing well. Best 73 .. DE ZS6AKW
Brilliant Documentary!! Thank you! I'd like to see something about the technology please. How much voltage etc etc? Then there is the different types of morse...used between PMG and international ham etc. I did my Novice ticket here in Australia in the early 80s.... You got 3 hf bands and needed 5 wpm morse. First thing drummed into me was.... don't look at the chart... don't think of it as dots and dashes.... that's for visual reference... You get "the sound" in your head not the individual dots and dashes. So for me its beeps not clicks. I also see different keys used.... Thanks again 73's
American Morse was used in US and Canada on the wires. Abroad, continental was the norm which is what is used on the ham bands. The difference is that they are using sounders. Clicks rather than tones. I found it impossible to copy landline Morse even though I was a competent radio telegrapher.
