morse code

Morse code is a method for transmitting information, using standardized sequences of short and long marks or pulses — commonly known as "dots" and "dashes" — for the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a message. Originally created for Samuel Morse's electric telegraph in the mid-1830s, it was also extensively used for early radio communication beginning in the 1890s.

Enter your search terms Submit search form   Web www.automarketsol.com

However, with the development of more advanced communications technologies, the widespread use of Morse code is now largely obsolete, apart from emergency use and other specialized purposes, including navigational radio beacons, land mobile transmitter identification, and by CW (continuous wave) amateur radio operators.Morse code can be transmitted in a number of ways: originally as electrical pulses along a telegraph wire, but also as an audio tone, as a radio signal with short and long pulses or tones, or as a mechanical or visual signal (e.g. a flashing light) using devices like an Aldis lamp or a heliograph. Morse code is transmitted using just two states — on and off — it was an early form of a digital code (however, it is technically not binary, as the pause lengths are also required to decode the information).

International Morse code is composed of six elements:
1.short mark, dot or 'dit' (·)
2.longer mark, dash or 'dah' (-)
3.intra-character gap (between the dots and dashes within a character)
4.short gap (between letters)
5.medium gap (between words)
6.long gap (between sentences)

Morse code is the only digital modulation mode designed to be easily read by humans without a computer, making it appropriate for sending automated digital data in voice channels, as well as making it ideal for emergency signaling, such as by way of improvised energy sources that can be easily "keyed" such as by supplying and removing electric power (e.g. by switching a breaker on and off). However, the variable length of the Morse characters made it hard to adapt to automated communication, so it has been largely replaced by more regular formats, including the Baudot code and ASCII.What is called Morse code today actually differs somewhat from what was originally developed by Alfred Vail in collaboration with Morse. In 1848 a refinement of the code sequences, including changes to eleven of the letters, was developed in Germany and eventually adopted as the worldwide standard as "International Morse". Morse's original code specification, largely limited to use in the United States, became known as Railroad or American Morse code, and is now very rarely used except in some governmental programs/communications.

Modern International Morse Code

The Modern International Morse code was invented by Friedrich Clemens Gerke in 1848 and used for the telegraphy between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in Germany. After some minor changes in 1865 it was standardised at the International Telegraphy congress in Paris (1865), and later made the norm by the ITU as International Morse code.International Morse code is still in use today, although it has become almost exclusively the province of amateur radio operators, where it is commonly referred to as Continuous-Wave, or CW for short. The radio carrier signal is keyed on and off by the radio operator to forms the dits and dahs. Because only the carrier wave is transmitted, and the upper and lower sidebands are not used, CW can be sent and copied using very low bandwidth, and is easy to copy above the din of noise on virtually any amateur radio band. This makes CW extremely useful for DX transmissions (distance). DX operators may be separated by entire continents a half a world away. CW also is commonly used as a common language. Operators can communicate with surprising comprehension using CW pro-signs and abbreviations, even though they do not speak the same spoken language. Also, while phone (voice) and data transmissions are reserved for specific amateur radio bands, CW is the only form of communication that is permitted on all amateur bands—LF, MF, HF, UHF, and VHF. Until 2003 the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) mandated Morse code proficiency as part of the amateur radio licensing procedure throughout the world. In some countries, certain parts of the amateur radio bands are still reserved for transmission of Morse code signals only.

Morse code as an assistive technology

Morse code has a 21st century role as an assistive technology, helping people with a variety of disabilities to communicate. Morse can be sent by someone with severe motion disability, as long as they have some minimal motor control. In some cases this means alternately blowing into and sucking on a plastic tube ("puff and sip" interface). People with severe motion disabilities in addition to sensory disabilities (e.g. people who are deaf and/or blind, and have severe motion disabilities) can receive Morse through a skin buzzer. Products are available that allow a computer operating system to be controlled by Morse code, allowing the user access to the Internet and electronic mail.

In one case reported in the radio amateur magazine QST an old shipboard radio operator who had a stroke and lost the ability to speak or write was able to communicate with his physician (a radio amateur) by blinking his eyes in Morse. A better confirmed case occurred in 1966 when prisoner of war Jeremiah Denton, brought on television by his North Vietnamese captors, Morse-blinked the word TORTURE.