America's Last Morse-Code Station (theatlantic.com) 113
A group of radio enthusiasts known as the "radio squirrels" are keeping the legacy of Morse code alive at KPH Maritime Radio, the last operational Morse code radio station in North America. Located in Point Reyes National Seashore, north of San Francisco, the station transmits maritime news and weather reports every Saturday, using vintage equipment dating back to World War II, reads a fast-paced story on The Atlantic. Despite the obsolescence of Morse code, the radio squirrels, along with a 17-year-old newcomer, are determined to preserve this unique form of communication.
Go figure... (Score:3)
Slashdot won’t let me reply in Morse Code.
Re:Go figure... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Yes it will! Or,
dash dot dashe dash
dot
dot dot dott
dot dot
dash
dot dash daash
dot dot
dot dash dot dot
dot dash dot dot
dash dot dash dot dash dash!
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Hang on a sec, I know Morse. Here we go.
da
dit dit
da
dit dit dit
Splendid stuff, knew it would come in useful one day.
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That's what I call my coworker when angry: ditz ditz, duhhh, ditz!
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What?
My mother was a saint!
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I have no idea what they mean either? Your message came through clearly ... it's working for me too. (Disclaimer: I'm a HAM)
Re: Go figure... (Score:2)
I prefer beef. White meat disgusts me.
Clarification (Score:5, Informative)
To clarify, Morse code is still alive and well in the Amateur Radio community (although it is no longer required for any license levels at all now - even the "Extra" highest class license doesn't require it). It is still used regularly by hams, and there are also Morse code beacons that transmit automatically for various propagation purposes.
What this article refers to is the last commercial Morse code radio station.
Re:Clarification (Score:4, Informative)
Came here to say exactly this. Listen to the 80m or 40m CW bands on any given night, and you'll quickly hear that Morse is alive and well in the amateur world.
You mentioned Morse code beacons as well; I'm pretty sure at least a couple specific examples of that would be VOR and ILS systems, which both still transmit their IDs in Morse.
Re:Clarification (Score:5, Interesting)
Take a listen to the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands during a contest, and in the CW portion of those bands they are bursting with activity.
There is a significant benefit to transmitting a very, very narrow CW signal at a given power level versus an SSB or AM (voice modes), where the RF energy is spread over a couple KHz, versus a a few hundred Hz for a CW signal. [qsl.net]
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Marine aids to navigation often flash in Morse as well.
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Aviation navaids are often identified in morse code as well. Typically it's MCW (modulated CW) so rather than a signal whose carrier cuts in and out, it's a signal where the tone is modulating a carrier (in aviation, AM is typically used).
It's just easy to do and serves its purpose well enough - it basically just indicates that the station is operating normally.
It is possible to transmit voice on those, and in emergencies its often is, but normal operation is morse code.
Of course, in amateur radio, it's mor
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Morse code has one distinct advantage over pretty much everything else: It is capable of piercing even the heaviest noise and distortion, it can be picked up even as the faintest signal and all that without requiring anything but the ability to listen, no electronic equipment (beyond the radio) required.
If there's heavy noise, gimme morse code. Yes, it takes a LONG time to convey even the most minute information, but you WILL be able to transmit it.
kids these days really missing out (Score:2)
sacrifice to the lameness filter "have you got it yet?" -- Syd Barrett
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It's certainly possible. fldigi [w1hkj.com] can do it, although I've never tried it.
That being said, there's the idea that people who work CW have an "accent" to their Morse code, just like when people speak. The same can be said for machine generated Morse. Think of the old speech synthesis systems; no one was mistaking them for a human. And while there's nothing illegal about it, it's certainly forbidden during a contest, and I should think it would be looked down upon by other amateurs in general. Peer pressure is a
Re:Clarification (Score:4, Interesting)
To clarify, Morse code is still alive and well in the Amateur Radio community
Indeed, in last year's running of the American Radio Relay League-sponsored amateur radio contests in which US and Canadian ham radio operators contact the rest of the world, the Morse Code contest recorded about 12% more contacts than the radio telephony (i.e., speech) contest. In years with fewer sunspots, there are typically about twice as many Morse Code contacts as telephony ones.
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the Morse Code contest recorded about 12% more contacts than the radio telephony (i.e., speech) contest
Actually, it was about 25% more contacts for the Morse code contest last year... I should learn to check my numbers before posting.
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What this article refers to is the last commercial Morse code radio station.
This is a commercial Morse Code Radio Station?
A group of radio enthusiasts known as the "radio squirrels"...
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Morse code is still sort of required for navigation of Suez Canal. Here are the rules:
https://www.royalswissagency.c... [royalswissagency.com]
Page 206 states the following:
(4)The signal " Fire on Board " must be kept ready to be hoisted at any moment as follows :
By day : N.Q. of the International code, and giving in addition one long blast on the whistle.
By night: One long blast on the whistle and at the same time, if possible, the signal N.Q. by Morse lamp
It's generally also sometimes used for emergency night time communications
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Amplifying that, I will never forget the Field Day (q.v.) when the guy with the key made way more contacts than the voice people.
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I do remember it being a requirement for an international sailing license.
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Nobody cares.
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No, you and others you know don't care.
Thousands of others use it every day in the US, if for habit and grins.
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While that may be, I don't even they care that morse code is required for ham licensing in Singapore.
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There are few countries that still require it, certainly not the US.
But there are those that care. Empirical statements speak of hubris and privilege, and when not factual, are boorish.
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Nobody cares. Still.
Capitol Records, Hollywood (Score:5, Informative)
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Your morse code was stopped by the "no ASCII Swastika" filter, I guess.
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Beepity beep beep. (Score:2)
Sorry, I don't know Morse code. Just couldn't help myself.
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Morse code? Oh, I thought you were channeling the Road Runner.
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Morse code? Oh, I thought you were channeling the Road Runner.
How about channeling sheep [youtube.com]?
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obviously not: those are always followed by a *splat!* :)
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If some survive the apocalypse, (Score:3)
...they are going to wish we kept it. Plan B's are good when bleep happens.
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Fortunately we can still count on the Aldis Lamp community...
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Of use elsewhere, too. [youtube.com]
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Darn, I was hoping that video would also include the rest of the bit - including the Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights [youtu.be] (I could only find a low-res version).
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Sorry for derailing this, but how many people still know the "ancient arts"? You know, the stuff that we used to need before technology took over?
How many here are still able to use a slide rule in case we suddenly don't have computers anymore?
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Every town has a Sheldon Cooper who can pick up Morse Code in 2 hours.
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Slide rule, hell, I use berries on a wire for local storage in my Stone Age computer. Last week a goat ate my Berry PROM and I couldn't boot.
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Don't be sad. He was kidding.
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It was a little hairy, but you certainly grabbed it by the horns.
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The "ancient arts" are technology as well. It's all technology at least as far back as the first knapped flint spearpoint.
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While true, reinventing technology takes a lot more effort and often very special people to discover it while passing information on is something the average high school teacher could do.
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While true, it kind of misses my (perhaps poorly and incompletely expressed) point. Information (such as how to use the slide rule in your example) is nice - but you still need the technology to produce the slide rule (or flint knapped spearpoint). Information is great for winning trivia contests, but survival depends on technology.
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Well, knowing the technology is the first part of building it. Not knowing that a flint-tipped spear is better than a purely wooden one, and not knowing how to create a flint tip, means that even if you could build it, you wouldn't know to do it. Gunpowder could have been created in ancient times, all the ingredients were known, but nobody had the idea to combine them.
dotdotdashdot dotdot dotdashdot dashdashdash dash (Score:2)
dotdashdashdot dotdotdot dashdashdash dash
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Dashdot: News for Morse-Code Nerds.
Should still be required (Score:3)
I'm kind of a bigot when it comes to the code requirement for ham radio. It's not one of those "I had to do it so you should have to do it" things, though. It relates back to the ethic of hams being able to assist in emergencies, and how sometimes (e.g., a building collapse) the only way to communicate is to bang on something.
Re:Should still be required (Score:5, Informative)
Not to mention it figures into about a half-dozen different Star Trek episodes from various series over the years...
Maybe that's why the academy is in San Francisco - the proximity to this last Morse Code station!
bang on something - tap code (Score:2)
A tap code [wikipedia.org] would be more useful if all you could do was bang on something.
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https://www.nytimes.com/articl... [nytimes.com]
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The "code" was "one bang is a curveball" and "two bangs is an off-speed pitch" - that's a bit simpler than the Tap Code the OP cited.
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A tap code [wikipedia.org] would be more useful if all you could do was bang on something.
Yes, I learned about this in a show about The Hanoi Hilton. [zondervan.com]
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I do think that you just *woosh*ed over 95% of the readers here . . .
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How do you "bang on something" and make a "dash"? "Dits" are easy, but unless the thing you bang has a sustain pedal, Im not sure how you differentiate between the two, and no, an extended delay between the "dah" and the next element of the character you're sending doesn't cut it (thats how you seperate words).
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a sharp quick hit for a dot, and a heavier slap for a dash.
That gives you two separate ways to distinguish them.
How well it works in the real world rather than television is, of course, another story . . .
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How do you "bang on something" and make a "dash"?
Morse code by banging on something is one of those Hollywood tropes which has become so prevalent that few writers bother to stop and check if it's actually based in fact. Not that I'm surprised, few writers have figured out that guns are very, very loud [asha.org], either.
Last Station? Maritime Morse? (Score:2)
Ok. Plenty of others have already commented here that hams still use morse code all the time.
So.. trying to make sense of the articles claim beyond just assuming the author does not know what they are talking about...
Someone else said last COMMERCIAL station. Ok, I'll buy that.
But what about this mention of Maritime Morse?
I am familiar with International Morse Code, which is what hams use... all the time.
I am familiar with American or Railroad Morse(as in I know what it is, not that I know it). I understand
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A little Googling seems to me to indicate that they are simply talking about International Morse Code used by ships or to contact ships. Which makes the "last station" make some sense, since hams are generally talking to other hams, not ships.
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The closest I get to Morse Code is (Score:2)
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when I don't have a proper cell signal and my phone indicates "SOS only".
Shit On a Shingle, only now it's Silicon.
And you cam mark callers as Spam.
Sigh, now I'm hungry...
YYZ (Score:3)
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Nobody plays Rush.
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Point Reyes (Score:2)
I remember seeing a picture of that place somewhere ...
https://www.researchgate.net/p... [researchgate.net]
Lots of Hams Still Use Morse Code (Score:2)
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This is a fixed broadcasting station, using licensed spectrum. The title still makes plenty of sense.
We're gonna need it... (Score:2)
We're gonna need it soon. I can feel it in my bones!
Wait what? (Score:3)
So if they're the last operating morse code station, who are they messaging?
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So if they're the last operating morse code station, who are they messaging?
It is being transmitted to the 5g chips that magnetize your body from getting vaccinated? (is that how this craziness works?)
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Denice Stoops (Score:2)
Go to youtube and watch Denice Stoops do a Morse Code demonstration. It is almost hypnotic when done at that speed.
Linux passes 4% desktop market share (Score:1)
Linux moved from 3% to 4% in 8 months.
https://linuxiac.com/linux-cro... [linuxiac.com]
Aviation (Score:2)
Airplane pilots use ground-based navigation radios of several kinds.
The main kind is called a VOR, and it uses a lighthouse-like effect by which your receiver can calculate the "radial" (compass line) to/from the station. You tune to the navigation radio to the particular VOR's frequency, but before using the readout, you must listen to the audio, where it is broadcasting it's three-letter station identifier -- in Morse code. Only after verifying that you have the correct station tuned in do you believe the
What's the frequency, Kenneth? (Score:2)
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500 KHz, international maritime calling and distress frequency
The Future Is Morse (Score:2)
If everyone forgets how to read Morse code, what will happen in Sector 450 and you pick up an old-style "radio" distress signal? Or when an alien probe from the Delta Quadrant shows up trying to ask about the whales? Whales learned Morse from passing sea ships long ago, and you really don't want to piss off that probe.
Or something like that....
bereft of wit am I (Score:2)
What’s the longest morse code message?
The 100 yard dash.
Try the fish tonight, and don't forget to tip your waiter.
Run Around Sue (Score:2)
People let me tell you 'bout a girl named Sue.
I played Morse Code Of Love for her.
She broke my heart anyway.
Doo-wah ditty....
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The decline of CW has turned around (Score:2)
Morse or CW as it tends to be called in the Amateur Radio hobby is gaining popularity again thanks to really cheap portable QRP [low power] radios the size of a packet of cigarettes and the increasing level of background RF noise you have to battle through if you live in a city or town etc. With a tiny portable and bit of wire you can bugger off into the country and just transmit at your leisure.
Plus with the internet, Zoom etc it's easy to run classes and group learning sessions.
COVID really gave Amateur R
9-Lives Cat Food (Score:3)
Dead? (Score:2)