Morse code and divers.

[1RUSTYRIG]

It is long gone as the language of last resort in the maritime world. Modern data transmissions are much faster and penetrate the QRM better.

Wrong answer! You would be VERY surprised how many countries still use morse code for military transmissions. That's why we have 98 H's or "Hogs" in the Army (along with similar jobs in the AF, Navy and Marines). They intercept and translate morse code.

 

[js9999]

I used to use CW during field day and could hit 50 wpm then, normally I could do 40 wpm but now after years of neglect I'm at 20 wpm.

I can't do it by light or reading. I have to translate it into a sound and then I understand it. Even the simple SOS sent above took me a bit because I had to go dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit to get it.

I'd say doing it by light would be fun for a gimmick but ASL is the way to go.

Just would like to comment on that. I also tried to convert light messages
to sound in my head ( i am a ham with around 20 wpm).
It diden't work well. It's the sound and rythm of the morse code
that makes out the letters.
Light work the same way butt more like patterns, try do get a feel of the
letter don't count the blinks !

Her in Norway the Navy gives the signalman 8 weeks of training.
Where they usually gets to speeds around 6 - 8 wpm and
around 12 -15 wpm after 6 months of service.

 

[DaytonaDave]

I imagine that if you had a clicker or a tank banger, it would be easier than a light... plus sound carries in zero viz... I used to know morse code, but only know S.O.S. now... pretty bad.... I used to use morse code to identify airway navigation stations when I was in flight school. I agree, I used to try and pick up morse on the signal lights on (movie) ships... much harder than listening to the dit dit dah dah's on the radio... it becomes subliminal.

 

[rookers]

I am a pretty good morse/cw operator (my dominant form), and I think it would take me a bit to do it by light. I am so tuned to the sound, that it would take a while to embed the visual. I don't think it could ever be as useful as the visual shorthand we already use.
My Station

 

[Tom Smedley]

dah dah dah - dit dit dit dit - dit dah dah - dit - dit dah dit dit - dit dah dit dit

Why not just learn American Sign Language?

 

[ArcticDiver]

Wrong answer! You would be VERY surprised how many countries still use morse code for military transmissions. That's why we have 98 H's or "Hogs" in the Army (along with similar jobs in the AF, Navy and Marines). They intercept and translate morse code.

Go back and read my post. It refered to maritime, life safety, transmissions. The last morse monitoring station in the US was decommisioned years ago. It was a Coast Guard station. This was in concert with international life safety agreements. That ended the international requirement to use morse as the communication language of last resort. So, no, I am not misinformed.

It used to be the case that all ships, aircraft making trans-oceanic voyages, etc had to monitor and maintain the capability to monitor and transmit morse. That is long gone.

Yes, there are some, read SOME, folks who still use morse code. Mainly this is for sentimental, hobby purposes.

So, as a "Hog" whose morse do you copy? What do you do with it?

 

[Tom Smedley]

Get out the old short wave receiver and tune through the HF freqs. Morse is definitely not dead though not used as much as it was. Weather transmissions and military coded transmissions still exist. Ralph Cloud and enemy jamming are much harder on Frequency Shift Keyed teletype and Phase Shift Modulated synchronous data signals than they are on an old fashioned SSB continuous wave transmission that puts all the transmitter's power into the concentrated signal.

I agree that it would take some practice to go from audible to visual but the speed of transmission would also be much less and that wouldn't be hard if both parties already knew morse. However, one would have to come up with new Q and Z signals to simplify comms. How long would it take to tap out "Hey come over here and look at the lobster under this ledge!"? (only a few distinct hand movements in ASL)

American Sign Language works both underwater and on the surface. For instance, I can tell my assistant from across a noisy spring that I need four pounds of weight for a student. My friend (a female wearing a dry suit) can also tell me "I have to go to the bathroom NOW!"

If you have a learning curve anyway, put it into learning sign language. But then you wouldn't be able to ask your buddy INT QQQ or tell them DE ZBM-2

 

[The Kraken]

It takes months, at least to learn Mosre Code. I doubt I could learn to read by sight. The human brain is wired to translate strings of sound and translate that to words. Morse is like a sencond language. but the brain is not built for decoding flashes. Maybe if I imagine a tome when I see a light. But it don't matter, my point is that Mose is hard it is like learning Spanish or French.

So if you are going to put in this effort why not learn Amican Sign Language? ASL is perfect for diving and muh faster then morse too. Morse faster than about 5 WPM i very hard. I can write faster then 5WPM on my slate.

Learned Morse code when I was an 11 year old Boy Scout. Took me all of about 2 days. Still remember it . . .

the K

 

[js9999]

Just would like to tell you about an accident her in Norway 2004.
A ship called Rocknes turned over and sank. By using morse code
the crew managed to tap an sos, and other messages. the cost gard
who managed to tap messages back. 12 got recued.

just type "morse code" and "rocknes" in google or read this :

http://www.inq7.net/nat/2004/jan/21/nat_5-2.htm

So divers start training morse code. :1poke:
i

 

[mike_s]

Actually the US Military still trains people in Morse Code. especially those in "counter intelligence".

Many other nations use morse code to coummunicate with their units in the fields. Our military uses morse code trained troops to monitor those activities.