In the following article, we’ll talk about different things related to morse code such as what is morse code, what is morse code for, who invented morse code, what is the morse code for SOS, what is morse code for S O S,what is morse code for SOS, who created morse code, etc. Hopefully, you’ll get all the insights related to morse code by reading this article.
WHAT IS MORSE CODE?
Although the Morse code is not really popular nowadays because of the advancements in communication technologies, its still the great encoding scheme which is simple and easy to learn compared to its modern faster counterparts such as ASCII.
One can easily learn and decode Morse code with enough practice as it has a small vocabulary and the representation is quite simple. Only 2 symbols: Dits and dash are used to represent letters and symbols. The letters which are repeated more often in the English language are encoded with fewer letters and less common letters are encoded with more letters making it really effective for text-based communication.
WHAT IS MORSE CODE FOR?
Morse code is the method to transport telegraphic information with a sequence of the short and long element also called dots and dash to represent numbers letters punctuation and special symbols.
The element in morse code could be formed with sound, marks, pulse, on-off of electricity and light too. Dots and Dash are the fundamental elements in morse code which are also called dits and dahs when used in sound form. Morse code could be transmitted in many forms with electrical pulse along a telegraph wire, radio signal, mechanical or visual signal with light for which Aldis lamp or heliograph is used.
We can also call it an early form of binary code as it also has just 2 states like on and off in binary. Although it has many similarities to binary it’s not entirely binary as the length of the pulse is required to decode the information it’s holding, unlike binary where that doesn’t matter.
WHO INVENTED MORSE CODE? / WHO CREATED MORSE CODE?
Originally created in the early 1840s for Samuel Morse’s telegraph lines it’s extensively used in radio communication in the late 1890s. In the first half of the 20th century, it’s widely used for almost all major high-speed international communication which covered telegraph lines placed undersea and even in the wireless radio networks.
As it has a variable length of characters automation of decoding and encoding was really hard at that time and humans usually did the task of decoding and encoding. In modern times it’s replaced by modern formats such as Baudot code and ASCII.
Even though it’s not as powerful as its modern counterparts it revolutionized international communication in the way no one has thought.
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Morse Code is one of the longest encoding system ever used in human history as it’s used for more than 160 years. Although it has a long history, the modern morse code is quite different than what morse and vail had actually designed in their initial implementation.
The modern code of Morse code was created by Friedrich Clemens Gerke in 1858 which was used for a telegraph between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in Germany. After some changes, the morse code is standardized in 1865 at the international telegraphy congress in Paris. Later on, that standard was normalized as ITU standard by international telecommunication union as international Morse code standard.
The original specification was only used in the USA also known as an American Morse code which is rarely used nowadays except in some historical legislation.
Amateur radio operators also known as hams are the peoples who are engaged in two way personal communication with other amateur operators at an amateur radio station using radio frequencies assigned to amateur radio service. The international morse code is widely popular among amateur radio operators in radio communication.
In amateur radio, the morse code transmission is also known as CW or continuous wave transmission because the signal is transmitted with the sequence of the transmitter is turned on and off for producing dots and dashes. In the 1920s – the voice-capable radio transmitters have become popular allowing transmission of text in the form of the sound of morse code.
In 2003 ITU mandated that the morse code proficiency is essential for the part of amateur radio licensing procedure. In the same year, The radio communication conference of 2003 (WRC-03) made the requirement of the capability to transmit morse code optional. After that many countries also removed the morse code requirement from their licensing procedure.
Till 1991 demonstration of an ability to receive morse code in the speed of minimum 5WPM was essential to get the license of Amateur radio operator by Federal communication commission.
Although the requirement is no longer compulsory for low-frequency bands, it’s still required for using HF bands. Till 2000, 20 WPM is the minimum requirement to receive a high level of the amateur license which was subsequently reduced to 5WPM and then eliminated completely on February 23 of 2007 for all amateur licenses.
The voice and data transmission in modern telecommunication systems are limited to specific radio bands but CW is the only system permitted in almost all radio bands from LF to VHF making it great for radio enthusiasts. In some countries, some radio bands are specified just for more codes.
As it’s based on the pattern of simple on and off keyed radio signal it requires simple hardware and bandwidth as low as 100-150 Hz making its implementation really simple. For voice communication 2400 Hz single sideband is used.
As the morse could be sent as a high pitched audio tone it’s easy to copy even in the case of high signal to noise ratio and wave interference. We can also use narrow receiver filters to suppress and noise as energy is concentrated to small bandwidth.
As natural aural selectivity is also kept into an account to enhance weak signal readability its ideal for disaster and emergency situations. Its also useful for distance transmission and low power transmission code also called QCode is used to reduce power also called QRP. QRP operation refers to transmitting at reduced power while attempting to maximize the effective range.
In some amateur clubs, they have the requirement of copy requirements up to 60WPM. But American radio relay league provides code certification on just above 10 WPM.
As Morse code has limited transmission speed, other abbreviations are also used such as prosigns and QCode and restricted format for typical message also making it easy to communicate operators in different languages compared to voice mode. For transmission straight key transmitter is still used and some semi-automated and fully automated keyers known as bugs are still in use. In modern-day almost all HAM operators use computer software to encode/decode morse code.
