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.
When Morse code was adopted to radio, the dots and dashes were
normally sent as short and long tones. It was later found that
people become more proficient at receiving Morse code when it is
taught as a language that is heard, instead of one read from a
page. To hear an example click here.
To reflect the sound of Morse code, practitioners vocalise a dash
as "dah", and a dot as "dit". When a dit is not the final element
of a character, its sound is shortened to "di-" to maintain a
better vocal rhythm.
Morse code is also very popular among amateur radio operators
using low-power transmitters (commonly called "QRP operators," from
the Q-code for "reduce power") because it is especially well suited
for low-power communication. Readability can be sustained by
trained operators even when the signal is only faintly audible. The
dits and dahs come through loud and clear above the noise, i.e.
distorted phone (voice) transmissions, static, and other
interference. This is due to the fact that the transmitted energy
is concentrated into a very small bandwidth, making it possible to
use narrow receiver filters, that suppress or eliminate
interference on nearby frequencies. The narrow signal bandwidth
also takes advantage of the natural aural selectivity of the human
brain, further enhancing weak signal readability.
Congratulations to the first
three finders!
- 1st Finder:SKDELA
- 2nd Finder:Rattrak
- 3rd Finder:LizardInTheWoods