I'm Tomas David Hood. I am a Radio Amateur (Extra), living in Hamilton, Montana. I enjoy having two-way communications by way of shortwave radio signals, in the Amateur Radio hobby. The Shortwave bands are in the High Frequency radio spectrum. I especially enjoy the art of using
Morse code (more specifically, the
International Morse Code) in radio communications.
The
International Morse Code, sometimes referred to as '
CW' in Amateur Radio jargon because a continuous wave is turned on and off with the long and short elements of the morse code characters, is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a given message. The short and long elements can be formed by sounds, marks, or pulses, in on off keying and are commonly known as "dots" and "dashes" or "dits" and "dahs". The speed of Morse code is measured in words per minute (WPM) or characters per minute, while fixed-length data forms of telecommunication transmission are usually measured in baud or bps.
Why is it called 'Morse Code'? This character encoding was devised by
Samuel F. B. Morse, the creator of the electric telegraph. This 'Morse Code' came in two flavors, in the beginning. One was in use by the railroads of America, and is known as '
American Morse Code'. And, there was a unified, internationally-used version (adopted by radio operators), now known as the '
International Morse Code'. Now, when most people refer to 'Morse Code' or 'CW', they mean, 'International Morse Code.'
Currently, the most popular use of Morse code is by amateur radio operators, although it is no longer a requirement for amateur licensing in many countries. In the professional field, pilots and air traffic controllers are usually familiar with Morse code and require a basic understanding. Navigational aids in the field of aviation, such as VORs and NDBs, constantly transmit their identity in Morse code. Morse code is designed to be read by humans without a decoding device, making it useful for sending automated digital data in voice channels. For emergency signaling, Morse code can be sent by way of improvised sources that can be easily "keyed" on and off, making Morse code one of the most versatile methods of telecommunication in existence.
New articles:
1. De-mystifying HF radio propagation.
2. Is HF Propagation Reciprocal?
NEW: ACE-HF Pro V.2.05
The Advanced Ham and SWL Propagation Software for Ham and SWL operations.
ACE stands for Animated Communications Effectiveness, a coverage display technique originally developed for U.S. Navy submarine communications. ACE-HF PRO is the System Simulation and Visualization propagation modeling and forecasting software for Hams and Short Wave Listeners. ACE shows when the HF bands will be open in different world areas. Check it out, today.
This CW Resource Center is brought to you by NW7US - Tomas - in Hamilton, Montana, USA
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CQ, CQ VHF, Popular Communications
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(Here's another NW7US personal page...)
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From the CQ Newsroom (April 27, 2009):
If you use the Google search engine (www.google.com) today, you'll be in for a surprise: The Google logo is in Morse Code:
According to the Search Engine Roundtable, the folks at Google put the logo into Morse Code in honor of Samuel F. B. Morse's birthday today. Morse was born on April 27, 1791. Various reports credit Morse as inventor of the telegraph and of the code that bears his name. That is actually only half correct. While Morse did indeed invent the telegraph, his original code was a series of numbers that corresponded to word-entries in a book at each telegraph station. It was Morse's assistant, Alfred Vail, who actually developed the dot-dash code that allowed any word to be sent efficiently, without the need for "translations."
Google regularly gets creative with its logo in order to honor special people or events, with a particular focus on pioneers in science and technology. While there is nothing official, we are assuming that the letters in the logo are staggered in order to fit within the standard space allotted on the web page for the Google logo.
This site is produced and presented by Tomas David Hood (Amateur Radio Operator, NW7US) - Tomas is also a musician. Please click the 'play' button, below, to hear some of the music that Tomas would like to share with you. Thank you for listening! You may leave me a comment about the music.
Also, you may
purchase my CD (Beginnings EP 2009) or the downloadable MP3 versions of the songs from my new EP, here: Tomas David Hood Music.
What does 'CW' really mean?
From
Jim Wades, WB8SIW come the following inforation regarding the origins of the term "continuous wave." Here is his abridged version.
The first radio transmitters generated RF by discharging a high voltage spark across an L-C resonant circuit, which was coupled to the antenna. Each spark discharge across the gap would "ring" the L-C tuned circuit, which would then oscillate at its resonant frequency with decreasing amplitude until the decay was such that oscillation ceased. This created a "damped" oscillation analogous to ringing a bell or plucking a guitar string.
The biggest problems with spark transmitters were occupied bandwidth, resulting in relatively poor efficiency, and the fact that they could not be modulated. This problem was solved through a number of approaches, which produced "undamped oscillations," also called "continuous waves." The earliest methods of producing an undamped oscillation were the arc transmitter and the radio frequency alternator. Both were usuable only at very low frequencies, and both produced RF directly at high power levels, which were difficult to modulate. However, such systems remained in service well into the mid 1940s, and one Alexanderson long-wave alternator remains intact and operational in Sweden as a museum piece.
With the development of stable, good quality vacuum tubes in the 'teens, it became possible to develop a "modern" RF oscillator. Better yet, a RF oscillator could operate at low levels and be buffered and amplified in stages to produce reasonably high power levels. Furthermore, such vacuum tube oscillators could be conveniently modulated. Therefore, immediately after World War One and through the 1920s, we begin to see a variety of applications arise centered around voice communications including radio broadcasting, police radio, and point-to-point SSB circuits for international telephone service.
The term "continuous wave" during this early period emerged as a tool to differentiate a modern radiotelegraph transmitter generating undamped oscillations from its antecedent, the older spark transmitter producing damped oscillations. Over time, as the spark technology receded into the past, the term "CW" became somewhat idiomatic; a term used by radio operators and engineers in reference to all radiotelegraph communications.
In reality, all modern communications systems use "CW," from your ham radio CW equipment to the latest cellular telephone or wireless router! I hope that explains things! - 73, WB8SIW
Why Learn Morse Code?
From Gil:
As I was pondering about learning Morse code, which I mistakenly considered a small detail, it hit me.. Morse archaic, when? Aren't many of the skills we like to learn archaic? Trapping, hunting, food preservation, living off the land, field medical procedures, camping, building shelters, etc. The kind of skills that can save your bacon when everything else fails.
Morse is one of them! It can be used without a radio. You can tap your fingers, blink your eyes in Morse, and nobody but the intended recipient across the room would know.. You can bang on a pipe with a wrench, hit a drum, squeeze someone's hand, use a flashlight or a laser pointer to send a message in Morse.
If regular means of communications were down, because of an electromagnetic pulse for instance, a simple telegraph could easily be built without using semi-conductors. The wires are already all around us.See the full discussion, here: Radio Preppers: The Ever Useful Good Old Morse Code.