# Morse is still alive and kicking…



## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

Some years ago the final demise of the morse code was reported, on I think, the News at Ten. The impression they gave was almost as if it was all ending that particular evening and that no one would ever use morse again. As an ex Radio Officer and a licensed Radio Amateur I’m glad to say that they got it wrong. Morse is still alive and kicking and under poor conditions with fairly basic equipment is an excellent means of communication. Incidentally I passed my ham ticket in the sixties whilst in Adelaide on the City of Ripon.

The many Societies that represent the interest of Radio Amateurs worldwide encourage the use of morse and arrange contests regularly. Our own Society, the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) holds a number of cw contests annually. I recently took part in one of these contests on the 80 meter band (3.5 mc/s) and actually finding a clear frequency was the problem – not finding anyone to talk to! I had set my electronic keyer at 25 wpm and whilst there were some slower senders about – and part of the band is quite rightly reserved for them – there were also lots of stations going much faster.

Computers are playing an increasingly bigger part in ham radio. In contests all that takes place is the exchange of some very basic information like callsign, signal report and a serial number. The computer keys the transmitter sending all this and keeping the log. During receive the information is copied straight into the computer via the keyboard so your typing skills need to be good – and obviously your morse reading skills! However during ordinary qso’s computers usually take a back seat merely being used for logging and operators use hand keys, bugs or whatever key they prefer to ragchew. Contacts can be spurious or at pre-determined times. There are also 'special events' that attract a lot of activity. R651400 posted earlier referring to the Maritime Radio Day 2015:-

http://www.trafficlist.net/mrd/

There are still a number of commercial stations using cw as anyone with a general coverage receiver will know. Ironically I noticed an intruder in our 80 meter band a few evenings ago - 4XZ busy sending cw. Haifa can be heard on lots of frequencies as can a number of coast stations including Russian and South Korean.

I'm sure there have been similar postings previously so my apologies for repeating it.


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Keep the CW skills up. It might be the only way to go,if Mr Putin decides to let off some of his big EMP producers.


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## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

You could be right! Maybe I should go and dust off that old Atlanta in the garage, if only I could find a matching Reliance I'd be in business!

Seriously I do feel that Putin may yet prove to be problem, the "Twisting the Bear's Tail" thread refers... He never got over the fact that the Soviet Union is no longer.


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## George McCaffery (Jun 17, 2006)

Having been struck with Nostalgia i took the Radio Amateurs foundation 
exam last week and hope to take the intermediate exam on 16th March. Its a good way to get the brain to do some work as well as roll back the years. Can't wait to order the vibroplex key.


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## Searcher2004 (May 3, 2012)

R651400 said:


> I've put this on before... If you really want to know if morse is very much alive and kicking download Morse Runner from this site.
> If you've no amateur call sign just use the one given, press run then F1.
> 
> http://www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner/ downloads


The training program by G4FON is also worth getting if anyone wants to brush-up their code, see

http://www.g4fon.net/CW Trainer.htm

I have recently bought and built a K42C keyboard sender and receiver kit, makes a neat little box with a LCD display and which takes up little desk space, see

http://k1el.tripod.com/K42_C.html

73

Roger/G3VKM


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## Cisco (Jan 29, 2007)

I'm finding SITOR with a CW identifier (WLO .. it is there now on 8419 but v light) most mornings ( antipodean time) around 8423.... I thinks its a station in the US Gulf.


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## jimg0nxx (Sep 1, 2005)

I think WLO is located in Mobile, Ala.


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## Searcher2004 (May 3, 2012)

Cisco said:


> I'm finding SITOR with a CW identifier (WLO .. it is there now on 8419 but v light) most mornings ( antipodean time) around 8423.... I thinks its a station in the US Gulf.


Quite a few channel-markers in that neck of the woods; can hear SVO and TAH here, amongst others.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

It will never die....well, for a few years anyway....


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

This site is good for practice http://www.smrcc.org.uk/Morse/morse.htm 

Wish I could still send error free at 25+ on my 365A. Here's a recording by EA2IF of me using a T1154 and WT8Amp key. http://www.v-d-r.net/images/GW3OQK T1154 DE EA2IF.mp3 
73, Andrew


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## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

George McCaffery said:


> Having been struck with Nostalgia i took the Radio Amateurs foundation
> exam last week and hope to take the intermediate exam on 16th March. Its a good way to get the brain to do some work as well as roll back the years. Can't wait to order the vibroplex key.


Congratulations on passing the Foundation George - hope the Intermediate result will be a good one as well. I'm looking forward to hearing that vibroplex rattling away! I could never master a bug. I run a Kent paddle with a CMOS Superkeyer from Idiom Press in the States. Just a simple kit which has worked well for me for years.

http://idiompress.com/

I do have a 365 as well but sadly I hardly ever get 'round to using it in anger!

The site that R651400 refers to:-

http://www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner/

is excellent. I've been running MorseRunner for years and it's quite uncanny. If you're not familiar with this software, stations call you in morse and you reply and work them exchanging signal reports and a serial number as in a contest. You can set the speed, the number of stations calling you at once (!) - you can even introduce qrm. The programme keeps a running tally of how many stations you are working in a given time so it's excellent for honing your cw skills. Whilst your side of the qso is via the keyboard you do obviously have to be able to read the cw so a mixture of skills is required. On a couple of occassions I've had the wife call me to dinner and I've replied - 'hang on, there's someone else calling me' - it's so easy to forget this is just computer generated morse and not a real radio you're listening to!

'It will never die....well, for a few years anyway...." (Troppo) 

I'm sure you're right though I do notice that fewer and fewer of the newer entrants into ham radio show much of an interest in morse so the inevitable will happen and it will become part of history.

Incidentally if you have an android tablet there's an interesting bit of software or app as these things are called nowadays that will decode morse via the built in microphone, just hold it near the receiver's speaker. It's called Morse Code Reader and is available from the Google Store. It's a bit of a novelty and is not particularly good but an interesting thing to play with. You could always use it to check your sending...

Andrew - love the T1154 note!

Thanks to all those who have posted here.


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## beedeesea (Feb 28, 2006)

Another one that puts out news feeds in Morse:
http://morse-rss-news.sourceforge.net/

Brian


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

WLO Mobile is one of the last USA coast stations and one which we as technicians would be lost without when doing GMDSS inspections. They still take HF RT calls and of course NBDP telex. KLB on the West coast also part of them for RT and Telex too. They have a website. Globe Wireless also have a few of the old HF stations for Telex.


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## George McCaffery (Jun 17, 2006)

Thanks John, I will take a look at anything and everything at the moment. The last time i looked at a morse key or a radio station was about 1976ish. But first i have set the target of getting the intermediate exam under my belt before looking at what my station should look like. But i will probably listen to some morse to see if i can still copy it.


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## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

George - it's like riding a bike - you never forget how to...and within a few short days I'm sure your speed will be back up where it used to be and you'll ll be ready to come on air and show these hams how it's done !!!


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Yep....I can easily rattle off 25 WPM on a straight key still.


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Birketts on the Strait in Lincoln have some morse keys for sale in the window - £18 each. Green ones.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Would that be Lincoln Green, Chris?

John T


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Of course !


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Curious re-incarnation of morse is movie soundtracks where whenever they show some sort of radio communication device which can be anything from radar to some sort of inter-stellar light speed bypass comms device, they like to put a morse like background noise in. Always found that a bit funny.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

I read this thread leader with a rush of anticipation of that man with his Triumph 2000 motor and trusted side kick coming back in another series.

Bob


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Yes, I have been to Endeavour (Morse's) fav pub, _The Trout._

A lovely spot.....



The Morse prequel _Endeavour_ was really good.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

spongebob said:


> I read this thread leader with a rush of anticipation of that man with his Triumph 2000 motor and trusted side kick coming back in another series.
> 
> Bob


You must have got a cut-price version of Morse out there in NZ. In the UK programmes he drove a Jaguar.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

If Morse was so smart, why did he drink all that crap Real Ale?

John T


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Here is the Inspector Morse theme tune.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

R651400 said:


> Bergerac perhaps? In In my humble opinion the Triumph 2000 Roadster was the ugliest looking pseudo sports car ever made.


Bergerac did indeed drive a Triumph Roadster, made for 2 or 3 years in the late 1940s. Whether or not it was the TR1800 or the TR2000 version I can't tell you. 

But the Triumph 2000, which was made for about 10 years in the 1960s/70s, was a totally different beast. 

Neither that nor the Triumph Roadster could be called sports cars (see below) although Bergerac's 1940s transport might be called an open tourer, somewhat nearer to a sports car than the 1960s saloon car, which was considered more as a somewhat down-market competitor to the P6 Rover 2000 of that era.

But Morse drove a Jaguar Mark 2 (the lower-powered, 2.4 litre version) with a vinyl roof! More of a poser's car than a sports car - similar in that respect to Bergerac's choice).


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

You are right there Ron, it was a Jaguar. there were so many older cars back then to remember from the Z cars days and their mark 2 Zephyrs though to George Gently in his Rover.
at least you could tell them apart in those days.

Bob


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Does anyone who was on the Marchon Trader/GWTQ in the mid-60's remember the green Roadster belonging to the 2nd Mate George ?? Rumour had it the point duty police in Whitehaven used to stop ALL traffic and wave George thru, such were his skills !

David
+


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## bobharrison2002 (Apr 12, 2008)

trotterdotpom said:


> If Morse was so smart, why did he drink all that crap Real Ale?
> 
> John T


Because it tastes better than that ozy p...(Jester)


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

spongebob said:


> You are right there Ron, it was a Jaguar. there were so many older cars back then to remember from the Z cars days and their mark 2 Zephyrs though to George Gently in his Rover.
> at least you could tell them apart in those days.
> 
> Bob


But Bob, my Aussie friends tell me that all those cars are still current in NZ. If you want 50s/60s American cars you go to Cuba; for their British contemporaries, it is New Zealand. Is that not true? Surely they wouldn't lie to me. (Jester)


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

Ron Stringer said:


> But Bob, my Aussie friends tell me that all those cars are still current in NZ. If you want 50s/60s American cars you go to Cuba; for their British contemporaries, it is New Zealand. Is that not true? Surely they wouldn't lie to me. (Jester)


Lot of Hillman Hunters in Iran too!!


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## MikeGDH (May 10, 2014)

Ron Stringer said:


> But Bob, my Aussie friends tell me that all those cars are still current in NZ. If you want 50s/60s American cars you go to Cuba; for their British contemporaries, it is New Zealand. Is that not true? Surely they wouldn't lie to me. (Jester)


Hard to find any pommy cars here nowadays.....pretty much solid Japanese stuff, with Toyota predominating.
Mike


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Do your Toyotas come from Japan or Melbourne, Mike? If it's the latter, it won't be for much longer. Finishing manufacture in 2017 after the government refused any more subsidies. Inscruitable gits!

John T


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Ron Stringer said:


> But Bob, my Aussie friends tell me that all those cars are still current in NZ. If you want 50s/60s American cars you go to Cuba; for their British contemporaries, it is New Zealand. Is that not true? Surely they wouldn't lie to me. (Jester)


Not now Ron, perhaps thirty years ago and earlier the restrictions on new car imports extended the life of many an old banger beyond its days of safe use and all sorts of bodgie work was carried out to get them though the six monthly warrant of fitness check.
Today new cars are freely available but half the imports are "as new' late models from Japan.
Japan's regulations call for very strict testing for cars aged about six years old and the costs of such work lends the way to replacement with new . NZ has long been an outlet for these vehicles but Australia would not allow them in as it would have damaged their highly cosseted local car manufacture.
This local industry is now slowly sinking in spite of huge government subsidies so there might be a change of heart.
These used Jap cars are still in good nick and with relatively low mileage, you don't get to drive far in Japan, and at about half the price of new vehicles are a good buy , especially for the young and elderly
I can recall visitors from our London office frequently chortling at the sight of our car population in the 50's and 60's. Waves of Morris Minors, Minis, Hillman Imps and Hunters, A40's, Vauxhall Vivas and hordes of VW Beetles outnumbered the smattering of new stuff and rarely a sight of something flash and continental such as a Mercedes or BMW
Yes we were the laughing stock once but not any more.

Bob


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## MikeGDH (May 10, 2014)

trotterdotpom said:


> Do your Toyotas come from Japan or Melbourne, Mike? If it's the latter, it won't be for much longer. Finishing manufacture in 2017 after the government refused any more subsidies. Inscruitable gits!
> 
> John T


Hi John.
Don't think any are from Oz. also, a good proportion of the ones from Japan are 2nd-hand. I have 2 of the latter myself. Usually very good value (in my experience anyway, and I've had 5 imports so far).

It'll be very interesting to see what changes over there when the factories close....
Mike.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

John, our Toyota Camry models came from Australia after NZ aborted the idea of local assembly from imported kit sets and I guess that we will still use this source until T Aust close shop.

Bob


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Thanks Mike and Bob.

The main effect will be a lot of folk on the dole, I suppose. Toyota have been blackmailing the government for quite a while now - they finally got sick of coughing up.

Holden (General Motors) are also pulling out which will result in more redundancies and mass Bogan suicides.

Car parts and accessories manufacturing will follow suit I expect.

Mitsubishi ceased manunfacturing in Australia some time ago. About 25 years ago I bought a ute from them and just over a year later I got a flat tire. The handle to wind the spare tyre down from under the tray was supposed to be behind the seat in the cab but there wasn't one! Eventually I went to the dealer and asked for a handle. They said because the car was over a year old, they couldn't give me one but they would see if a second hand ute came in and they would give me the handle out of that. I said: "Remind me not to buy a second hand car from you, and while you're at it, remind me not to buy a new one either!" 

Toyoto and Holden are now going to join Mitsubishi on my banned list. We've got a VW now - Vorsprung durch Technik.

John T

PS I hear that even Matchbox cars are made in China now.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

John, we may well find that the majority of cars will be manufactured in Asia in the long run. What with Tata India owning Land Rover and Jaguar , Volvo having a little bit of China investment and other little snuggling ups going on
Most of the American and European marks are cosying up to an Asian associate or partner with that big cheap labour pool in mind.
Detroit is a ghost city but there might be a few more. 
Costs of production might fall but we can be sure that we will still be fleeced on the forecourt .

Bob


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Who cares where it was built, as long as it goes !


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

You are right about the no oil leaks R651400.
I have never had a Jap car that leaked oil from the sump, gearbox or elsewhere whereas the British cars of the 60/70/80's were right little bleeders.
I had a little low mileage Vauxhall Viva that behaved like a oil well with its drips onto the drive

Bob


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

By the way, one of the reasons for these Jap imports being popular in NZ is the fact that they are all right hand drive which excludes interest from USA, Canada and Europe and makes us a close handy disposal point.
Once clapped out beyond the NZ warrant of fitness requirements many go to Samoa and other pacific islands.
I have a relative that wrecks all the old Toyota Hi ace vans and stacks the engines and transmissions in shipping cotainers for shipment to the likes of Nigeria so the recycling is to the bitter end.
He used to have a base and agent in Liverpool who collected doors, boot lids, bonnets etc from wrecked Ford Cortinas etc for shipment to NZ where the insurers gave him plenty of business. You got a second had door replacement on your two year old Cortina no matter what
An example of the bargains is the recent purchase by a relative of a four year old Toyota Caldina station wagon that would cost 25 thousand pounds new here.
It came from Japan with 16000 kilometres on the clock, in pristine condition and bristling with optional extras for a cost of 7 thousand pounds.

Bob


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## holland25 (Nov 21, 2007)

I had a ride in a Toyota taxi in Suva about a month ago it seemed to be in very good condition and full of extras, I assume it was a Japanese second hand import. It did however seem to have the drawback that the screen on the dashboard with what I would think was the GPS and other information was all in Japanese characters.


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## IAN M (Jan 17, 2009)

I also believe that Morse will never die as it's too much fun.
I haven't, however, been on the air since I moved house several years ago so that my Yaesu FT101ZD and separate tuner lie neglected in the garage. 

As regards communication at sea, I have a friend on board the cruise ship Arcadia which left Southampton on 6 January and returns on 23 April. We have communicated by email throughout the voyage and I know that the ship will be in Dubai on Saturday.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Back in the '80s they used to run 2nd hand car buying trips to Japan - the punters got a holiday and a nearly new car shipped back to NZ. Think that was the end of all those Hillmans and whatnot that folk had kept running for yonks.

Eventually, the government noticed what was going on and killed a good lurk with taxes and regulations.

That's what I was told anyway.

John T


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## George McCaffery (Jun 17, 2006)

Just to finish off the story got the Full licence Callsign M0KCF and am now starting on the USA licence and putting together a radio station.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Good for you.


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## morseman2020 (Oct 28, 2020)

Live morse QSO`s on line,..... / chat/ragchew/practice, improve.. see my post today on this page 
"Morse Chat Room" = Post number 26 

(linky not working correctly)


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## morseman2020 (Oct 28, 2020)

Error posting an incorrect url see previous post ! !


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## Mad Landsman (Dec 1, 2005)

morseman2020 said:


> Don`t know where that "morse a bit scratchy" post came from... but it was not intended to be there by me ! ! ... but I can`t find a way of deleting/editing the post..
> 
> The morse tone on CWCOM can be adjusted for volume and tone and is very clear.


Gerry, you seem to have 'quoted' a post in another thread.
click on the three dots at top of your post, it will give you edit function. Then delete the parts you don't want, you cannot delete a complete post.


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## morseman2020 (Oct 28, 2020)

Mad Landsman said:


> Gerry, you seem to have 'quoted' a post in another thread.
> click on the three dots at top of your post, it will give you edit function. Then delete the parts you don't want, you cannot delete a complete post.



well, it`s weird, because I used the page header URL... and tried it in a new browser and it worked correctly... but when I previewed it , it showed the "scratchy" post... so I then clicked on the "post number" #26 and it gave the same ( correct page) but again showed the "scratchy" post... so have done it another way ! ! ..
Ah well. ! 
Thanks Malcolm.


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