Morse Code (-- --- •-• ••• • -•-• --- -•• •)

Morse Code is named after Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872), a painter and founder of the National Academy of Design, who, along with Alfred Vail (1807-1859) a machinist and inventor, and the physicist Joseph Henry (1797-1878) developed the electromagnetic telegraph and the code that assigns a set of dots and dashes or short and long pulses to each letter of the English alphabet. The first working telegraph was produced in 1836. This made transmission possible over any distance. The first Morse Code message, "What hath God wrought?", was sent from Washington to Baltimore in 1844.

Today experienced operators copy received text without the need to write as they receive, and when transmitting, can easily converse at 20 to 30 words per minute. Morse Code will always remain a viable means of providing highly reliable communications during difficult communications conditions.

Morse Code can be transmitted using sound or light, as sometimes happens between ships at sea. It is used in emergencies to transmit distress signals when no other form of communication is available. The standard international distress signal is •••---••• (SOS)

Since December 2003, Morse Code has included the @ symbol: it is a combination of a and c: •--•-• and is the first change to the system since before World War II.

International Morse Code

Morse Code can be used to transmit messages in English and many other languages. This is the current international standard version. Slightly diffferent versions of Morse Code were used in the USA, Germany and elsewhere in the past.

Additional letters, symbols and codes

Download a script chart for Morse Code (Excel)

For languages not written with the Latin alphabet other versions of Morse Code are used. There are versions of Morse Code for the Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic and Hebrew alphabets, and for Japanese a version known as Wabun Code (和文モールス符号), which maps kana syllables to specific codes, is used.

The Chinese telegraph code is used to map Chinese characters to four-digit codes and then those digits are sent using standard Morse code. Korean Morse code uses the SKATS (Standard Korean Alphabet Transliteration System) mapping, originally developed to allow Korean to be typed on western typewriters.

Sources: www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/learncw/ www.cjonline.com/stories/021704/pag_morsecode.shtml

Sample of Morse Code

.- .-.. .-.. / .... ..- -- .- -. / -... . .. -. --. ... / .- .-. . / -... --- .-. -. / ..-. .-. . . / .- -. -.. / . --.- ..- .- .-.. / .. -. / -.. .. --. -. .. - -.-- / .- -. -.. / .-. .. --. .... - ... .-.-.- / - .... . -.-- / .- .-. . / . -. -.. --- .-- . -.. / .-- .. - .... / .-. . .- ... --- -. / .- -. -.. / -.-. --- -. ... -.-. .. . -. -.-. . / .- -. -.. / ... .... --- ..- .-.. -.. / .- -.-. - / - --- .-- .- .-. -.. ... / --- -. . / .- -. --- - .... . .-. / .. -. / .- / ... .--. .. .-. .. - / --- ..-. / -... .-. --- - .... . .-. .... --- --- -.. .-.-.-

A recording of this

Source: Morse Code Translator

Transliteration

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Links

Information about Morse Code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

http://www.voicenation.com/resources/general-resources/article-library/morse-code-resources.shtml

Online Morse Code lessons and guides

http://www.cq2k.com

http://www.learnmorsecode.info

http://www.techwholesale.com/morse-code-radios-kids.html

Morse Code and Phonetic Alphabets

http://www.scphillips.com/morse/

Morse Codes (Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese & Korean, etc.)

http://homepages.cwi.nl/~dik/english/codes/morse.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_alphabets_in_Morse_code

Information about SKATS (Standard Korean Alphabet Transliteration System)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKATS

Information about Chinese telegraph code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_telegraph_code

Wabun code for Japanese (和文モールス符号)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabun_code

Morse Code Music

http://www.philtulga.com/morse.html

Superaldis - an aldis lamp and heliograph simulator

http://home.no.net/fenja256/superaldis/

Language-based communication systems

Maritime Signal Flags, Morse code, Semaphore

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