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Koch method to learn Morse

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Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#2
Is there a good reason to learn Morse in modern day besides just for kicks? Some sort of survival situation in which your only form of communication would be Morse, and you can't get out of it by sending ASCII binary?

Not knocking on anybody's learning for fun, just curious.

Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#3
post #2

Is there a good reason to learn Morse in modern day besides just for kicks? Some sort of survival situation in which your only form of communication would be Morse, and you can't get out of it by sending ASCII binary? Not knocking on anybody's learning for fun, just curious.

Why rule out a survival situation? While nuclear missiles would probably just end all life, there are a broad spectrum of other things that can go wrong in the next decade that just take out power grids. It would be good to be ready with more robust technology than GPS-aware microchips, I can see how it could come in handy.

I'm seeing a lot of energy security issues out there, and there are extreme economic pressures all over that could spill out in unexpected ways. There are some profoundly grumpy people out there right now.

Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#4
post #2

Is there a good reason to learn Morse in modern day besides just for kicks? Some sort of survival situation in which your only form of communication would be Morse, and you can't get out of it by sending ASCII binary? Not knocking on anybody's learning for fun, just curious.

Initially, I learned it for fun and ham radio emitting. But I find it fascinating that you can use it with anything that can be turned on and off with a rythm.

I used a flashlight to say "hello" while waiting for a fireworks event, but the other person far away just blinked their flashlight randomly in response.

I guess it could be used for worst scenario speech, like blinking eyes for examples if I ever have a terrible accident somehow (has been used by tortured persons, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ256UU8xJ0). When I saw Tuco’s grandpa in Breaking Bad taking so much time to write words with his bell, I just tought about using morse (but with something more elaborate than a bell, because you want to use long and short tones; same problem applies if you want to knock on walls or doors).

Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#5
The book Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, talks about morse in its first chapter.

The beauty of how morse encoding expands out from the binary dots and dashes in to letters and sentences is a lovely thing to read about. Think of it more as a tree graph allowing you to find your ideal letter, branching out from a root of common letters to less common as you fan out.

Brail is mentioned in the second chapter with a similar enlightening description.

Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#6
post #2

Is there a good reason to learn Morse in modern day besides just for kicks? Some sort of survival situation in which your only form of communication would be Morse, and you can't get out of it by sending ASCII binary? Not knocking on anybody's learning for fun, just curious.

In the US, you no longer need to learn Morse to get any of the amateur licenses. Most people who are learning it today are doing it just for fun.

Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#7
post #3
post #2

Is there a good reason to learn Morse in modern day besides just for kicks? Some sort of survival situation in which your only form of communication would be Morse, and you can't get out of it by sending ASCII binary? Not knocking on anybody's learning for fun, just curious.

Why rule out a survival situation? While nuclear missiles would probably just end all life, there are a broad spectrum of other things that can go wrong in the next decade that just take out power grids. It would be good to be ready with more robust technology than GPS-aware microchips, I can see how it could come in handy. I'm seeing a lot of energy security issues out there, and there are extreme economic pressures…

Sure, but how does knowing Morse help in those scenarios.

Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#9
post #2

Is there a good reason to learn Morse in modern day besides just for kicks? Some sort of survival situation in which your only form of communication would be Morse, and you can't get out of it by sending ASCII binary? Not knocking on anybody's learning for fun, just curious.

Very fair question, I had the same thinking two years ago. Since then I got interested in amateur radio, and in particular low power, portable operations as well as homebrewing transceivers.

Using only 5W when conditions are right can work from Australia around the planet using a $30 radio and a 20m wire antenna thrown in a tree.

Also, while its definitely possible to homebrew equipment that transmits voice, morse code is much simpler as you are approximately connecting power from an oscillator to a small amplifier (a couple of garden variety transistors works just fine here)

Re: Koch method to learn Morse

#10
post #2

Is there a good reason to learn Morse in modern day besides just for kicks? Some sort of survival situation in which your only form of communication would be Morse, and you can't get out of it by sending ASCII binary? Not knocking on anybody's learning for fun, just curious.

If you are disabled or can only use a finger - you could control your computer or android with the morse keyboard with autocomplete, would work for termux as well. It'd be slow, but it'd work. The problem is, you'd need a knowledgable buddy to set up the system for you... or you can start right now and switch to morse code entry - force yourself within the limit of 20 wpm.
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