I just recently uploaded a schematic of a CW Practice Oscillator that I built a few days ago. It is uploaded to the HAM Radio Group in the Electronic Drafting area. The file name is "cw practice oscillator.bmp". I decided I would learn morse code as part of upgrading my amateur radio license from Tech to General. I understand that code is not required, but I would still like to learn it anyways. May be helpful to know if I have a radio and a key, but no computer.

That also got me to thinking - not many people know morse code, obviously the governmental agencies would be able to decode it in a heart beat, but your average joe doesn't know morse code. Most HAMs that are new to the hobby don't know it either and need some computer program to decode it.

My thought here is that we could pass messages to each other without the public knowing about it. You don't need a gated tone generator nor a radio to do this, there are other ways by which morse can be transmitted. There were devices back in the early years of telegraphy that converted the electrical pulses to dits and daws that were drawn on a strip of paper. I have also seen (and heard) people tap out morse code on a table top, though it can be a bit difficult to distiguish the dits from the daws that way.

To the untrained ear, tapping morse code on a table top can sound like regular finger tapping and the average joe may not know a message is being communicated. Dits and Daws on paper can look like doodling if done properly. If done audibly, most people will be able to tell you are transmitting morse code, but they won't be able to decode the message. If done at a very high WPM rate (and done audibly), it becomes very difficult to distinguish the characters by ear, but a computer can distinguish them quite easily. Some people can communicate at 20 WPM, I can not.

What are your thoughts on this? I know morse is much easier to decode than an encrypted message, but even a message can be encrypted then transmitted via morse.

73, de KG7UJH
Debian

How ya gonna do it? PS/2 it!

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Warmfuzzy may be interested and has commented on how cw was sped up and "squirted" for spy radio use.

Much clandestine cw was slow speed and while it read in plain text - say a message might say "blue sky over red fox by tuna fish" - the final actual meaning requires a non-public look up table. In our example each word might have a meaning, either word or phrase.

I need to get back at cw, as my skills have faded severely.

--- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS

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a strip of paper. I have also seen (and heard) people tap out morse code on a table top, though it can be a bit difficult to distiguish the dits from the daws that way.

There was an episode of The A-Team in which - memory is fuzzy but - Hannibal tapped his foot on the floor of an aircraft to signal to the other guys who were in the cargo hold.

Or something.

Then there's POW Jeremiah Denton who blinked his eyes in Morse Code spelling the word "TORTURE" during a filmed propaganda interview.

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On 27 Sep 2022, DustCouncil said the following...

Then there's POW Jeremiah Denton who blinked his eyes in Morse Code spelling the word "TORTURE" during a filmed propaganda interview.

Denton was awarded the Navy Cross for his stand-up under pressure as a POW and eventually rose to Rear Admiral.

His award citation mentions Morse Code:


Forced to attend a press conference with a Japanese correspondent, he blinked out a distress message in Morse Code at the television camera and was understood by United States Naval Intelligence. When this courageous act was reported to the North Vietnamese, he was again subjected to severe brutalities.

--- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/02/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: SPOT BBS / k9zw (700:100/69)