From: Frank Gilliland on Sep 20, 4:09 am

On 19 Sep 2005 17:28:11 -0700, "

snip


Show us by documented fact that morse code manual radiotelegraphy
is IN USE by radio services other than amateur radio TODAY.

Morse is required for the Public Mobile Services (Part 22), the
International Fixed Public Radiocommunication Services (Part 23),
satellite uplinks (ATIS, Part 25), and other services including
Experimental, Special Broadcast, etc. Morse is also a requirement for
a Commercial Radio Operators License (Part 13).

"IN USE," Frank. :-)

I do not find any reference to manual morse code radiotelegraphy
in Part 22, Public Mobile Radio Service. "Codes" are stated,
but those are NOT "morse codes."

Part 23, International Fixed Public Radio Service, does have
reference to manual morse code (International variety, same as
defined for amateur radio) IF and only IF the transmitter license
is specifically designated as "radiotelegraph" with that emission.

I do not find any specific reference to manual morse code in
Part 25, Satellite Communications Radio Service. Where is the
requirement for a commercial radiotelegrapher license there?
Note: Satellite Communications allocated bands are all in the
microwave region and that is highly unlikely to be used with
manual on-off keying of a transmitter.

Part 13 defines ALL the Commercial Radio Operator licenses and
is not a radio service per se. Radiotelegraph (Commercial)
licenses require specific skill levels tested for each of three
classes. Radiotelephone (Commercial) and GMDSS operator
licenses do NOT require manual morse code skill testing.

Yes, there are automatic morse code keyers in use in various
radio services still, such as in Aviation Radio Service, about
as many as there were such stations a half century ago. As such
they are satisfying very OLD regulatory requirements and have all
the usefulness of teats on a boar hog. Those keep on working
because they are simple repetitive appliances to a transmitter,
no different (but less complex) than a "fox test" generator for
TTY. Pilots of aircraft don't "identify" VOR radionavigation
transmitters by morse code in normal use, they simply dial up
the channel as shown on their aeronautical charts and the ground
station is either there or not there; frequency/channel
assignments have been done to prevent interference with other
ground radionavigation frequencies/channels even at the extreme
distances possible with high altitude flying.

I wrote "IN USE" in all captitals on purpose. Where, other
than on the Great Lakes in maritime service, is morse code USED
for communications in the United States?

I should also point out that every communication needs a sender, a
receiver, and a message. Although manual Morse may not be -required-
to send or receive the message, Morse is used so the communication
-can- be done manually by either the sender or receiver (or both)
should the automatic systems fail.

The ORIGINAL morse code was all numbers and "recorded" by an
ink pen on paper. No hearing was required. Morse's financial
backer, Alfred Vail, is said to have suggested the addition of
letters and punctuation plus making shorter code characters
in line with printers' type case arrangements.

The early WIRED telegraph systems primarily used MANUAL
transmission and reception. Very long distance services, such
as by undersea cable, used recorded transmission and reception
primarily to increase throughput, allowing brief breaks for
operators to answer more important calls of nature.

Punched paper tape was in use for TTY by 1904. That year
marks the first recorded instance of demonstration of an
Exclusive-OR "scrambling" of one clear-text message with a
"keying" tape (duplicate at the receiving end) for
encryption by non-crypto-specialist operators. P-tape has
been standard on TTY and RTTY message communications for
well over a half century. It is quick, convenient, and one
TTY operator could tend a dozen P-tape TTY machines in
continuous duty. Electromechanical teleprinters are on
the way to extinction, replaced by better, faster all-
electronic message means.

The fact is, morse is very much alive within amateur radio.

It has AGED. It will eventually become terminal.

Doubtful.

It WILL eventually become terminal. The last mighty macho
morseman will have the last morse code key pried out of
cold, dead fingers. It will wind up as exhibits in a
museum, those exhibits already in progress.

Morse code is the simplest and most univeral method of radio
communication, but is hardly limited to radio -- don't forget that it
was invented for -wire- telegraphy.

I've been reminding folks of that for years. 1844 is the year
the first Morse-Vail Telegraph system went into operation.
COMMERCIAL (i.e., professional, service for money) I might add.

It has also been used extensively
with optical and other types of communication.

Not "extensively" except in maritime talk-between-ships by
light blinker. Signal flags are traditional in navies but
those are not "morse code." Two-flag (two-torch at night)
manual semaphore was used in the U.S. Army prior to our
Civil War; the torch over crossed signal flags is still the
collar insignia of the Army Signal Corps. However, that was
NOT by "morse code" but by position of the semaphore
indicators relative to the operator's body to denote the
various characters.

Various forms of semaphore signaling, even to construction of
networks for same, was done for over a century PRIOR to the
first wired telegraphy systems. NONE of those used "morse
code" anywhere close to what morse code is today.

Native American Indian smoke signals did NOT use "morse code."

The electronic "remote control" generally uses a pulse train
code to control a variety of electronics using infra-red
"carrier" or an RF carrier. That is by on-off keying but
such keying has NEVER used any "morse code." On-off keying
of a carrier is a supply-economic for battery-powered remotes.

It has existed since
before radio was invented, continues to exist outside the sphere of
radio, and certainly won't die if it's abandoned as a requirement for
radio.

"Morse code" predated the first demonstration of radio as a
communications medium by 52 years of USE.

There are NO working morse code telegraph circuits in the
United States in continuous communications service. NONE.
It has been an internal practice in commercial communications
to denote teleprinter services as "telegraph" for over a half
century, leading some to presume that such "telegraph" services
still "use morse code modes." They do not.

But as long as Morse code exists, radio operators will continue
to use it.

Yes, and riding horses is still done in equestrian pursuits
(but not as an everyday transport), smoothbore musketry and
bows-arrows are still used for hunting (but not as a regular
means of killing game), and parks still have real steam train
rides (but not for regular passenger conveyance). Until the
electronic terminals became economic, the electromechanical
teleprinter systems carried the vast majority of message
communications for over a half century...for telegrams, for
government, military, business, commerce, and private
communications.

Some hobbyists still insist on using vacuum tube circuitry
for low-power (relatively speaking) uses in radio, despite
the proven fact that solid-state circuit design results in
lower power demand, smaller physical size, more economy,
and generally superior performance.

Now that's not an argument either for or against the dropping of the
code requirement. Like I said before, it's no big deal. And like I
also said before, what -IS- a big deal is the dumbing down of the
written test. I still don't understand why there is so much bitching
(from both sides) about the code test yet almost no discussion about
the 'memory' test. Anyone care to explain that?

On the contrary, the common PCTA expression is that the Pool
of published questions has "dumbed down" amateur radio license
examinations to an absurd level. [Pools exist for both VEC
and COLEM] They illogically connect dropping of the code test
with "dropping of the written test" by direct statement or by
infrerence. They also forget that the VEC Question Pool
Committee devises ALL the Pool questions and answers, said VEC
being composed of licensed radio amateurs. The FCC now
specifies only a minimum number of questions per test element,
does not differentiate to minimum number per kind of question.
There has been a virtual enormous quantity of bitching/moaning
about the allegedly "dumbed-down" written test elements, some
bitching/moaning at a vitriolic level.

The current hot topic in United States amateur radio policy
is NPRM 05-143 on the elimination/retention of the morse code
test. That NPRM does NOT state that written test elements
will be changed. Focus, please.

If you wish to Petition the FCC to change this alleged "dumb-
down" issue, feel free. The FCC even explains the procedure
for Petitioning in their regulations, Title 47 Code of Federal
Regulations. Meanwhile, contact the VEC QPC for changes to
the present-day multiple-choice public question-answer Pool.