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I didn't realize there were incompatible Morse Code formats. I was hoping to learn Morse this winter, and already started writing a Lisp app to test myself with

by ksaj 6y ago

I didn't realize there were incompatible Morse Code formats. I was hoping to learn Morse this winter, and already started writing a Lisp app to test myself with, but this really turns me off of the idea. I'm quite glad I didn't start and accidentally learn the "wrong" one. What is the variant typically heard on Short Wave Radio? PS: Converter is spelled wrong at the top.

kazinator 6y ago
What I learned not too long ago is that Morse code requires pretty darn long spaces between characters (to add insult to the inefficient encoding). The familiar SOS sequence ...---... is actually one of a class of special-case sequences ("prosigns"); the word SOSTENUTO could not start with that sequence. Wikipedia: "[t]he letters of a word are separated by a space of duration equal to three dots, and the words are separated by a space equal to seven dots." Ouch! > but this really turns me off of the idea According to the Wikipedia page, the international version has been around since 1865. So this is probably a forgone concern. "After some minor changes, International Morse Code was standardized at the International Telegraphy Congress in 1865 in Paris and was later made the standard by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)." Probably, just implement/learn the ITU one and forget the century-and-half-old historic precursors.
- ksaj 6y ago
  Thanks. I'm curious why anyone thought it was a good idea to have a special American version, making some letters incompatible but not others. The letter O is different among all three. The American and Continental versions of ZERO is simply mind-boggling. They're really all over the place. I hope ITU is the one that should be in use. I'd hate to put the effort in and then find it was wasted on a variant nobody uses. I just compared my variables, and fortunately the code I'm writing is already started with the International version.
  - kazinator 6y ago
    "American Morse is now nearly extinct—it is most frequently seen in American railroad museums and American Civil War reenactments—and "Morse Code" today virtually always means the International Morse which supplanted American Morse." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Morse_code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Morse_code

by ksaj 6y ago

kazinator 6y ago

What I learned not too long ago is that Morse code requires pretty darn long spaces between characters (to add insult to the inefficient encoding). The familiar SOS sequence ...---... is actually one of a class of special-case sequences ("prosigns"); the word SOSTENUTO could not start with that sequence. Wikipedia: "[t]he letters of a word are separated by a space of duration equal to three dots, and the words are separated by a space equal to seven dots." Ouch! > but this really turns me off of the idea According to the Wikipedia page, the international version has been around since 1865. So this is probably a forgone concern. "After some minor changes, International Morse Code was standardized at the International Telegraphy Congress in 1865 in Paris and was later made the standard by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)." Probably, just implement/learn the ITU one and forget the century-and-half-old historic precursors.

ksaj 6y ago
Thanks. I'm curious why anyone thought it was a good idea to have a special American version, making some letters incompatible but not others. The letter O is different among all three. The American and Continental versions of ZERO is simply mind-boggling. They're really all over the place. I hope ITU is the one that should be in use. I'd hate to put the effort in and then find it was wasted on a variant nobody uses. I just compared my variables, and fortunately the code I'm writing is already started with the International version.
- kazinator 6y ago
  "American Morse is now nearly extinct—it is most frequently seen in American railroad museums and American Civil War reenactments—and "Morse Code" today virtually always means the International Morse which supplanted American Morse." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Morse_code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Morse_code