Morse Code was started for telegraphy, initially on wires and subsequently with the invention of the radio, wireless (WT). However, advancements in communication technology have made the use of WT using Morse code obsolete.
In the Navy, it is still used for visual signaling using powerful projectors during daylight and portable projectors commonly known by a brand name as Aldis Lamps. The projectors have a shutter that can be opened or closed to send the signal.
Morse code was an essential part of international aviation. Commercial and military pilots were needed to be familiar with it, both for use with early communications systems and identification of navigational beacons which transmitted continuous three-letter ids in Morse code.
As late as the 1990s, aeronautical charts listed the three-letter ID of each airport in Morse and sectionals still show the Morse signals for Vortac and NDB used for in-flight navigation.Morse code is a form for sending telegraphic information, operating a standardized series of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation, and distinctive essence of a message.
The concise and lengthy parts can be formed by sounds, marks, or pulses, in on-off keying and are practically understood as "dots" and "dashes" or "dits" and "dahs". If you require a list of the alphabet in Morse code please click on the image to the left.
The U.S. Navy turns to text to restore a reliable, yet underused dispatch method.
Easy Sending
For centuries, mariners around the globe have used lamps and shutters to beam transmissions via Morse code from ship to ship. But today Morse code isn’t being understood by every sailor, even though lamp light transmission is still being used.
So, how do we intervene in these two facts? Well, if you’re in the U.S. Navy you update your lamp light transmission systems to encode the everyday layout of Morse code: texting.
In a current test carried out aboard the USS Stout, the U.S. Navy utilized a new mechanism it reaches the Flashing Light to Text Converter (FLTC) approach.
During the test, sailors aboard the Stout fired off text messages and the FLTC restored them to their Morse code lamp light signals which were interpreted by the USS Monterey, moored at a port in Norfolk, Virginia.
Going Wireless
"The most suitable part of this flashing light converter is how painless it is for sailors to operate," said Scott Lowery, a Naval Surface Warfare Center engineer. "It's very, spontaneous because it mirrors the messaging strategies operated on iPhones. You just type your directive and send it with the push of a button."
The strategy seems so intuitive, to perform that the sailors chose to play one of the most literalist jokes in the book when asked to send Lowery a statement.
"I asked them to message me something random, so they signaled the phrase 'random," told Lowery. Bearing the rather lame attempt at humor in stride, Lowery added. "Effortless, but it describes the system is functioning."
They've set up an interface that takes a text message, converts it to Morse code for use in a flashing light. The other side of it is a camera that takes the flashing light and restores it from Morse to text.
Not much distinct than what Navies have consistently done since the advent of electrical lighting systems for ship-to-ship transmission, just dumbing it down so you don't have to know Morse to use it, but it can still be used with ships that have signalmen that know Morse still.
Navy ships typically transmit with each other via radio or satellites, but every ship has a few backups just in case. One of the most common backups is the signal lamp, where sailors can send Morse code alerts to nearby ships. But signal lamps are slow and require a sailor trained in Morse code to use them, which can make them unwieldy in an emergency.
To fix the problem, the Navy is exploring a new system designed to automate the process. The method uses software to transform text to Morse code signals and vice versa, along with motors or LEDs to send those signs to a nearby ship.
Use Of Morse Code
The most popular everyday use of Morse code is by unprofessional radio operators. Although no longer a necessity for inexpert licensing in most countries, it also continues to be utilized for specialized objectives, including the designation of a navigational radio beacon and land mobile transmitters, plus some military transmission, including flashing-light semaphore transmissions between ships in some naval assistance.
Morse code is the superior digital modulation mode created to be efficiently read by humans without a computer. Making it right for sending automated digital data in voice channels, as well as making it great for emergency signaling.
Such as by way of improvised energy sources that can be readily "keyed" such as by providing and withdrawing electric power (e.g. by reversing a breaker on and off).
Conclusion
There are still many methods people can understand Morse code, and practice it, even online. In crises, it can be the only mode of communication that will reach through. Above that, there is an art to Morse code, a rhythmic, musical fluidity to the sound.
Transmitting and obtaining it can have a meditative feeling, as the person concentrates on the flow of respective characters, words, and sentences. Overall, occasionally the easiest mechanism is all that is required to complete the task.