Numfier 71 —5eptem6er/0ctofier 2000

‘WaIters ‘Variafilé {Fulcrum Lanfline Key

I I I I I I I IThe International Journal of Morse Telegraphy

EDITORIALANDSUBSCRIPTION OFFICES:

Morsum Magnificat,The Poplars,Wistanswick, Market Drayton.Shropshire TF9 2BA. England.Phone: +44 (0) 1630 638306FAX: +44 (0) 1630 638051

MORSUMMAGNIFICAT wasfirstpublishedas a quarterlymagazine in Holland. in 1983, by thelate Rinus Hellemons PAOBFN.It has been producedfour, then six times a year in Britain since I 986,and up to January 1999 was published and edited by Tony Smith, G4F/ll and GeoffArnold,G3GSR. It aims to provide international coverage of all aspects of Morse telegrapliy, pastpresent and future. MORSUM MAGNIFICAT is for all Morse enthusiasts, amateur or

professional, active or retired. It brings together material which would otherwise be lost toposterity, providing an invaluable source of interest, reference and record relating to the

traditions and practice of Morse.EDITOR: Zyg Nilski. G3OKD

e-mail: MorsumMagnilicGMorseMag.com MM home page — www.MorseMag.com© The Nilski Partnership MM Printed by Hertfordshire Display pic. Ware, HertsAll drawings. photographs and articles are copyright and no part of this publication may be reproduced. storedin a retrieval system or transmitted in any lorm or by any means without express permission of the publishers,The Nilski Partnership. Copyright may also be the property of contributors.

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS (six issues):UK£15.00 Europe £17.00 Rest ofthe World £20.00 (US $35 approx)

All overseas copies are despatched by Airmail' Prices in US dollars may vary slightly with currency exchange rates and commission charges

on viii?Make all chequespayable to ‘MorsumMagnificat’

“When does my subscription expire ...?”

This is printed on the top line of the address label.Also. we shall jog your memory with a renewal reminder included with that final issue.

MM Back IssuesIssues Nos. 34,35 and 38—70 available from the

Editorial offices (see top of page). Price including postage £2.75 each to UK; £2.95 toEurope; £3.25 (US $5) Rest of the World by airmail Deduct 20% if ordering 3 or more

FRONT COVERVariable fulcrum singlecurrent landline key made by

Walters ElectricalCo.. London. 19th century.Photo/Collection:WynDavies

Firstly, sincereapologies for the lateproductionof this issue. I hope readers find this issueworththe wait.

Historic QSL CardsOver the next few issues a page will

devoted to pictures of historic QSL cards. Ifany readers have old rare QSL cards of CWcontacts from the early days of amateur radio,please send copies or originals (which will bereturned) to MM.

First CW QSOSFrom an idea of Cathy Stanfill’s,

KF6TIW, MM is compiling memories andrecollections of reader’s first CW contacts.Newcomers to Morse will come to realise thatwhatever pain, nervousness or embarrassmentthey are suffering, it has all happened before.Please send your experiences, whether recentor from the distant past, to the MM editorialoffice. Accompanying photos etc. would beespecially welcome.

How the Victorianswired the WorldA numberof readershaveenquiredabout

obtaining copies of the channel 4 TVdocumentary on the 19 century telegraphs. Avideo is available from MM but it was notoriginally made for retail distribution andtherefore includes 3 breaks for a TV station toinsert advertising. More information is givenon page 26. Overseas readers interested in acopy of this video should check that theirnational TV is a 625 line, PAL colour system.

Zyg Nilski G30KD

W71 —52ptem£er/Octofier 2000

2 News8 Mathematical Analysis ofTelegraphic Signalling

16Morse in the AustralianAntarctic — Part 1

23 Index for Issues 65—7027 Showcase29 The FT-lOO on CW and

more34 MM70 Searchword36 MM Bookshelf38 Info Please40Clubs and Societies — FISTS42Your Letters46 First CW QSOs47 Readers Ads48 Solution to MM70 Searchword

WWW 2

22 G-QRP Club26 How the Victorians Wired theWorld - Video

26 MEGS26 Radio Bygones35 The QRP Component Co.

EUROCOMSupports 5 me

TheEUROCOMWorkingGroupof radiosocieties across Europe is supporting 5wpmMorse code amateur license examsas the qualificationforfull HFband access.It is understood that following theEUROCOM vote the EuropeanConference of Postal andTelecommunications Administrations(CEPT) will adopt 5-wpm as the topspeed.

The Deutscher Amateur RadioClub (DARC), at the EUROCOM WGheld in Germany, successfully proposeda modification to regulation CEPT TR61-02, to lower the Morse codeexamination speed from 12-wpm to 5—wpm. EUROCOM WG delegatessupported 5—wpm as an interim measurein recognition that the Morse coderequirement is likely to be removed at theITU World RadiocommunicationConference in 2003.

Only the Hungarian Society(MRASZ) remained in support of 12-wpmforCEPT licensing. A modificationto the CEPT regulations to implement 5wpm will result in a virtual worldwideadoption of the lower speed.(From the W5 YI Report, July 15, 2000,credited to Jim LintonVK3 PC, President,Wireless Institute ofAustralia, Victoria.)2

Dow-Key Survey - HelpWanted

LynnBurlingame, N7CFO, is writing thehistory of the Dow—Key Company for theN7CFO Keyletter. The Keyletter is apublication dedicated to the preservationof telegraph history and the collecting oftelegraph instruments. The Dow—Keycompany was started in Winnipeg in theearly 1940’s and later moved to Warren,Minnesota. Dow-Key originallymanufactured a line of speed keys, andlater made high quality relays.

Lynn requests that any readersthat knew Paul or Gordon Dow contacthim. He is also doing a census of Dow—Key bugs and needs the followinginformation: Type, finish, labelinformation, serial number, damper type,color and shape of paddles. You cansubmit this information via an automatedquestionnaire at his web site athttp://www.qsl.net/n7cfo/index.htm orcontact him at the address below.

He especially needs to locateoriginal owners ofDow-Key bugs to helpdate Dow-Keys by serial number range.You can write to Lynn at:15621 SE 26th Street, Bellevue, WA98008 USA. His telephone number is(425)641-5488,E-mail: n7cfo@ix.netcom.c0m(Lynn Burlingame)

{MM71 —5eptemfier/Oct06er 2000

Heliograph Trial aSuccess

On 15th July, John Alcorn, VKZJWAanda group of enthusiasts experimented withthe use of heliographs. They had beenwaiting for a fine Saturday to ‘helio’fromParrot’ s Nest, 8 miles (13 km) south—west of Lismore, New South Wales, toRobGallagher, VK2KGK ‘s QTH on theHogarth Range almost on the horizon(see photo). The line of sight (LOS)distance is about 45 kms (34 miles) westfrom Parrot’sNest. Heliographs were setup about 1330 hrs so that the sun wasmost favourablefor signallingw e s t w a r d s .Unfortunatelysmoke hazemeantthat Rob,V K 2 K G K ’ slocation could notactually hes e e n . U s i n gb e a r i n g sp r e v i o u s l yworked out andsome test flashingRob was soon able to seethe signals. Rob did nothave a heliograph socoordination wasachievedusing2mradios.

The quickestcontactwas madeby LeithMartin VKZEA using thehand mirror like thosesupplied with survivalkits. This provided aquick confirmation of the

aiming direction but was difficult to usefor sending actual traffic. T w o‘Helios’ were used, one a standard Army5 inch Mk. V heliograph and the other a22 inch (55cm) heliograph made by JohnAlcorn called ‘Heliomax’. There is a‘scope on the back to aid initial sightingand alignment. Both worked very well.The flash from the large mirror wasbrighter than the 5 inch Mk V but bothwere easily seen and readable. It tooksome time to check bearings align theinstruments and adjust for the movementof the sun. Signals were kept short toprove adjustments and keep Roboccupied.

The trials finished at about 1500hrs. It is planned toset up at Rob’s endand communicatein both directions.Some other fineSaturday!(JohnVKZJWA)

Alcorn,

Top — Looking westwards to the Hogarth Range on the horizon.Below - The Mk. V, survival mirror and Heliomax.

W71 —5eptemfier/Octafier2000

‘In the Beginning’

This year’s Key and Telegraph Seminarat the AntiqueAssociation conference was the mostimportant ever. It took place from4-6pmon Wednesday, September 5th at the .Thruway Marriott Hotel in Rochester,NY. Gil Schlehman who now has 125‘different’ bugs in his collection,gave another of his great presentations,showing photographs of 80 seldomseen examples. Tom French gave afascinating presentation on McElroystraight keys and code practiceoscillators. . .And the Holy Grail of keycollecting was opened for the first timein public.

In a talk entitled “In TheBeginning”, Pete Malvasi gave apresentation of the Historic Speedwell 1MuseuminMorristownNJ, thebirthplaceof the telegraph key and the “Morse”code. He presented a complete photoreviewof themuseum in it’ s current statein additionto the excitingplanswhich willsoon be implemented to make this amodern, meaningful andinteresting museum for both the generalpublic and collectors.

The presentation also included arésumé of the background and work ofAlfred Vail, illustrating his major role inthe development of the electric telegraphand the “Morse code”. The museumowns important original documents onthe electric telegraph, including thenotebook of Alfred Vail on the 1844 ‘

telegraph demonstration to Congressbetween Washington DC andBaltimore.

4

Wireless ;

Some of the best of these will beprofessionally reproduced andmade available to collectors and thepublic in printed form. They willinclude the complete original patentpapers for the original LeverCorrespondent showing illustrationsrarely seen before, in addition to earlytelegraph catalog excerpts - and theoriginalcontractbetweenMorseand Vail.

Pete has also located Vail’s lastliving direct descendant, Mr. StevenVail and will lead a brief interview withhim.

Pete was fortunate to havehis Company, ‘Nortel Networks’, helpsponsor his efforts to bring thisimportant museum into a greater andmore meaningful public view.

As part ofthe museum plans theywill alsoproduce abook similar in qualityto Fons Vanden Berghen’s “Classics ofCommunication”, for sale in mid to late2001. Finally they will actively consultthe collector community onimprovements and changes to themuseum.

This was perhaps the mostimportant presentation ever seen by thekey collecting/telegraph-historiancommunity.(Tom Perera, W1TP)

5 wpm Morse Now Law inAustralia

OnWed. 12 July theRegulation changingthe Morse requirement for all HF accessto 5 wpm became law.MM71 —5eptem66r/Oct0[5er2000

100 Years of MaritimeRadio at Cuxhaven

On 24th September 1900 Prof. F. Braunand his team achieved a distance of62 Kilometres between the Isle ofHeligoland in the German Bight andCuxhavenwiththeir ”sparktransmitters”.A group of former radio officers haveprepared a special radio event on short—wave to commemorate the centenary ofthis historic event. The national weatherservice of Germany,Deutscher Wetterdienst have supplied acallsignDDK8on 1 1638 KHz to transmitfrom the the lighthouse “Alte Liebe” atCuxhaven, the original site of Prof.Braun’s transmissions.

A special historic telegram hasbeen printed for the public. To receive a

ProfessorFerdinand Braun

copy send a donation of 20 DM/lO EU or$10 US Dollar or more for the lightship‘Elbe 1’ foundation. Send money orderson behalf of: Foerderverein Feuerschiff

Elbe lCuxhaven e.V. at the

int-r stem 11mm Eiir Name

i Eiizgisnttir Gm .\ Erratum;in is w.

:::;a Cuxhaven KCX

StadtsparkasseCuxhaven Bankzip241 500 01 accountnr. 196 014. On themoneyorder state yourname address and the

gin/w Sgeab’géeir list-'51:;

(Xi-‘4‘ {fire/(swat: mafia.

/ ., .- 4v.r‘o’mf‘i" warrant? {122* :wesr‘ét,

fr’m

)9): iii 33:». c": '3’ 12‘ . '

4'“. /> . a. , y .s . 4'1’2727165 mad/:5 raw-e! My {53.2552-

4mi“

. 7 letters “SLT” whichstands forShip’s LetterTelegram. and send tothe address below.

A competition willtake place between23rd September, 2000at 07:00 UTC and 24th

The “historic telegram”, styled in the fashion of the turn of thecentury 1900 of the “Reichspost und Telegraphenverwaltung"displays the text, Prof. F. Braun instantly sent during thetransmission tests made from the station.

6er/Octofier2005

September 2000 at19:00 UTC. Thepreliminary schedulefor the transmissions

MW71 —Septem-

are: Weather forecasts at 18 minutes pastthe hour, press at 25 minutes and trafficlists at 50 minutes past the hour. Alsolisten to the announcements madeduringthe transmissions.

In the competition listeners haveto recognize the call signs of thedifferent historic traffic listsbroadcastedby DDK8 and identify the names of theships behind the calls according to thelists of thementioned year. At50minutespast each hour traffic lists are sent fromdifferent years.

Each call from the different listscounts once as one point. The correctship’ s name countsan additional5 points.Competitors are expected to listen tothe broadcasts — on trust!

Sendlogfiles forverificationwiththe copied calls and ships names togetherwith your name and address and the self—calculated points on the first page to:Foerderverein SchiffahrtsgeschichteFeuerschiff Elbe l Cuxhaven e.V.POB 212, 27452 Cuxhaven, Germany.

The participant with maximumpoints wins a 3 day cruise on boardthe DFDS Scandinavian Seaways ferryfrom Hamburg to Harwich for 2persons in cabin. The prize cannot bepaid in cash. There are no legalremedies (‘Der Rechtsweg istausgeschlossen’). Deadline for receiptof entries is the 30th of October 2000. Ifthere are participants with equal amountof points, the winner will be selected bychance. Remember, each callsignrepresents a ship including some of themost famous.

Please remember that these areone-way transmissions so do not try tocontact DDK8 on any frequency even if

6

you get the impression that there issome kind of traffic. It only seems so!

Former radio officers and friendsof maritime radio meet on 23rdof September 2000, l 1 am atSeepavillonDonner at Cuxhaven close tothe lighthouse “ Alte Liebe “.

Also visit: httpjj1 www.seefunker.de/sfk/gerDott/.

sf100y.htm for more information.(Jiirgen Gerpott, DL8HCI & SylvesterFoecking, DH4PB)

RAC Asks IndustryCanada To Discontinue

The 12 me TestDuring the past year, RAC has consultedwith the Canadian Amateur communityin various ways including web sitesurveys, message boards, analysis of e-mail and postal correspondence, lettersto the editor of The Canadian Amateurmagazineas well as on—the-airdiscussionsand other forums.

The RAC Board of Directors hasconcluded that a majority of CanadianAmateurs are supportive of dropping the12 W.P.M. Morse test althoughmany areagainst such a change.

In a recent letter to IndustryCanada, RAC President Kenneth Oelke,VE6AFO recommended that full HFoperating privileges be granted toamateurs who have passed a 5 W.P.M.Morse test. At the same time, Mr Oelkerequested that the department considerthe augmentation of written tests tostrengthen and expand the requirements

W71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000

for operator knowledge and skills in theareas of station set up and operation, on-air procedures and operating practices,and to includemorequestions on modernmodes of communication employed byRadio Amateurs.

This proposal would giveCanadian radio amateursoperating privileges similar to thosecurrently accorded to United Statesamateurs who successfully pass a 5W.P.M Morse test.

Industry Canada is aware that areview of the international regulationsgovemingthe AmateurServices willtakeplace at thenextWorldRadioConferencecurrently scheduled for 2003. One aspectof such a review would be the testingrequirements for access to frequenciesbelow 30 MHZ. The proposed review issupported by the International AmateurRadio Union, which has consulted withits member organizations in over180 countries during the past four years.

Independent of the review of theInternational Regulations, manycountriesincludingTheUnitedKingdom,Australia, South Africa, and manyEuropeancountriesare eitherconsideringor have alreadydecided to decreasetheir Morsetesting requirements.A decision byCanada to drop the12 W.P.M.test would be inharmony with whatis happening inother parts of theworld and wouldsimplify the

MM71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000

negotiation and implementation ofreciprocal operating agreements.(RAC Bulletin)

Free Morse Tutor Program

There is a freemorse tutor program called“DMORSE” at web site:http://come.to/g0mdo.(Don Ward GQMDO)

Fly-in Hamfest

The annual Tompkins County AmateurRadio Club hamfest was held at the localairport in Ithaca, New York State. Theweather was good so Tom Perera,W1TPput some of his travelling museum intohis trusty ol’ Piper and took off for the1.5 hour flight (6—hour drive).

On landing, the club let him taxiright up into the flea market and set upworking sounder and key displays righton the wings of the aircraft. They evenprovided a spot to sleep in thehangar... There were no great telegraphkeys but everyone had a good time.(Tom Perera, W1 TP)

HELETTERWHICHOCCURSmost frequently in English is ‘e’,and it is represented in Morse by

the shortest and simplest signal, just onedot. At an early age Samuel Morse wasavidly interested in the techniquesof printing. A book edited by his son isinformative (Morse, 1914). A letterdatedJanuary 17th 1849 and reproduced thereincludes “ . in my boyhood it was mydelight, during my vacations, to seekmy pastime in the operations of theprinting—ofiice. I solicited of (sic) myfather to take the corrected proofs ofhisGeography to the printing-ofi‘ice, andthere, through the dayfor weeks, I mademyselfpractically acquainted with all theoperations of the printer. At 9years ofage I compileda small volumeofstories,called it the ‘Youth ’5 Friend,’ and thenset it up, locked the matter in itsform, prepared the paper and worked itofif; going through the entire process tillit was readyfor the binder. ”

In a work on the history ofprintingGaskell (1972) is this passage, “Fountswere usually supplied in quantitiesapproximately proportional to thefrequency ofuse ofthe various sorts, thefount schemes or ‘bills of letter’ beingworked out by the founders. In theeighteenth century a ‘full bill’ was basedon a quantity of 3,000 lower-case lettersm, and included 7,000 a, 12,000e, 400 x,800 A, and so on

In a standard English work onprinting there are data related to

8

MathematicalAnalyses ofTelegraphicSignalling

by E. Geoffrey WalshGM4FH

(E-mail: Geoffrey. Walsh@ed.ac.uk)

the numbers of different letters in aprinter’s case. An Americanabridgement of the work contains thesamefigures (Stower 1817). In anotebookof Samuel Morse is a page showing thevalues he took for the different letters ofthe alphabet (Morse 1914). The data areshownin Table 1 . The valuesare identicalfor 25 ofthe 26 letters ofthe alphabet. For

Grammar Morse Grammar Morsea 8500 8000 n 8000 8000b 1600 1600 o 8000 8000c 3000 3000 p 1700 1700d 4400 4400 q 500 500e 12000 12000 r 6200 6200l 2500 2500 s 8000 8000g 1700 1700 t 9000 9000h 6400 6400 u 3400 3400I 8000 8000 v 1200 1200] 400 400 w 2000 2000k 800 800 x 400 400

'

l 4000 4000 y 2000 2000m 3000 3000 2 200 200

Table 1 The figures for Roman lower case pica in a: printers’ lay are reproducedin the ‘grammar’ column.

(Pica is the 12 point type, 6 lines to the inch the largestnormally used in the text of books). SamuelMorse‘sfigures are in the 'Morse’ column.

W71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000

Presses

Probability

15

—Cl— Probability4.” Morse'sdata

+24?”

Mmrse‘s dataProbability

e : 777-1«verifi‘rfii—w—r—fir-rivr7QXlKVBPVGFVuH‘JCLDRP-SNIOAlE

Figure 1 - Comparison of a modern estimate of letterfrequency with the values used by S. Morse.

— F 0

—Cr—' Dresses—O— ProbabilityfurDix/l. Kr

i y.l /

/

(Vt Ar”B ZQXJFVBPYGFWMUCLDRHSNIOAIE

Figure 2 - Number ofpresses used in Morse, for thealphabet this merely ranges from one to four, ascompared with the wide variation of letter probability.

—O—— Probability+ Time/Letter

ZQXJKVBPYGFWMUCLDRMSNIOATE

Figure 3 - Time per letter needed for Morse comparedwith letter probability.

W71 —September/October 2000

1m

5638

Probability

20

Time/Letter

‘a’ there is a difference ofone numeral, perhaps amistake.

Letter frequency isone of the most basicprinciples of breakingsecret codes, it has beenused for hundreds of years;the history is wellsummarised by Singh(1999). The frequencies ofletters in newspapers andnovels has been estimatedby Beker andPiper(1982);their samplewasof 100,362alphabetic characters. InFigure 1 Morse’s valueshave been plotted againstthe frequencies given byBeker & Piper. Bearing inmind that the twoinvestigations wereundertaken well over100 years apart thecorrespondence isremarkable.I have used the figures ofBeker & Piper to preparetwo further graphs. InFigure 2 is plotted theprobability of a letteroccurring and the numberof presses needed insending the correspondingMorse signal. Thecommonest letters need thefewestpresses but whilsttheprobability ranges from 0.1for ‘z’ to 12.7 for ‘e’, adifference of 127 fold, thenumberof presses variesbyonly four fold. In Figure 3,

.9

Durations of Single Brief Taps with Right Index Finger12

In one investigation 45students were asked to tap a

'IO

8Number

in

A

'\l

metal plate as briefly aspossible with the rightforefinger. The resultsare shown in figure4. It willbe seen thatthe valuesrangeoverabouta fourfold range,the commonest duration for

2

Time (ms)

Figure 4 - Mean time for single taps, data from medicalstudents. There is wide variation. Because muscles taketime to contract and relax a single tap inevitablymust last acertain significantlength of time. Muscle properties limit thespeeds with which Morse characterscan be sent.

the probability is plotted against the timeneeded to send a letter. Again, whilst theprobability varies 127 times, the timevaries only from 1 unit for ‘e’ to 13units for ‘j’ & q’.

TheMorse code is ergonomicallysensible although the comparativelycommon letter ‘h’ requires four presses

'

whilst ‘m’ which is less common requiresonly two presses. The letter ‘0’ is alsofrequently found but with 3 dashes andtwo spaces takes the time of l I dot units,whilst the less common letter ‘g’, withtwo dashes and a dot, takes only 9dot units.

VariabilityofhumanmuscularactionsIn the course of physiological

studies I have mademany measurementsof the ability of people to makemovements with some precision. Thereis always considerable variation inperformance from person to personand usually also much variation whenthe same person attempts the sametrial successively.

10

o

[—I—t—lj’H—n‘

o 30 40 so so IO so so 10 0 a single tap being about45 ms. Bearing these factsin mind it was anticipatedthat a study ofMorse operatorswouldalsoshown considerablevariability, and this might

be interesting to document.

Analysis of Morse SignallingText book accounts of the Morse

code show the dot and the spaceswithin characters of the same length, oneunit of time, the dashes three times aslong and this is also the spacing betweenletters. As to the time between words,five, six or seven units are stated to beappropriate according to which authorityis consulted. It seemed likely howeverthat human operators do not stick rigidlyto these recommendations andan estimate has now been made of someperformances.

The basis of this report is a studyof signals sentby 22 radio amateurs,someofwhom have usedmore than one type ofkey. I haveasked them to sendthe famouspassage from Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1)starting ‘To be or not to be: that is thequestion...’. For the analysis theyhave been asked to omit sendingpunctuation marks, and should a mistakebe made not to stop to correct it. They

ill/[5M71 — Septemfier/Octoher 2000

have been asked to send at speeds atwhich they have been comfortable.

1. Recording techniqueA laptop computer has been used

as a digital oscilloscope to recordthe Morse signals, a pod being insertedinto the parallel port. The podwas powered by the computer andprovided 8 optically isolateddigital channels; only one being neededfor this analysis. The pod was a ‘VIPs30’manufactured by thefirm ‘TTi’ , (ThurlbyThandar Instruments Ltd). The software

+éV7

7'V

0022 “rpA

1R4 ,. .Input Output

Figure 5 - Circuit of decoder used for analysingtapesofMorse signals. The operational amplifiersare the two halves ofa single 8pin CMOS chip, theCA3240. The resistance divider, R1 & H2, holdsthe inverting input of one and the non-invertinginput of the other amplifierata nominal voltage of4.5 V; the resistance chain Fla, R4 & R5 holdsother inputs slightlyhigher orlower. With no signalthe output of both amplifiers is positive. When asignal ofeitherpolarity reaches the input the outputof one or the other amplifier goes negative andcan actas a sinkfor the biasing voltage at the input

V

of the pod; no smoothing was necessary.W71 —September/October 2000

1

1

used was from Kyle Data Services Ltd(VLS.EXEvl.OO)and not that suppliedwith the pod. Local radio amateurs whowere CW operators were encouraged tobring their own keys which wereconnected to the system;the inputvoltagedropped from about 5 to 0 volts when thekey was operated.2. Decoder

A number of analyses were alsomade of side tones of Morse signalson tapes sent me by operators not livinglocally. For this study a decoder wasnecessary; the circuit is shown in Figure5. The system was monitored by anoscilloscope-like waveform display onthe computer screen to confirm that itwas working correctly. The input levelwas adjusted appropriatelyby the volumecontrol of the tape recorder.

3. AnalysisThe software for running the pod

’ ' 1* ‘Trl1

l

l

,l

Spaces Dots & Dashes‘

1

l

l

i

l

“14 43,2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6Duration (5)

Figure 6 - Histogram ofresults ofa skilled operatorusing a straight key. The horizontal scalerepresentsthe duration, the numbers relate to thefraction of a second. The vertical scale indicatesthe number ofinstances that the correspondinginterval hasbeen foundby the computer. Thedotsand dashes, are to the right of the zero, thespaces to the left

11

provided data files of the recordings, theduration was one minute, the samplingrate was 4 ms. These files were analysedwith a ‘Matlab’ programme. There ;resulted histograms showing thedurations that the key was down or up.The plotting was such that marks (keydown) gave positive values, spaces (keyup) were plotted as negative values.

The analysis took about 45seconds, a Fourier transform of theinput was also displayed graphically, thevalues were plotted as a power spectrum.

4. Straight keysA. HighSkills, Well Practiced. The resultsobtained from a tape sent by a practisedhighly skilled operator, G4SSH, MrRoyClayton, (until recently Chief MorseExaminer) are shown in Figure 6. Theshorter positive values will be the dots,the longer the dashes. The twopopulations are clearly distinct andwithin each group the scatter ofvaluesis comparatively small. Theshorter negative values represent thespaces within letters, they too show little

i

‘

Jilliiiiliilii

S 10.iLilii.ws,umt....a._-t

15

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 7. Power spectrum of the signalsshown in Figure 6.

scatter. With the next cluster of values,around200 ms, the spaces betweenletters,there is more variability. The highervalues at about 400 ms are the spacesbetween words, there is here fairlywide variation.

The spectral analysis shows thatthere is very little energy above about 10Hz. Morse is very economical as regardsband-width (Fig. 7). Another tape wasanalysed, that of a Morse enthusiast. Thegeneral features are similar to those

i described above and the spectralanalysis showsmostof the energy at quitelow frequencies (Figs 8 & 9).

l‘

l

i

l

WW,

‘

no: s 22. Dashes

PB

0

..,..,,,.‘hliJ"-ILL”‘u.i” |.|.,,..,

70.6 (Jul 0.}: O 0.2 0.4

’71

i

i

i

JOfiDuration (5)

Figure 8 — Histogram ofresults fromanotherskilledoperator using a straight key. The main featuresare similar to those of Figure 6.

Frequency (H?)

Figure 9 Power spectrum corresponding to thesignals used for plotting Figure 8.

12 W71 —5eptem5er/Octofier 2000

B. High Skills but Rusty. Another hamhad served as a signaller behind enemylines in the North African campaign buthad not sent Morse for 10 years. Theresults are shown in Figure 10. The dotsand short spaces have goodconsistency, these spaces being slightlyshorter than the dots. The dashes arealso rather well grouped but theseparation of the longer spaces,those between letters and those betweenwords is unclear. The spectral analysisagain showsmost of the energy below 10Hz (Figure 11)

5. ElectronicKeyerThe results with an ETM3 keyer

are shown in Figure 12. As expectedthe variation of the dots and dashes andthe short spaces in minimal. It is likelythat the real spread of values will be evenless than portrayed as some will fall inone bin and some the next. The spacesbetween letters and between words areless clearly demarcated. Thespectral analysis is much the same aswith the straight keys (Fig 13).

t

l

i

Spilt’uL ‘i Dots fr Dashes

43.6 .a

l

lo.. .tlutil01. 7 ,.J.liu.iiil.0.4 -U’ 0.2 0,4 0.6

llm'uLiml (a)

Figure 10 - Histogram froma skilled operator usinga straight Morse key for the first time aftera longinterval.

W71 —Septemfier/Octoher 2000

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 1 1 - Power spectrum corresponding tothe signals used forplotting Figure 10.

so

,

4e;2

l

,

lx

i

41.6 -(L4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 8.6Duration (5)

Figure 12 — Histogram of the results withan electronic key.

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 13 - Power spectrum corresponding tothe signals used for plotting Figure 12.

13

Another graph represents thepassage sent using a ‘Ten-Tec’electronic key. The histogram is similarto the previous one (Fig 14).

6. ‘Bug’ keysResults with an unidentified bug

key showed as expected dots which arefairly consistent. However the dashes arevariable and the spaces do not fall intothree separate categories. Furthermorethere is asignificant showing of veryshort values, evidently contact bounce(Fig 15). The findings with a Vibroplexkey weresimilar(Figure 16) as were thosewith another bug key. To obtainmore information about this type ofkeying, oscilloscope traces wereobtained. An example of a very dirtysignal is shown in Figure 17.

DiscussionMorse can be easily readable even

though it departs strikingly fromthe nominally correct values. Thisrobustness stems fromMorse’s choice ofwide separation in the lengths of dots anddashes and of the spaces. Had the ratiosbeen closer a degree of confusion wouldhave been expected because of theinevitable variation in the timing ofmovements. If Morse has once beenlearnt the memory is likely to last alifetime although if it is not used thespeed of both sending and receiving maybe expected to fall. From theexamples examined it was easy to decidefromthe histogramswhetherastraight, anelectronic, or a bug key had been used.

The greatest departures from thenominally correct values wereshown with bug keys. However it is

14

DuruLion (a)

Figure 14 - Histogram ofanotherrecordingfrom an electronic key.

40

SDOCES Dots & Dashesi

1

i ,

E

i

e i,.,,....,...m.id‘

flu,MW

3

70.? 0.4 “0.2 0 0,2 0.4 0.6Duration (5)

Figure 15 - Histogram of signalsfrom a bug key.

he ' ’ '

i

..l

1 Sanus Dots & Dashes ~1

1

an

e i, Jams. .. ..1 Midi...“ii-ill figs 1—o.6 70,4 41.2 e 0.2 0.: 0.6

Duration (5)

Figure 16 - Histogram of signals froma Vibroplexkey

M71 — Septemfier/Octofier 2000

Wl’lmmt‘vlfiil, ,

t———t0 1%

Time (ms)

”.1;Ti 51’:ll.

Figure 17 Oscilloscope recording of contact bounces of a bug key.

possible that the ones used werenot properly set; there are a number ofadjustment screws. Someenthusiasts areespecially keen on using these keys, thedistinctivemusicalnote thatcharacterisesthe sound doubtless arises from thecontacts bouncing.

The sending and receiving ofMorse can be quite pleasurable, thereis rhythm, andmeaning over and beyondthe text of the message. In MM number70 Thomas Smith wrote:- “There isnothing like hand keying to give ‘style’and ‘fist’ character to Morse signals.”An extra long dash or space may conveyemphasis or even emotion.Many, perhaps most, amateur operatorsdo not normally send punctuationmarks; a long space at the end of asentence may be as significant assending the characters for a full stop. Inspeaking we pause at the end of a phraseor sentence, operators may be using asimilar way of signalling. Telegraphistshave their own ‘signatures’, peculiaritiesby which they can be recognised. Someaspects of Morse are akin to music andEll/[9%71 — Septemfier/Octofier 2000

l

poetry; straight keys, basically simplelevers, allow for the most expressive useof Morse’s famous code.

ReferencesBeker H. & Piper F. (1982) ‘Cipher Systems’.London:Northwood Books.Gaskell P. (1972) ‘A New Introduction toBibliography’ Oxford: Clarendon Press.Morse E. L. (1914) ‘Samuel F. B. Morse. Hisletters and Journals. Edited and supplemented byhis son, Edward Lind Morse.’BostonzHoughton MifflinStower C. (1817) ‘The Printer’s Manual: anabridgement of Stower’s grammar.’Boston2Crocker. Reprinted (1981) NewYorszarlandSingh S. (1999) ‘The Code Book’. LondonzForthEstate.

AcknowlegementsThe Matlab programme was kindly written for meby Dr. W. 1. Sellers. Many radio amateurs somelocal, some far away, have been most helpful.I particularly am indebted to members of MEGS(Morse Enthusiasts Group Scotland), to theDundee Amateur Radio Club and to members ofthe Cheltenham ARA.Dr Dorothy Collin, University of WesternAustralia, and G. Forbes of Napier University,Edinburgh, have helped me with questions related

MM15'

to the history of printing.

Morse in the Australian AntarcticPart 1 - ANARE Preparations

byAllan Moore, VK1AL

Allan Moore, who wrote about his own experiences in the Antarctic in MM36, haswritten a series of articles titled, and describing in detail, Fifty Years ofAustralianRadio Communications in the Antarctic, 1947-1997, to celebrate the Jubilee YearoftheAustralian NationalAntarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE). Thistaskwasundertaken with the ongoing and generous support of former expeditioners,including (to name but a few) DougTwigg,Alex Brown,Eamonn Gavaghan, FrankJohnson, and particularly some ofthepioneer operators and technicians ofthefirststations. MM is grateful to Allan, and the editor of the ANARE Club journal, Aurora,for their permission to print summaries and/or selected extracts from the seriesdescribing the work of the expedition radio teams, and their use of Morse in theAustralian Antarctic.

Recruiting Radio StaffBackground: There had been earlier(private or semi—private) Australianexpeditions to the Antarctic, the mostfamous, perhaps, being Sir DouglasMawson’s Australasian AntarcticExpedition of 1911—1914 which 1established the first Antarctic radiostations in history (see Polar Radio —1912 Style, MM33, p.26). In 1947, the

‘

Australian administrationfinallydecidedto establish an official foothold in theAntarctic, with government radio stationson Heard Island and Macquarie Island,and to seek out a permanent location onthe Antarctic continent as well.

ANARE recruited competent andqualified technicians and operatorshighlyexperienced in the repair, tuning and useof communications equipment forMorsecode operation, who would work for a16

year or more at the new island stations.Technical staff had to be properlycertificated or have equivalentexperience. Operating staff needed aminimum Morse sending and receivingspeed of 22 wpm and an ability to touch~type at reasonable speeds. Thesequalifications remained in force formanyyears but changed in certain respects dueto the advent of satellitecommunications.In 1947, the needs of the recently endedWW2 had, in part, created large ranks oftrained radio personnel as potentialexpeditioners

The use of Morse was vital toANARE for nearly 40 years. It was usedby ships conveying expeditioners to andfrom the Antarctic, including RoyalAustralian Navy and ANARE charteredvessels. The Royal Australian Air Force(RAAF) used it for contact between its

WL‘M71 -5eptem.6er/October2000

aircraft and ground stations when onAntarcticduty,and in groundnavigationaltransmitting beacons. ANARE stationsused Morse in a major way to contactAustralian coastal radio stations or radioestablishments, and foreign Antarcticstations many times every day. EvenmainlandNewZealand and South Africaformedpartof theMorsecommunicationsnetwork from ANARE’s earliest days.

Procurement of RadioEquipment forthe Expeditions

Coincidental with recruitment ofthe teams, officers of ANARE werenegotiating with the RAAF, which hadbeenchosen to assist the expeditions withthe procurement of a huge range ofsupplies, including radio equipment. TheRAAF continued to play this role forseveral years to come. As WW2 was notlong over, it was able to provide a rangeofwar surplus radio equipment, andotherequipment on a long-term loan basis.

ANARE made other purchasesfrom their own funds as necessary. TheRAAF also provided aircraft and AirForce personnel as part of this pioneerproject andparticipated for some years inhelping to map and explore importantareas of the Antarctic.

It wasdecided to provide identicalequipment at both island stations. Thetwo main transmitters for each stationweremanufactured by STCAustralia andTasma (Thom and Smith). Designed andmanufactured (by other companies aswell) for the RAAF from the 19405 tomeet an urgent need formediumpoweredtransmitters, these units were knownunder a variety of names and prefixes.The one adopted byANAREwas amodel

M71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000

called AT20, which was equipped forCW transmission only.

Later, thesegreatworkhorseswereupgraded to allow voice transmission(AM)andwere known as modelAT20M.They operated up to 500 watts outputpower, between 2 and 20 MHz, and thisfrequencyrangeprovedgenerallysuitablefor ANARE operations.

To complement the maintransmitters, Australian designed andproduced AR7 receivers from KingsleyRadio were also provided in pairs to thestations. (the AR7,too, had otherprefixes,such as KCRll). These receivers weredesigned principally for the RAAF in the19405, and in many respects resembledthe US made National HROmodel. Theywere built in large numbers during thewar and covered 140 kHz to 25 MHz,receiving voice as well as CW. Later, inthe early 1960s, these old receivers werestill considered useful and were pressedinto a different type of service.

EmergencyEquipmentThe emergency transmitters and

receivers chosen were ATS/ARS units,originally manufactured for use inAustralian-made Beaufort bombers, andalso installed in some Hudson bombers.Designed and made by A.W.A.(AmalgamatedWireless (Australasia)) inthe 19405, they could be separated andused independently of each other ifrequired.

They served as CW emergencyunits at the ANARE stations in the eventof failure of the main radio equipment.Their frequency range was similar to thatof the main equipment, and power was inthe order of 50 watts - which could be

17

:TJHCTK;Ygs‘rsNSMil‘FER . c

\? E}’?6§

ATS/AR8 emergency radio equipment chosen for the ANAHE island stations.

effective under reasonable conditions.They could also operate on voice (AM) ifrequired.

After the war, the ATS/AR8 unitswere popular with amateur radioenthusiasts.Theycould sit on an ‘average’office desk,were ruggedlybuilt andfairlyheavy. Their power source was agenemotor, type G, driven from a 28 voltbattery bank, or an AC power pack, typeS.

For field or ship-to—shore use, USArmy Signal Corps Radio (SCR) WW2walkie-talkies,designatedSCR-300,wereinitially provided for the island stations.They operated on FM at about 45 MHzwith a range up to about 7 miles. Theywere generally satisfactory for ‘line-of—sight’ use only.18

Pre-embarkation Training andRefresher Courses

Mostof thepioneerradiomemberswere sent to the RAAFSchool ofRadio atBallarat, Victoria, as part of theirindoctrinationand training,and theRAAFcontinuedto providethis usefulassistanceuntil about 1953. This was to familiariseoperators with AT20, AR7 and AT5/AR8 equipment, and to refresh them onMorse code operation.

To some of the group, theequipment was identical to that used andrepaired by them during the war, andthey instantly felt at homewith it. Othershad the opportunity to see new types ofequipment for the first time, and to learnto tune and operate them. It was also agreat opportunity to learn of and discuss

fit/EM71 — Septemfier/Octofier 2000

technical developments in radio since thewar’ 5 end. Forthose whohad not toucheda Morse key for some time, plenty ofsending and receiving practice wasprovided.Othertimewas spentin learningor brushing up on frequency predictiontechniques.

Profile of a Radio Supervisor -Technician

Radio supervisors and technicianscame from a variety of professionalcommunications backgrounds. Somewere trained by the Air Force, Army orNavy, others were from the merchantnavy or were civilian aircraft operators.Many came from the DCA (the formerDepartment ofCivil Aviation), and somefrom the Postmaster General’sDepartment (PMG) now Telstra.

A good radio supervisor ortechnician needed to have a great deal ofexperience, patience, aptitude,innovation,and be preparedto workunderdifficult conditions. At the stations theywere required to keep vital equipmentoperational at all times, find and fixelusive faults - sometimes betweenimportant or urgent radio schedules - andto manufacture unavailable componentsout of almost nothing. Apart from a hightechnical ability, early supervisors wereequallycompetentradiooperatorsas well.

A supervisor gathered his crewand ventured into blizzard or high windconditions, if necessary, to repair andraise fallen aerial wires. There is littlemore difficult than trying to fix antennaproblems at 70 feet above the ground insub-zero temperatures, with high windsgusting.

Another difficult project to

W71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000

undertake is the relocation of radioequipment from one radio hut to anotherwithout dislocating normal radioschedules. This has been successfullydone at stations on many occasions, oftenin the dead of winter. The completion ofa successful transfer is a source of muchpride for all our radio technical staff.

As the years passed andnew typesof equipment and technology wereintroduced, supervisors had to keepabreast of these changes. Reorderingcomponents, and making responsiblerecommendations for the nextexpedition’s communications needs,required much careful thought andplanning — for without thiscommunications could suffer badly, longafter an “old” group had departed thestation.

Multi—skilled, our radiosupervisors had an aptitude to workoutside their main area of responsibility.They often helped to maintain or repairdiesel-electricgenerators,or theelectricalworkings of a multitude of specialisedstationvehicles. In early expeditions theywere de facto electricians and wired upbuildingsand equipmentto diesel-electricpower supplies.Theyassistedships’ radioofficers on chartered vessels whoencountered the occasional difficult—to—trace technicalfault, andwereparticularlygood at repairing radar installations,foreign or Australian manufactured.

Like other station members, theyalso mixed concrete, built huts, countedpenguins,developedfilms, cookedmeals,washed dishes and were involved innumerouschoresaroundthe station.Oftenthe super—techor supervisor was themostpopular man in the station, especially

19

when scientific colleagues needed a“loan" of components for their petprojects, or perhaps some help with adifficult circuit — and this assistance wasalways forthcoming.

Profile of a Morse Code OperatorRadioOfficers camefrom similar

backgrounds to those of the technicalstaff. PMGtelegraphists, however, wereprincipally trained on land—line soundersystems, but once their ears becameaccustomed to the high-pitched note ofCWtransmissions theycould favourablycompete with radio—trained operators.

What makes a good Morseoperator? Correct training and practicalexperience are obviously importantattributes. Patience, consideration,concentration and a good attitudecloselyfollow.

How do operators approach theirwork andwhat do they think aboutwhilethey are operating? Basic Morsecommunications terminals can bereducedto atransmitter, receiver,apowersource, and antennas, at each end of adesignated circuit. But the equipmentstill requires human hands and minds tomake it function.

Perhaps the following light—hearted attempt to explain may providean insight: Armed with Morse keys andheadphones, and their minds filled withsymbols representing the 26 letters ofthe English alphabet, the 10 unitaryfigures, a variety of symbols forpunctuation, and numerous othersymbols necessary to complete theprotocol, the operators face each otherwith a distance of sometimes three orfour thousand miles between them.

20

They do not always know eachother, nor their counterpart’s strengthsand weaknesses as operators. They willactually be engaged in a form ofcompetitive mind-game using the firstprimitive computers — their brains — astheir primary weapons. They both wishto perform at their best but, unlike inother contests, neither participant wishesto win, simply to achieve a draw.

During the schedule there will bea total communion ofminds, for a draw isthe optimum result. It means that amessage has been successfully disposedof at one end, and correctly received atthe other. Many distractions will impedeprogress — What is the state of theionosphere? Will it reflect? Have theychosen the right frequencies? Is there alot of traffic on hand? Are signals fadingaway, at times to nothing? Is there static,or interference from other stations? Isone operator sending too fast (or too“rough”) for the prevailing conditions?

Did one (or both) have a “hard”night the previous evening, combinedperhapswith a poor sleep? Is oneoperatormore experienced than the other?Did thereceiving operator interrupt or “break"the transmitting operator too often whenhe could not understand a symbol or aword, thus causing the receiver atemporary loss of face? These are someof the mind-game elements involved inworking a long—distance Morse circuit,day in, day out.

However, with skill andexperience, these distractions orfrustrations fade into the background.Each operator, while sending andreceiving, conjures up his own privatethoughts as thejumble ofMorse symbols

W71 —5eptemfier/Oct06er 2000

leaves the first mind in an orderly andconstant fashion, activates the key with awrist, and transmits the signal.

Atthe distantterminal the operatorhears and mentally visualises the letters,but does not type them down until theyhave formed a word, and the gradualintelligence of themessage begins to takeshape. While this staccato of dits anddahs is in progress thoughts of home, ofloved ones, of dinner and, if lucky,perhaps a cold Foster’s or Swan lagerafter the schedule, come to mind. Andwith these private thoughts intruding theoperators subconsciously transmit andcopy their messages - frequentlysurprisingthemselvesafterwardsthattheydid not remember everything they hadsent or received.

Having successfully transmittedmessageseachway,withno further trafficonhand,findingoutwhowonthefootball,

andbidding eachother a friendly farewellwith a promise to meet at the nextschedule, these operators have indeedshown what makes a good operator - andboth look quietly forward to their nextmental tussle. Themost important part ofradio operations, however, is the essentialrequirement that all traffic be handledquickly, dispassionately, and with theutmost confidentiality.

Operators’ RequirementsThe operators needed single-case

typewriters (capital lettersonly) to recordreceived messages, earphone sets,microphones- andtheall importantMorsekeys for transmission of messages. Thebasic key was a conventional hand key,many of which were manufactured bythe Clipsal Company of Adelaide or thePMG workshops.

Mechanical semi (or fully)

Photo:

Allan

Moore

Clipsalkey, commonly usedbyANAREoperators.

9%71 —.Septem6er/Oct06er2000 2]

automatic keys, known as “bugs” or“jiggers”, were procured from the formerPostMasterGeneral’sDepartment (PMG)and other sources, but most operatorstook their own. One type of semi-automatic key (the Simplex Auto)preferredbymanyoperatorswas inventedby a Melbourne PMG telegraphist, LeoG. Cohen, in the early 1920’s, and manyare still in use in the amateur radio servicetoday in much their original form.

A competentoperator cantransmitapproximately 25 words per minute on aconventional key for relatively short

Photo:

Allan

Moore

periods of time. The same operator usinga semi— or fullyautomatickey cantransmitunder good conditions at speeds ofbetween 30 and 40 words per minute. At30 words per minute this speed can besustained for several hours on end. Insimple terms two goodoperators, sendingand receiving at speeds of 25 wpm each,mentally manufacture or decipher acombination of over 21,000 dots anddashesin one hour. Higherspeedsproducemore symbols.

MMTo be continued...

Simplex Auto semi-automatic key, or “jigger”, also used by ANAREoperators.

G-QRP Club

498 Manchesterlarge see. or two lFtCs

The G-QRP Club promotes and encourageson the amateur bands with activity periods, awards and trophies. Facilitiesinclude a quarterly magazine, Morse training tapes, kits, traders‘ discountsand a QSL bureau. Novices and SWLs welcome.Enquiries to Rev. George Dobbs GSRJV, St Aidan’s Vicarage,

Road, Rochdale,

low-power operating

Lancs 0L11 3HE. Send a

22 W71 — Septemfier/Octofier 2000

Morsum MagmficatIndex to Issues Nos 65 - 70September 1999 to July/

August 2000

TITLE AUTHOR/ORIGIN g E‘

ACTIVITIES/EVENTS BOOKS ETC.Friedrichshafen Ham Radio 2000 NewsHA-QRP Contest 1999MM 64 SearchwordMM Competition - WinnersWWSA CW Contest Rules

AMATEUR RADIO

100th Anniversary of USA RadioLons-Le-Saunier Teleg AwardCW BandsDARC - New Amateur BandplanDARC’s Opposition to MorseEA QRP CW Contest 2000EUCW CW 080 Party 1999First CW 080Intrusion in Amateur CW BandsMy First CW 0802m Record for CW Meteor ScatterNewsRare DX Stations to Listen ForRSGB14th Anniversary Weekend NewsRSGB SeeksViews on Sub-bandsNewsSad Times - Good MemoriesSweden ReducesMorse SpeedSwitzerland to Abolish CW TestTroublesome CallsignsWorld’s First YL Radio Amateur?

ARMY

Fullerphone Mk IV ManualMorse From Ballons 1862Sierra Leone Paras Use Morse

AVIATIONAviation MorseDah-Dit-DitLocating ZeppelinsThe Art of ‘Zogging‘The Art of ‘Zogging’

7012News 65 3Tony Smith 65 28MM 6527News 654

News 66 6News 703Letters 65 44News 652News 672News 68 7News 66 2Letters 69 40News 683Cathy Stanfill 70 33

66 7News 672

68 767 4

Letters 6541News 656News 65 5Letters 68 43Letters 6544

News 69 6Letters 69 41News 709

Letters 6541H Beardshaw 6720Letters 65 40Letters 65 44Letters 66 40

W71 —Septernfier/Octofier 2000

l

AP - The Story of NewsArt 8. Skill of -Telegraphy 3rd Ed. NewsExhibition Book Now in English News

Tony Smith 68 3469 866 8

Modern Morse Code in Rehabilitation&EducationGeoffrey Walsh 70 22

New Book on Trans-Australian Telegraph

Telegraph Collectors Reference CD-2000

TV Film on the History of the Telegraph

Two New Morse Books

CLUBS & ORGANISATIONSGACW - Morse in SpanishSpanish Radio Union 50th AnnisyNewsThe JARL A1 ClubAGCW-DLCW News BulletinsAGCW-DLGroup GermanyCyfeillionMarconi - Carnovan

COMPETITIONMM Key Competition

COMPUTERS & INTERNETMorse Input StandardIs the Internet the Enemy?More Morse with ComputersMorse for E-mail and Web InfoNew Web PagesUse Morse on the Internet

EARLY WIRELESSSAQ Grimeton RadioSwedish Alexanderson Lives

INDEX

Issues 65 - 70

News 68 5

News 7011

News 704News 65 7

News 684654

MM 65 45News 68 6MM 69 43News 655

Letters 66 42

Jim Lynds 679Dr Gary Bold 689DrGary Bold 6715Letters 68 44Letters 67 46Letters 69 41

Web Page 676News 674

MM 6523

23

INFO PLEASEA Bug JiggerAM 10F/4067 - Practice BoardAustralian PO key 5881/123/7British coast station keyBritish PO key - pre-GPO?French 'Dyna' key - mid 19203German key - Leipziginfo Please! MM65 p.36Italian lightweight keyJapanese PO KeyKey bought in UK - home made?Key with unusual fulcrumKey - 3 terminals. it 300989 Letters 7043Key-The International Electric Co R. McMullen 6537Key unknown origin J. Le Galudec6739Key, Br, origin, 1910-30. Wooden Nigel Collier 6934Late 190 key & sounder, W. Gurlt Joe Jacobs 68 32Mk 2 Dummy key, Croggan & Co. Malc. Brass 6833

R. McMullen 6536Jack Barker 6935Wyn Davies 6738Geo. Robbins 6739Malc. Brass 66 37Wyn Davies 6637J. Le Galudec6636Letters 6642E. Chiaravalli 7041J.Le Galudec 66 36T. Rogozinsk7041

MM 67 info Please - p. 38 (Top) Letters 6838MM66 p.42 - Info on Key Letters 6940Possibly a key of British make J. Le Galudec6536RAF Leuchars Key MM69, p37 Letters 7046Royal Navy Key J. Le Galudec7040Signal torch Shimwell Alexander Wyn Davies 6738Two folding keys Wyn Davies 6935Practice set in wood box Wyn Davies 7040Swedish key. High SpeedUS Navykey, CAQ26026,clampWooden base Swiss key Raymond Lee69 34

KEY MAKERSKeys of A.W. Gamage Tony Smith 6529

KEYS 8: INSTRUMENTS

JackBarker 6537‘

Raymond Lee68331

Dave Pennes 6832 ‘

“Wehrmacht" miniature key Showcase 6825 3British sounder-relay - c 1880 Showcase 67 24Bulgarian Postal Key Showcase 6924Electric Morse Apparat’ toy key Showcase 7024Fleron official scout signaller Showcase 6824Inker/key Ducretet & Lejeune Showcase 7025Italian Strap Key Showcase 7024Key-Kume Electronic Corp.,JapanShowcase 6925Little Chrome bug - Les Logan Showcase 6925Nickel plated Vibroplex #4 - 1917Showcase 7025Partrick & Carter camelback 1860 Showcase 68 25Key of wood by Petr Doudera Showcase 6824Rare 190 British railway bell Showcase 6725Rare land key-Swedish TelegraphShowcase 6724Strap key - "Queen & Co. Phila. Showcase 6924Vibroplex Junior. A true ‘Mule’! Showcase 67 25A CheeseboardKey Tom Smith 70 35AM. Sounders. Relaying Letters 6542

24

Admiralty Pattern - W691 Key Wyn Davies 65FCCamelback Key Showcase 65 22Dow of Winnipeg Bug Key Showcase 66 25Gamages KOB Showcase 66 25GPO Diff. Galvanometer 1A Jack Barker 68FCHi- Mound HSK-903 Side Key H. Kimura 67FCHi-Mound HK-1999 Millenium KeyM. Uotome 70FCHistory of a Key Letters 69 37Key & Sounnder-AB. Lyman Co Dave Pennes 66FCKeys - Great Northern Teleg. Co. Letters 67 46Milliken-HicksRepeater Dave Pennes 69FCMorse Clickers Info Wanted Letters 68 42Parentage of the Ericsson Keys Jan Moller 6712QRP Component Co. - New Key News 685RAF Type ‘B‘ Showcase 66 24Same Keys Letters 65 40Key-BREVETTO ARGEA-ROMA Showcase 6521The Dow Key Showcase 6521The French DYNA Key Letters 6741US. Navy Key - Boston Showcase 6522Vibroplex Bug? Letters 67 44V’plex Upright or Vertical-1916-198howcase 66 24Wehrmacht Miniature Key Letters 69 38Who Named the Telegraph "Key"? Jan Moller66 11

LEARNING MORSECode Quick Letters 70 45Code Quick Method Letters 70 45Free Morse Program News 65 6Hints on Your First CW 080 G.Stancey 68 18illustrated Morse Letters 67 42Learning High Speed Morse Letters 68 41New Version of Morse Tutor News 69 6The Candler System W. Pierpont 67 30The Catlin Method of Sending L. Burlingame 66 19The 'Code Quick‘ Method Letters 69 42With Learners in Mind Gary Bold 70 28

LICENCINGAustralian Vote for 5 wpm News 69 7Canada Approves Basic + 5wpm News 66 7Crunch Time for Morse - WRC-2003 News 70 9DARC Not Opposing Morse News 66 2US Amateur Restructuring News 68 2lsreal New Licence Class News 69 8New Approach to Morse Test News 66 4Petition to Reduce Code Allocation News 69 4Petition to Retain 20wpm for US News 69 5Proposed Licensing in N, Zealand News 69 3RAC to drop 12wpm News 68 8USA - Code Requirement to 5 wpm News 68 2World Comments on Amateur MorseNews 66 9

W71 — Septemfier/Octofier 2000

LIGHT SIGNALLINGMorse Signalling Torch Letters 69 39Morse Signalling Torch Letters 70 43Signal torch by Shimwell Alexander Letters 68 40

LINE TELEGRAPHYComparison of USA 6 UK Letters 68 43 .Morsecodians at Alice 2000 News 70 6Needle Telegraph? Letters 67 45Old Time Radio Lea Hime 66 46 .

Telegram from Son News 70 1O1

Telegraphs - Franco-German War Ted Jones 66 29Testing Open Wire Telegraph lines L.E.Trump 69 26The First Women Telegrapher R. L.Thomas 68 26The Indo - European Telegraph Rev. Leak68 27VolunteersForTelegraphRe-enact. Letters 69 38World‘s Youngest Telegrapher? Lea Hime 66 22

MARITIME (SEE ALSO ‘NAVY’)“Wireless Giant of the Pacific” again News 70 8CD of Coast Station Farewells News 69 8Farewell Portishead Morse Event D. Barlow 70 13KPH Wireless of the Pacific Dick Dillman 66 26KPH/KFS Last Messages News 65 8KPH-Wireless Giant Letters 67 41Maritime Memories A. Spaans 69 10Portishead Gone News 70 2Portishead Radio Final Farewell News 69 2Radio on End of Maritime Morse News 65 8Award for Coast Station Event News 68 6Special German Maritime News 66 8Maritime Morse in N.America-end Dick Dillman 65 9The NE School of Wireless Teleg.Letters 67 43The NESchool of Wireless Teleg. Letters 67 44The NE School of Wireless Teleg.Letters 68 39The NE School of Wireless Teleg.Tony Smith 66 29The Portishead Trophy News 70 7Early German Wireless M. Hengemuehle 67 14Wartime Radio at Port Lockory Alan Carroll 70 17

MISCELLANEOUSMorse Reminiscences Wanted News 68 6Equipment Fraud Convicted News 67 3

MORSE CODEAmerican Morse Alive and Well News 69 7US Morse Code vs. ContinentalBluffing Through the CodeErgonomic lambic KeyingKeyboard Charactersfor MorseMcElroy CW Copying Record

Don deNeui 69 31D. K.deNeuf 67 40Letters 65 42Letters 69 36Tony Ricicki 70 26

W71 —5epterr16er/Octafier 2000

Clickers and Telegraph Codes Letters 69 40Morse Code “I Love You" News 67 5Mysterious Morse - and More Dr Gary Bold 69 12Numeric Telegraph Codes Letters 70 45

E. G. Walsh 67 26John Barrows 6518

Receiving Morse Using TasteSlow SpeedWireSOS - Save Our Souls News 65 5Testing Telegraphists’ Skills Letters 68 41Troublesome Morse Letters 69 39

MORSE EPHEMERA”Auto-Dot" Key - Identification Letters 70 44lndo- European Teleg Co. - Adv. MM 68801933 Go-Devil Bug Key adv. MM 6580LC. Smith & Bros. Typewriter MM 66|BCAdv. for the Auto-Dot - 1907 MM 6980Comparison 01 US & Continental D. deNeuf 69 32Exhibit at a Titanic Exhibition MM 70|BCJob Opportunity MM 69 16QSL card - Portishead Radio MM 708CRadio Room of Irish Ferry MM 6680The ”Snapper Key" & "Sounder’ MM 6980The Spirit of Telegraphy Chris Gill 68chWall‘s Supersonic Flasher. 19503 Jack Barker 67BCE-mail. Licence Plate. MM 65chWebb's training equipment. Fred Knight 6780

MORSE FOR THE DISABLEDNew Morse 2000 Bibliography News 67 5

MORSUM MAGNIFICATDutch Morsum Magniticat Meet News 68 6

MUSEUMSHMS Collingwood Museum Letters 66 41Royal Navy Museum of Radar Letters 65 43

NAVY (SEE ALSO ‘MARITIME’)Learning Morse in the US Navy Hans Brakob 69 22US. Navy Code Letters 66 39Wartime Radio at Port Lockroy Alan Carroll 65 13

NO CODE CONTROVERSYDARC - Code, No-Code Debate Letters 66 38

OBITUARIESTribute - Late Harry Matthews JTM Stevenson 66 20Aubrey Keel -Silent Key Richard L. Thomas 65 34

POST OFFICEA Ham on the Ice 1972/73GPO Equipment

N Copeland 66 14Letters 68 43

25'

RAILWAYS '1 MM 66 Searchward Tony Smith 67 29”Oil Again, On Again” James Burt 69 18 l MM 67 Searchword Tony Smith 68 19A Little Bit of History - GWR Letters 66 39 MM 68 Searchword Tony Smith 69 17Order of Railroad Telegraphers News 66 6 MM 69 Searchword Tony Smith 70 42

REVIEWS, EQUIPMENT STAMPSWatson W-CRVOT & W-CRIOK Zyg Nilski 65 as Telegraph Stamps Don deNeuf 6815

l

SEARCHWORD i SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHYMM 65 Searchword Tony Smith 66 43 l The Jubilee of the Atlantic Cable David Prout 68 23

MorsumMagnificatHOW THE VICTORIANS WIRED THE WORLD

VIDEOMorsum Magnificat has acquired a small quantity of this 50 minute made-for-TV documentary film on the

history of the electric telegraph. See MM70 P.4 for a review. It was first broadcaston Channel 4 in the UKand digital satellite on 7‘h July 2000. it is only available in TV station layout i.e., on the tape in three

separate parts with a 3 minute gap between each part. This was originally to allow for advertising breaks.

Please note that it is to the TV standard used in the UK and many, but not all, countries, is 625line PAL The format of the tape is VHS.

Price: £17.00 — UK £17.50 - Europe £18.75 — WorldContact: Morsum Magnificat

RadioBygones

THE MORSE the vintage wireless magazineENTHUSIASTS GROUP Annual subscription (6 issues):

SCOTLAND UK - £18.50; Europe - £19.50; Restof the World £23.75.Or send £3.25 for a sample copy

For further details, contactWimborne Publishing Limited

MEGS was formed in 1991 to encourage theuse of Morse, especially bynewcomers. Regular skeds are held using ourcallsign ‘GMQRSE’ each Monday andThursday from 7 until 9 pm. (local time)around 3.530MHZ. Among other services, weoffer Morse practice tapes free ofcharge, otherthan postage. This offer is now also availableto MM readers. Membership is openworldwide, the ‘Seotland‘ in our title simplyshows place of origin. Lifetime membership£1.00.Details from Secretary: G.M. AllanGM4HYF, 22 Tynwald Avenue,Rutherglen, Glasgow G73 4RN, Scotland.

, l—lwww.radiobygones.com l VISA 1:—

Fladio Bygones, Allen HouseEast Borough. WimborneDorset BH21 tPF, England

Phone: +44 (0) 1202 881749Fax: +44 (0) 01202 841692

E—mail: radiobygones@wimborne.co_.yk

26 W71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000

Photo/Collection:

Dave

Pennes

Readers are invited to contribute any additional intormationand stories, no matter how minor, to the

Editor, Morsum Magnificat. There have been thousands of designs of keys & telegraphy instuments.

lnfonnation will be lost unless it is compiled in one place and shared with other readers.

An ‘Automorse’- themost complicatedmechanical bugever made, evenmore than Model-X.Automorse isa threelever fully/semia u t o m a t i cmechanical bug thatmade automaticdashes in fullyautomatic mode. Itcould not be used infullyautomaticmodeon US wire circuitssince AmericanMorseusedlongand

shortdashes. The lack ofa circuitclosing switch marks this as a European (or dedicatedwireless) devicesince USwire circuits were closedcircuitsystems. ‘Automorse’was madeby in Adelaide by the HitchcockBrothers in the 1920’s (Dave Pennes)

British Post Office FielayType ‘A’ - 19th century

57W71 —5eptemfier/October 2000 27

SWW - mammal

Photo/Collection:

Heisuke

Kimura,

JA1DVV

Part of the collection ofHeisuke Kimura, JA1DVV. Upper left — Hi-moundsounder, the Japanesename is “Teishim-sho-gata". Upper right— Western Electric swinging arm resonatorandsounderwith black stone base. Lower left - Western Electric 153 sounder, AT&T 30 ohm. Lowermiddle— Ericsson originalOllerKey, c1860. Lower right - J. H. Bunnell Type22 C.O.A. Relay, 150 ohm.

28 My!71 — Septemfier/Octofier 2000

was recently offered a Yaesu FT-100for review which I accepted withalacrity, even though several reviews

havealreadybeenwrittenabout it. Henry,G3GIQ, wrote a comprehensive onewhich you can download from http://www.hamradio.co.uk/misc/FTlOOReview.html

He tried to cover everything, andhis review was very positive. But hedidn’t cover CW operation in any detail,so I grabbed the chance to check it outmyself. (Since writing this, the reviewhas been deleted, but Ralph, ZL4AG,found Henry at www.qsl.net/g3giq/ andHenry promptly sent the review as anattachment. If you still want to read it,Henry will undoubtedly send it to youalso. There’s also a review in QST, June1999.)

The FT-lOO is an astonishingradio. It covers HF, VHF and UHF, withAM, FM, SSB, CW, and digital modes.It’s also small - about as big as a moderncar radio, with a detachable front panelfor mobile installation. It requires 13.6volts and 22 Amps to output 100 Wattson HF. It is, of course, microprocessorcontrolled, and there are around 100parameters you can adjust and change.Whichbringsme to ponderthe interestingstate of evolution we have reached inmodern transceiver design.

MenuAccessInthe l970’s,rigs began to shrink.

Until then, the sheer bulk of the

MM71 —5eptem5er/Oct05er 2000

The Fl'-100 on CW...and more

by Dr Gary Bold ZL1AN

1 technology you had to cram inside meantthat front panels were large enough tohave separate controls for everything youcould do. Any experienced Ham could sitbefore a “standar ”HF rig and figure outhow to drive it in a fewminutes. But nowthe internals have shrunk by an order ofmagnitude in volume, whilemicroprocessor control has increased theavailable adjustments by the same factor.There’s no front-panel room for all ofthem, so manufacturers place the onesthey think you’ll need most there, andgive you “menu access” to the rest.

I knownobodywhocanrememberall of the menu options on whicheversuch radio they have, and the FT—100 willbe no exception. Fortunately, once the

‘

radio is set up the way we like it, most of. us can remember the half dozen or so thatwe’ll want to use in general operation.

On the front panel, the FT-lOOincludes a concentric AF/RFgain control(RF gain alternately acts as a squelch),tuning knob, tuning step-size button,mode button, band up/down button, and

2.9

clarifier/menu selector/coarse tune knob- a sensible selection.

Keyer SpeedsI spent 30 minutes reading the

manual to become familiar with themenusystem and find out how to drive it onCW. I found, as expected, that there wasa built—in iambic keyer, butwas delightedto discover optional automatic character-spacing included, and enabled as default!I wish everybody would use this feature!The manual didn’t indicate whether typeA orB timingis implemented,so I pluggedin my paddle (standard stereo miniaturesocket) to find out. Delight again! Myfingers told me it was type B, the same asthe Accukeyer they learned on, so I wasimmediately ready to go.

Keyer speed is set from menunumber 52 (there are 66 menus) and ischanged by rotating the tuning knob. Thefrequency display then

correct using my calibrated CMOSSuperkeyer.

Fig.1 shows the result, withnumbersdisplayedby the FT—100 (bottomaxis) plotted against the resulting speed.The curve is non—linear,and runs between5 and 58 wpm at the extreme settings.Strange. Why didn’t Yaesu include extracode to display directly in wpm?However, a minor point unless you’resending for a code practice session.Mostof us just dial up a speed that “soundsright”ormatchesthat of theotheroperatorwithout worrying exactly what it is.Having to call up a menu to change speedis somewhat cumbersome as I do thisconstantly to match speeds to whoeverI’m talking to. But I could live with it.

DSP Peaking FilterYou can store one message to

send automatically, but this is only 50

indicates a numberbetween 1 and 100. Thenumbers clearly didn’tcorrespondto the speedcoming out, so Iproduced a calibrationcurvebyrunningaleadfrom the extensionspeaker jack into thecomputer soundcard,andfiringup“CwGet”,Sergei’sMorsereadingprogram (see MM67,p.15. Ed.) The latestversion indicatesreceived speed in wpm 00“ {5 "

ear WI

Speed,

wpm

t;

J—

c

o

I

I

r;c I

20

FT~1CO morse speed Cal‘brflllon, measured mth CwGetI ,... —v ‘ 'v v“ #. \I

..I_V

3,.I

_’ L70 80 746 so so 90 —'FT100 speed dlal readan

30 too

on the bottom panel,and I had alreadydetermined this to be

30

Fig. 1 - Numbers-displayedby the FT— 100 (bottomaxis) plotted against the resulting speed.

SMSM71 — Septemfier/Octofier 2000

characters long - not enough for a 3 by 3CQ. This is loaded, as usual, from thekeyer. I loaded “CQ CQ CQ de ZLlANZLlAN ZLlAN” and found that bypushing the appropriate button 3 times, a3 by 3 CQ came out - as in the CMOSSuperkeyer - but if you do this, it’snecessary to send “"K manually at theend. You can, of course, use an externalkeyer if you want more.

There are two optional IF CWfilters available (450 Hz and 250 Hzbandpass), not installed on the reviewedradio. But it does implement a DSP“peaking filter” which acts on the audiosignal. Optional 60Hz, 120Hz, or 240Hzpassbands are available, and I set up120Hz. This is fast to switch in and out -convenient for tuning the band using thewide SSB response, then switching in theDSP filter to pick out a weak signal.

Discovering all this took another30 minutes, and I was not yet on the air.Menu number 21 sets the power as apercentage of the total available inwhatever mode you’re using, and thespecs say that this can be varied between1 and 100 Watts on HF CW. I dialed up

25 watts, and called CQ on the bottomend of 80 metres.

Keying and ReceivingA long rag—chew with John,

ZLlBYZ followed. John said the QSKkeying sounded fine, and my fingersfound the keyer actedjust like the CMOSSuperkeyer and K9 units they are used to.The FT- 1 00 receiver soundedgreat, evenwith the built-in top—panel mountedspeaker. The DSP peaking filter madeJohn’s signal armchair copy, which wassometimes useful because he was usinghis Ten—Tee 1280 (kitset) rig, whichradiates just 3 Watts. Then I had a chatwith Ron, ZLlAJP in Whangarei, whomade similar comments.

I measured the receiver passbandresponses using Horne’s excellent“Gram” sound-card spectral analysissoftware, using white RF noise, on theaudio signal taken from the extensionspeaker output. Fig. 2 shows the LSB/SSB passband, which begins to roll off atabout 2.7 kHz. Fig 3 shows the CW“peaking filter” response, set nominallyto a centre frequency of 800Hz. This had

’30

-45

~50I] B 16 24

‘w

32 4!] 48 Hzll lJlJ

Fig.2 — LSB/SSB passband

W71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000 .51

a measured response maximum at 820Hz, and was 60 dB down at 520 Hz and1330 Hz. You can see why it’s called a“peaking’” filter (easier to implement inDSP units) since it doesn’t have the flat—topped passband characteristic of IFfilters.

After a few days and several DXCW QSOs, I became quite at home withthis remarkable radio. Its performanceon CW was impressive. It’s not Cheap,but if you need a single, compact radio toreplace two separate HF rigs, and a VHF/UHF rig, in a caravan or for portableoperation,considerit carefully.My thanksto Richard at Com—Centrefor making thereviewunit available. If somebodywantsto give me one, I’ ll accept it with alacrity.

Portable at the BeachThe FT-100 had to go back before

I embarked on my yearly holiday,operating portable, and my little TS-SOsseemed large in comparison when Ipacked it in the Holden and took off forthe Coromandel peninsula. This year, westayed in a beach cottage with mains

power,and I decidedto use awireantennainstead of the Trident mobile whip I’veused in the past.

Such antennas don’t need to becomplicated. I just strung 20 metres ofinsulated wire from a window to aconvenient tree, and end-fed it with theMFJ 945D portable transmatch. It tunedup OK, but RF got into the keyer withpowers above 10 watts, so I attached acounterpoise wire to the chassis on thetransmatch, and ran this down to, andalong the ground for about the samelength. The effect was marked. Now thetuner gave me a 1:1 SWR on all HFbands from 80 metres to 10 metres -including theWARC bands — and the RFfeedbackvanished.Maybethe old—timersknew something when they strung outtheir counterpoises.

As always, I was struck by thedramatic difference in noise level, awayfrom the electrical hash of the city. On20 metres, beautiful CW from aroundthe world gently sifted through my headin a gentle white-noise background andeffortlessly decoded itself. Even the

regular click

-3u ,-

'1.._,l 1I l_-"

frequency of 800 Hz.

lI

1 m t5' "' "I ." "I/ Ill 6

u 4 a 12 15

Fig.3 - CW“peaking filter” response,set nominally to a centre

of the electricfence wasvanquishedby the

i T S — 5 0 ’ sexcellentn o i s eblanker. AndthoughIkeepthe T550throttledback to 50watts (I mustget a power

2|] 24 HZHUU

32 M71 —.Septem5er/Oct06er2000

supply that doesn’t trip out above this),and though my humble wire was only 3metres high, surrounded by trees, I madeDX CW contacts every night, with thereliable K9 keyer. A highlight wasmeeting my old friend Chris, G4BUE, on40 metres.

It helps, of course when you’retransmitting from acountry that everyonewants to talk to, and people on the otherside of the earth are thoughtfully runningkilowatts into 5 element beams. But asurprising number of559 DXCWsignalsstill come from dipoles, GSRVsormulti-band verticals.

LookingForwardWhat can I say at the dawn of this

newmillennium?Firstly,I’dliketo attackthe apathy and gloom that some of usexpress. I still hear people muttering that“there’s no challenge left in HamRadio”.Most of them have high-end computers.They’re wrong. More new HFcommunication modes have beenpioneered by Hams in the last 2 yearsthan in the preceding 2 decades. Allinvolve extending the powerful synergybetween computers and transceivers, andmost require only a PC with soundcard,using free software available on the web.

If you want to experience thecuttingedgeat the startof this millennium,this is where it’s at. I have used most ofthese modes, and have been privileged toparticipate in the first QSOs ever madewith some. It’s exciting to see the signalprocessing algorithms that until recentlyhave been used only by communicationsprofessionals appearing in free, user-friendly Ham software - and in CWsoftware too.

W71 —5eptemfier/Octofier 2000

Having said that, the Lorelei callof CW always seduces me back to thebottom of the bands, and it always will.This, themost ancient andprimitive of allour modes, still gives me the greatestpleasure. No computer is needed. Noother mode requires such a complex andskilful hand manipulation of a codingdevice, nor a human mind as a post—detectionprocessorto interpretthecodingof others. It’s this human-machinecollaboration, where a sentient beingbecomes part of the communicationsystem, that makes CW unique andimmensely satisfying.

Secondly, there’s considerableevidence that interest in Morse is rising.Prices of vintage keys and telegraphyequipment are increasing, and newapplications are being explored. Forexample, check out the web page of the“Morse2000Outreach”, at theUniversityof Wisconsin, at http://www.uwec.edu/academic/hss—or/Morse2000/resource.html

This group co—ordinatesinvestigations into applying Morsecommunication for the deeply disabled.How do you use a computer if you canonlymoveone finger?You can useMorse.A standards committee has even beenformedto establishagreedMorse symbolsforall computerkeyboardkeysandmousebuttons, to be adopted by manufacturers(and there are many) of interfaces andcommunication softwarefor thedisabled.Fascinating stuff.

(Adapted and edited for MM from GaryBold’ s The Morseman column in Break—In,journal ofNZART, January/February2000.) MM

.53

MM70 Searchwordby Tony Smith

(Find the answers to this puzzle in MM70. Solution p.48)

Across

1 Cathy, aboard theQueen Mary (8)

5 Typewriter looks asthough it came fromhere (3)

7 Authorof“M0rseCode:Breaking the Barrier”(6)

10 Method recommendedby 7 (4)

12 Loud visitors to W6RO(8)

l4 Relatively expensivepaddle atFriedrichshafen (7)

16 Director of TelegraphTV documentary (6)

3 Tom Perera’s Telegraph Collector’s CD‘ was launched here (6)17 A previous editor of MM (6)l

18 ThOUgmeI lad at Fort Worth (4) 4 They did a superb publicity job for ROA19 Type ofcontacts in Carpenter relay (4, 6)

’ (5)

20 1909 meaning of “92” (7) 1 6 Key handling method (8)

21 Australiancommemorativepublicholiday 8 Savoury sounding unusual key base (11)(5’ 3) 9 DARC’s CW Manual even has special

Down 1 characters for this language! (9)

1 Open—wirefines are the only way to go [0 11 Week in the Northern Territory whenmake this lower (3) Alice telegraphs Canberra (8)

2 Europe’s most international ‘ 13 Delaney semi—automatic key (4, 3)l

radio rally (15) l 15 1939 McElroy challenger (8)

34 W71 —5eptemfier/Octafier 2000

R A Kent. Hand key, kit

Hand key, assembledKTl Professional keyTwin paddle, kitTwin paddle, assembledSingle paddle, kit

Single paddle, assembledThe Dual KeyMorse trainerPractice oscillatorPractice oscillator kitEK4 keyerEK4/ M memory keyerEK4 memory upgrade kitTouch twin keyer kitElectronic keyer kit

Bencher keys and paddles. BY1 Twin, black base

BY2 Twin, chrome baseST1 Single, black baseST2 Single, chrome baseRJ | Pump, black baseRJ2 Pump, chrome base

Keys and accessories

Tel: +44 (0)1428 661501

The CW CentreUK Price List

Swedish Pump Key£43.50 Pedersen DK100056.50

_

65.50 Logikey'kkeygskogl ey eyer56.50 ,

69.50 Superkeyer 3,kit

485° Samson keyers59-50 ETMQC x3, with paddles99-90 ETM9COGX3, no paddles44-95 ETM SQ Twin paddles18.507.50 Schurr keys and paddles47,50 “Profi” twin paddle7350 “Portable” twin paddle2950 ‘ Twin mechanism, no base2790 , ditto for ETM keyers

15.00 !Hand key, mahogany base

i DK1WEi "Minky" miniature pump

279-95 l “‘Twinky" miniature twin89.95

,

79.95‘

MFJ94.95 ‘ MFJ418 Morse trainer69.95 1 Soft case for 41874.95

Spares stocked, Repairs undertaken.Please ‘phonefor details

Postage & Packing extra. Payment welcome in cash, cheque (UK £], Visa or Mastercard

G3TUXThe QRP Component CompanyPO Box 88 Haslemere GU27 2RF, England

Fax: +44 (0)1428 661794e-mail: g3tux@aol.com

£89.95

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MM71 —Septemfier/Octofier 2000 335’

Specialist flocks on Teflzgmpfiy 6y MaifOrrfer

ALL WORLD ORDERS ARE SHIPPEDBY AIR MAIL UNLESS OTHERWISESTATED

NEW - Telegraph Collectors Reference CD-2000 by Tom Perera

An absolute mine of information for collectors compiled from variety of sourcesincluding important web pages (See MM70, p11 for details). Users need a PCrunning Explorer or Netscape web browsers to access the CD. The greatadvantage of using the CD is that the browser software is used off—line, whichmeans that no phone connection is needed. As a result access is much faster andthe CD includes the whole of ‘Perera’s Telegraph Collectors Guide’ and hiscyber»museum but with high resolution pictures, many in colour. A draft of thecumulative index of MM is included. £9.00 UK - £9.20 EU - £9.70 World

. Classics of Communication (English Edition) by Fons Vanden Berghen.l. '61?

Mm‘rmcgymn A book of exceptional quality produced originally to accompany a Brussels: . Exhibition sponsored by a Brussels bank. Illustrated with 240 high quality

photographs, 140 in colour, including many rare telegraph instruments. The textincludes the history and technology of electricity through to wireless and earlytelevision, but a large section of the book is devoted to telegraphy. Withoutsponsorship, a book of this size and quality could not have been economicallypossible for such a limited readership — 107 pages, 24.5cms x 29.Scms (9.7in xl 1.6in). £16.95 UK - £18.25 EU - £21.00 World (US $36)*

Watchers of the Waves by Brian Faulkner

oldieWaves A history of maritime coast stations in Britain, from Marconi’s early experiments“WW-W and through the days of spark, valve, and automatic Wfl" and R/T to the computer—

controlled systems of the 1990s. Profusely illustrated with 24 drawings and over 80photographs -128 pages, 21 cms x 29.5 cms (8.25 in x 11.6 in).

£15.00 UK - £15.50 EU - £17.10WorldUK EU WORLD

Perera's Telegraph Collector’s Guide by Tom Perera £7.60 £8.10 £8.90An essential pocket-size reference guide for collector and historian

The Story of the Key by Louise Ramsey Moreau £4.25 £4.50 £5.00The Best 01 MM Vol. 1. 77 photos/Illustrations, 60 pages.

Wake of the Wirelessman by B. J. Clemons £14.20 £14.70 £17.00A true story of an early maritime wireless operator

“Q41" and Beyond by Shirley Lawson £6.20 £7.20 £7.90The story of a Wren (Womens Royal Naval Service) telegraphist

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

36 W71 -5eptem£er/Octofier 2000

UK EU WORLD

McElroy: World’s Champion Telegrapher by Tom French £15.30 £16.00 £18.00The life and times of T. R. McElroy. telegraphist & key maker

RailroadTelegrapher’s Handbook by Tom French £8.00 £8.30 £9.00Old-time telegraphy on the American railroads

Bunnell’s Last Catalogue with notes by Tom French £5.50 £5.70 £6.00Illustrates and describes the company’s many telegraph instruments

History, Theory & Practice of the ElectricTelegraph £13.95 £14.95 17.50(facsimile reprint of 1866 edition) by George B. Prescott

The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (MM63) £8.30 £8.40 £9.30The story of the early telegraph pioneers

Keys, Keys, Keys by Dave Ingram £8.50 £8.90 £9.80A visual celebration of the Morse key

Marconi‘s Battle for Radio (children’s book) by Birch & Corfield £5.85 £6.00 £6.80Illustrated story book. A present for the grandchildren

Radiotelegraph & Radiotelephone codes -Prowords & Abbreviations by John Alcorn £12.85 £13.70 £15.50

A Historyof the GPO Mark 1, 2 and 3Morse Telegraph Keys by Dennis Gcacher(MM65) £6.00 £6.50 £7.20

Marconi’s Catalogue of Receiving& Measuring Instruments (circa 1912) £4.70 £5.25 £6.60A high quality facsimile of the 1912 book with photos, circuits and specsThe PhillipsCode ~ a facsimile reprint by Ken Miller(MM61) £10.00 £10.20 £10.50

findersforMorswnWirifi'catTidy up your bookshelf

with these attractive bindersCovered in a hard-wearing red grained finish, with themagazine title blocked in gold on the spine, each binderholds twelve issues of the magazine, retained by strongwires, but easily removable should the need arise.

Price including postage & packing:£7.90 ............. UK£8.50.. ....Europe£9.80 .............Rest of the World (Air Mail)

" Prices in US dollars may vary slightly withcurrency exchange rates and commission chargesCredit card orders welcome by phone: +44 (0) 1630 638306or Fox on +44 (0) I630 638051

Please make cheques payable to ‘Morsum Magnificat’SEND YOUR ORDER TO:

Morsum Magnificat. The Poplars, Wistanswick, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 ZBA. EnglandPayment welcome by Mastercardor Visa (quote your card number and expiry date)

or by cheque/bank drafi drawn on a London bank

W71 —5eptem5er/Oct05er 2000 .57

Masleifaid —I VISA_—

Collection:

Ermanno

Chiaravalli,

I2BFF

.

Info11am!Readers are invited to contribute any additional

'

intermationandvstories,‘no matter howminor, to theEditor, Morsum Magnificat. There have been thousands of designs of keys & telegraphy instuments.

Informationwill be lost unless it is compiled in one place and shared with other readers.

Photo/Collection:

Graham

Winbolt

This triple key assembly was found by Dr Graham Winbolt, Chairman of the Communications andElectronics Museum Trust. It turned up amongsta miscellaneous collection of equipment but so far noone has been able to identify it. It might possibly have had some Naval connection, though that is byno means positive. Does any reader recognise it. (contributed by Colin Latham)

Photo:

Ted

Jones.

GSEUE

Is this key of Russianorigin — info please

38 W71 —5eptember/Octofier 2000

Photo/Collection:

Jean

Le

Galudec

This key belongs to William P. Jones. It is marked "12 oz TYPE51”but is different to the oneowned by Vic Reynolds (MM36 P. 45) it carries the same pre-war RAF ‘ tores ref: 10F/20366. Vic recalled them in use from 1939- 1945. Type515 (differences again) were later usedin the Comet 2 (MM34 P. 13) and Vulcan bombers (MM37 P. 44) . A NA TO variant is alsodiscussedin MM38 P45. Can any readersoffer informationon this early version of the Type 51key?

Key and buzzerof unknown origin - information wanted please

9%71 —5eptember/October 2000 33

Photo/Collection:

Wi

am

P.

Jones

cat/momAfig-Is?w

Founded in September 1987, thebrainchildofGeo Longden, G3ZQS, FISTShassome 5000 members, including two separateand autonomous overseas Chapters, in Australia/New Zealand and the USA. The club has three

‘

simple aims:’ To furtherthe use of CW on the amateur bands' To encourage newcomers to the CW mode' To engender friendship within the membership.Membership is open to all amateur CW operatorsand listeners, irrespective of speed and ability.

AwardsCentury AwardThe Century Award is available to licensedmembers only. The requirement is 100 pointsgained from contacts made with FISTS membersworldwide. One point is gained for workingmembers in one’s own continent; two points for 1

working members outside one’s own continent;and three points for contacts with the club‘sown station, GXOIPX or any other FISTSstation.

FISTS CW Club(The International Morse Preservation Society)

AEEK"wRequires 500 Century—holdercontacts (Platinum250 plus 250 contacts)Millennium AwardRequires ten contacts with Diamond AwardHolders between lst January and 3 1st December2000(All of the above are available to transmittingmembers only and a small fee is charged foreach award issued)ElmerAwardA member may nominate another operator toreceive this award in recognition of help andencouragement given to the nominating memberas a newcomerto CW operating. Non—membersmay be nominated.

Activities/FacilitiesStraight Key Week

In Septembereach yea