Symbol Added to Morse Code
Joe Wineburgh
The Associated Press
Morse code is entering the 21st century -- or at least the late 20th.
The 160-year-old communication system now has a new character to
denote the "@" symbol used in e-mail addresses.
In December, the International Telecommunications Union, which
oversees the entire frequency spectrum, from amateur radio to
satellites, voted to add the new character.
The new sign, which will be known as a "commat," consists of the
signals for "A" (dot-dash) and "C" (dash-dot-dash-dot), with no space
between them.
The new sign is the first in at least several decades, and possibly
much longer. Among ITU officials and Morse code aficionados, no one
could remember any other addition.
"It's a pretty big deal," said Paul Rinaldo, chief technical officer
for the American Radio Relay League, the national association for
amateur radio operators. "There certainly hasn't been any change since
before World War II."
The change will allow ham radio operators to exchange e-mails more
easily. That is because -- in an irony of the digital age -- they
often use Morse to initiate conversations over the Internet.
"People trade their e-mail addresses a lot," said Nick Yocanovich, a
Morse code enthusiast who lives in Arnold, Md.
Morse code uses two audible electrical signals -- short "dots" and
slightly longer "dashes" -- to form letters, numbers and punctuation
marks. Created in the 1830s by Samuel F.B. Morse, who invented the
telegraph, the electronic signaling system spread across the world,
and until the past few decades, it was used widely by the public,
industry and government.
"It was the beginning of the Information Age," said Gary Fowlie, Chief
of Media Relations and Public Information for the ITU, which has its
headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
When Morse died in 1872, more than 650,000 miles of telegraph wire
circled the globe. By the early 20th century, Morse messages were
being sent wirelessly, via radio.
Perhaps the most famous Morse communication is the international
distress signal S-O-S. It consists of three dots, three dashes, and
three more dots.
But with the proliferation of digital communications technologies such
as cell phones, satellites and the Internet, Morse code has lost its
pre-eminent place in global communications. "There's really no reason
to use it anymore," said Robert Colburn, research coordinator for the
History Center of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers.
Today it's largely the province of ham radio operators, including
700,000 in the United States. While not all of them communicate
regularly in Morse, almost all are familiar with it.
Some ham operators wouldn't mind more changes to spice up the
language. While Morse code has a period, a question mark, and even a
semicolon, it offers no simple way to articulate excitement.
"I was hoping they'd add a character for the exclamation point," said
Yocanovich, who is active in the International Morse Preservation
Society. "It expresses an emotion that's difficult to get across any
other way."
Tony P.
Joe_Wi...@cable.comcast.com says:
> http://www.cjonline.com/stories/021704/pag_morsecode.shtml
> The Associated Press
> Morse code is entering the 21st century -- or at least the late 20th.
> The 160-year-old communication system now has a new character to
> denote the "@" symbol used in e-mail addresses.
> In December, the International Telecommunications Union, which
> oversees the entire frequency spectrum, from amateur radio to
> satellites, voted to add the new character.
> The new sign, which will be known as a "commat," consists of the
> signals for "A" (dot-dash) and "C" (dash-dot-dash-dot), with no space
> between them.
Ahem -- that's dit-dah dah-dit-dah-dit -- another amateur radio
prosign to remember. Thing is AT is dit-dah dah, several elements
shorter than the new prosign.
I hate it when that happens.
kd1s - an extra who had to do the 20WPM code damn it.
William Warren
news:telecom...@telecom-digest.org:
>> http://www.cjonline.com/stories/021704/pag_morsecode.shtml
>> The Associated Press
I recommend that hams continue using the old style <name> AT <domain>
instead of <name> AC <domain>, so that spammers can't strip their
addresses off the airwaves and send them junk mail ads for ham radio
gear.
Just a thought.
Bill
(Remove the 'noham' portion of my return address for direct replies.)
Gary Novosielski
> Ahem -- that's dit-dah dah-dit-dah-dit -- another amateur radio
> prosign to remember.
Ahem yourself, actually @ would be di-dah-dah-di-dah-dit. There's no
pause in the middle.
> Thing is AT is dit-dah dah, several elements shorter than the new
> prosign.
Well, Yes, but di-dah-dah was already taken. It's the letter W.