The Joy Of CW( Continuous wave)

Not that long ago if you wanted to get on the HF bands ie 1.8mhz to 29mhz you had to pass a 12 wpm (Word per minute) Morse code test. This was mainly due to shipping sending out distress calls and you should be able to pick up the call. Today with satellite and other digital communications  Morse on ships is a thing of the pass.
Today Morse is still used today with Radio Hams around the world and if you do tune around the bands you can still hear the Morse code being sent by fellow Hams even your local repeater can only send its call sign in Morse.
Next time you open up your local repeater and it has not been used for a while you will hear it send out its ID in Morse.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse

So where did the Morse code start? It all started with Samuel Morse (1791-1872). Samuel Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts and spent most of his young life as a Painter. On the sea voyage home in 1832, Morse encountered Charles Thomas Jackson of Boston who was well schooled in electromagnetism. Witnessing various experiments with Jackson's electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph, and Painting was set aside. The original Morse telegraph, submitted with his patent application, is part of the collections of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.In time the Morse code would become the primary language of telegraphy in the world, and is still the standard for rhythmic transmission of data.

Morse Code

For More details of Samuel Morse you can read more on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morse

As you can see the Morse code Alphabet is made up with dots and dashes. to hear the Alphabet To send Morse you need what is known as a Telegraph Key Or Morse Key.  Morse keys come in all shapes and sizes. The most common and that is used by a lot of new comers is what is called the straight key.

Morse Straight Key

The good thing with Morse or as its known with Ham Radio is CW( Continuous wave) is that you do not need to use to much power. Plus you can use simple radios that you can build yourself like the Ten Tec cw kits for 80,40,30 and 20 meters running up to 5 watts. Also with Morse you take up less band width( only 10hz when cw is sent at 12 wpm)

Below is a video of a QSO with one of the kits from Ten Tec on 80 meters





Personally as long as Ham Radio will keep going so will CW. Learning Morse is not easy and you will get mind blanks learning it but once you do learn its a grate mode and you will hear Morse where ever you go.
Good luck in learning or wanting to get back on the mode.




Morse Code Teacher from Amazon.com