In the movies, morse code comes through so fast it’s hard to tell a dot from a dash. Hoe did they keep from getting lost?
In: 1001
The pauses are of different lengths. How long a pause in between the dots and dashes depends if you are in a character (letter, digit, or other symbols), between characters, and between words. So if you learn it you will be able to tell the pauses apart
The timing is includes how long the dots and dashes are themself
* dot 1 unit
* dash 3 units
* Pause between dots and dashes within a character 1 unit.
* Pause between characters in a word 3 units.
* Pause between words 7 units
[https://morsecode.world/international/timing.html](https://morsecode.world/international/timing.html)
You can use a website like https://www.meridianoutpost.com/resources/etools/calculators/calculator-morse-code.php? and generate the sound, it is quite clear at low speed that it is different even for a novice. It is noticeable even at high speed that pauses are not identical even if you might not there the it exactly right.
Like any language, if you are not used to hearing it, it sounds like jiberish. But once you learn it, it makes sense. There is a space between the dit and da in Morse code but at speed, you need a trained ear to hear it. Once you learn code, it is more like listening to music. Some words and phrases are repeated so often that it sounds like the entire word instead of each letter.
So experienced code guys can listen at 25 or 30 words per minute as well as transmit. It just takes alot of practice. I know these kind of guys and I’m an in pure amazement of what they can do. But they use it daily.
Honestly they just practiced and got incredibly good at it. It was a valuable skill to develop but it had to be tough to learn and get good at.
Morse dit, dah, and space lengths are defined in the code’s specification. I don’t remember the exact ratio. But I send and receive morse. Spaces are clear.
There’s a bigger gap between dots and dashes in different letters. If a dot is 1 unit of time then a dash is 3. Dots and dashes in the same letter are separated by 1 unit whereas there’s a 3-unit gap between letters and a 7-unit gap between words. With practice it’s not hard to hear, even at relatively high speeds. You don’t listen for the individual dots and dashes but instead you learn the rhythm of each letter and even common short words.
My uncle was a Morse code operator in WWII. He told me he could send and receive at the same time.
Also during WWII there were Allied coders who could recognize the signature cadence of Nazi operators so they could tell when certain units had moved from one location to another.
Telegraph operators practice quite a bit so they can tell the spacing between letters.
Once you learn telegraphy you can even tell who is sending the message based on their “hand,” or how distinct their pattern is.
It’s a skill that you get better at the more your use it.
Morse isn’t binary (dot and dash), but turnary.
There are three characters: [dot] [dash] and [space].
I was a commercial radio operator. I qualified sending and receiving international morse at 20 words per minute.
Later, in the Military, I knew people who could receive at 60+ wpm. At those speeds you can hear whole words.
So, at the slower speeds, you have an element of time that is 1 unit. That is the length of a “dit”, a “dah” is 3 units long. The space between the dits and dahs of a character is 1 unit long. The space between characters is 3 units long, or the space of a dah. As you get faster, the timing should stay the same, but what happens once you get proficient, the dits get shorter, and the dahs just become slightly longer dits, say 1.5x the length of a dit. Then you make the spaces within a character as short as possible, and shorten up the spaces between characters as well, but keep them slightly longer.
A good operator has a nice rhythm, and will work with the receiving operator up to that operator’s most efficient speed. It is the rhythm that makes it all work. Think of it as like someone’s speech cadence.
Also, most modern movies just have nonsense, and you don’t hear the whole message because it would take too long.
dah ditditditdit ditdah dahkit ditditdit, ditditdahdit dahdahdah ditdahdit, ditdahdit dit ditdah dahditdit ditdahditdahditdah
It’s based on the length of the dash. Spaces between the integers of the letter are 1 dash length (time) apart. The spaces between letters are 3 dash lengths (time) separate. The spaces between words are 7 lengths apart. Last did it years ago but that’s what I recall
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