Morse Coders Beat SMSers

dgnicholson writes "Jay Leno did a text off between two text messengers and two Morse coders. The Morse coders handily beat the young whippersnappers with time to spare. It might be a fun phone app to make a Morse code messenger, if you kept your headset in and had an external sender, could be interesting. Perhaps a Morse code Skype device."

no surprise...

[professorhojo]

Anyone using morse code on an even occasional basis should have guessed that it would cream the text messagers! There are three simple reasons: (1) A single character of Morse can be keyed in less time than a single character can be entered on the cell phone with the "TAP" method. (2) With the bug, there is no delay created by moving the finger from button to button. (3) Most importantly, however, the text message is time-shifted, whereas morse transmission is real-time. When the sender is done, the recipient is done also.

Dupe

[Anonymous Coward]

Done before [slashdot.org]. You know this was reported on numerous other tech sites and blogs days before it was reported here. Here's a question: Why should I keep coming back to /. if the news is repeated, slow and bias? Seriously. It isn't meant as a troll but a serious question. This site needs improving. Perhaps we need an ask slashdot article up where we try to throw up some ideas in the air to improve this site because its going down the drain.

Re:Dupe

[Schemat1c]

Why should I keep coming back to /. if the news is repeated, slow and bias?

I come to slashdot not for late breaking, fresh news, but for the discussion that follows. Who really cares if a submission is a dupe? You are not forced to read it, just skip it and go on to the next one. People that feel the need to point out dupes are just as useless as the grammar/spelling nazis. If you really have nothing to add to the discussion and are just going to whine, why post at all?

Re:no surprise...

[Dachannien]

Who needs a phone? With the experiment they used, all they had to do was shout the message across the room. That technology is hundreds of millions of years old, and predates the human race.

But anyway, the experiment was designed to entertain and maybe (hopefully!) to educate. Every teenage whippersnapper is out there sending text messages to their friends, but just like they are ignorant of things like who the third U.S. president was or when World War II happened, they are also ignorant about the history of modern communications even though they have made themselves practically dependent upon it.

Re:D-d-d-dupe!

[Sycraft-fu]

And Morse Code is particularly stupid next to speech when it comes to speed. I mean why in the world would you want to use Morse Code if you have a medium reliable neough to use speech. I mean look at how much longer it takes to transmit the code as opposed to when he reads the message, and he's reading it at a normal speed. A person could read it much faster and you'd still udnerstand what was said.

Morse code isn't useful for it's speed, it's useful for it's transmission capabilities. You need only a very simple transmitter, and since it can be done in a binary fashion (just tones and silence, they were using a more advanced dual-tone key which allows for faster transmission) it can be transmitted successfully even with extremely poor signal-noise ratios. You can actually have the signal well below the noise level, and still clearly make out the message.

If you have an at all reliable means of communication, it becomes rather worthless. Even most untrained persons can type as fast as a good coder, and speech trumps both easily. Morse code remains a useful backup method of communications if all other means are not feasable, but it isn't really something anyone would choose for speed.

Re:Well, yeah.

[rsidd]

You keep saying this and people keep answering, but you don't note the answers: I guess that's what makes you an old fogey, not your age.

I'm 31, and only started using a cell phone at 29. SMS is incredibly useful because: (a) you don't disturb others in a public place, (b) you don't need to strain to hear the other person in a noisy place, (c) if your recipient is busy -- which, in some professions, is very often -- he/she can still see your message and respond later, (d) it costs almost nothing.

You see, the whole point of a cell phone is you can use it when you're not at home or in your office. But if you're not there, you're probably in a public place and some consideration for others may often be appropriate.

But no, you're the type who probably bellows your private life into your phone in the presence of a dozen strangers who'd really rather not listen. So you can't imagine why text messaging could appeal to anyone at all.

Re:What you say???

[Hast]

But you need to practice A LOT to keep up your morse skills. I learned it once and now I can't even beep out my name.

T9 OTOH scales well with ability of operator as the letters are written on the keys. If you forget how to do it just look at the keys and they will help you.

Re:Well, yeah.

[Anonymous Coward]

It also doesn't disturb the listener or take a wad of time.

I can text someone I know with a message like "Coming to the pub?" at 2pm and wait for the answer at any time.

It's much quicker than phoning someone and turning it into a conversation.

It's interesting that it's a more primitive technology than a voice call, and yet people often like to use it.

I wonder how much video messaging will get used as the least primitive of all the methods.

Re:Well, yeah.

[Wdomburg]

I'd consider it less annoying than incredibly loud ring tone (as often as not crappy music) followed by HI JOSIE! OMG DID YOU HOOK UP WITH THAT GUY ROB AT THE HORSE'S ASS PUB LAST NIGHT? OMG HE HAD THE CUTEST BUTT! BLAH BLAH BLAH!.

[Yes, Mr. Lameness Filter. I *know* that all caps is like YELLING. That's the friggin' point in this case. s/Lameness/Lame/)

Re:Bad app: Needs more than 1 button

[Phreakiture]

Well... A real morse code app would only rely on 1 button, wouldn't it?

One or two, actually. You can key Morse on a "straight key," which is one single key, or on a "Paddle" or set of "paddles" which is either one horizontal key that can be pushed left or right, or two keys arranged to behave as a single paddle. Pushing the key in one direction causes a string of properly timed dashes, pushing it the other way produces a stream of properly timed dots. This is the set up that was used by the ham operators in the video.

Still, I would have to say that I would feel completely unsatisfied by the Nokia phone app. It should rely on timing, and timing alone, to identify the spaces. It can be done in the electronic realm, even if it is not known in advance if the bit being sent is a dot or a dash. With the machine knowing whether the operator is sending a dot or a dash should make it a total cakewalk. Further, it should properly recognise the "error" character (........) and use that to undo the last word, rather than using the "C" key to undo the last letter. That would be proper use of Morse code.

73 DE KC2IDF

Re:Not a true test.

[hb253]

Your stupidity level is tremendoues but not surprising. Drop the damn cell phone (including the useless hands-free options) when you're driving, keep both hands on the steering wheel, and concentrate on driving. I have been involved in so many near misses caused by some idiot playing with his/her cell phone while driving.