Aha!  Ham radio moment Roger!   
      
    RN> That's a nice story, Mike.   
      
   ML> -... -.-   
      
    RN> ?   
    RN>     
    RN> Regards,   
    RN>     
    RN> Roger   
      
   Morse Code OM ..  two letters in International Morse, chuckle.  Dash and three   
   dots is the letter "B" and Dash-Dot-Dash is the letter "K".  The two letters   
   in CW for "BK" which means 'Break'.  When you hear it in CW it means the   
   person who sent it has rapidly switched to the 'receive' mode and is waiting   
   for a response in 'break-in' mode from whomever.  Chortle, you did respond   
   priceless friend Roger.  But you didn't send the Morse Code for the 'question   
   mark' which is..   
      
     ..--..   
      
   And by the way SOS does *NOT* mean 'Save Our Ship' or 'Save Our Souls' in case   
   you might want to have more fun here.  It is for the sound only of the dots   
   and dashes.  The original 'Distress Call' in Morse Code was "CQD" which meant   
   'Call Quarters Distress'.  I'm pretty sure you understand "CQ", which they   
   added the "D" for distress.  However before and at the time the Titanic went   
   down the drink, the shipboard telegraph operator on the boats slept in the   
   radio room.  And the 'Distress' frequency was 500Khz (Old 500Kc).  You sent   
   the CQD on it to get help and everyone was supposed to monitor that frequency   
   for calling purposes.  But look at the Morse Code for CQD:   
      
     -.-. --.- -..   as opposed to just CQ as -.-. --.- alone   
      
   How was a sleeping telegraph op ever to wake up to a needed "CQD" then?    
   So,they chose "SOS' for a *VERY* simple reason.  The Morse Code 'SOS' is:   
      
     ... --- ...   
      
   Just the sound was the best way that a sleeping operator in the room would   
   wake up to a desparate call for help.  Now comes the rest of the story.   
      
   The real reason we lost so many lives from the sinking of the Titanic was when   
   the telegraph operator was instructed by the ship Captain to send out the   
   distress call, he dit *NOT* send 'SOS' at all!  He sent "CQD" only at first!    
   The vessel that actually did eventually save those folks to my memory, the   
   Carpathia, at the first of this event was only about 17 miles away going the   
   opposite way from the Titanic.  Aha!  The telegraph operator never woke up in   
   the radio room.  Much later, with no response from any help vessel, the   
   Titanic telegraph operator started to send 'SOS' Morse Code. The Carpathia   
   fellow woke up and responded!  They turned around and sailed back to the   
   Titanic, saving whom they could of the remaining survivors.  The story is well   
   documented in a few books.  One of which I have in my archives but it is out   
   at the Cabin at my W5WQN site as a treasure of history I got back in the   
   1950's when I was in high school here in College Station.   
      
   One can do pretty well with Morse Code if one is a musically oriented person   
   as all our family is.  I could copy Morse Code orally at about 90 words per   
   minute.  But manually sending it with a paddle keyer above 40 or 50 words per   
   minute is tough for me.  Though my own assembly language code written tools   
   can copy it and show it on the screen up in the 100 word per minute range as   
   well as send it from a 'text' file that way, I can't type on a keyboard much   
   faster than 60 WPM or so for this use.  Chuckle.   
      
   While working for the Texas A&M University Oceanography Department paying my   
   way through A&M as their telegraph operator in the mid-1960's I was 'coached'   
   to apply for a First Class Radio Telegraph Operator's FCC License by the   
   boss.  To get this level of license you have to serve at least six months   
   service as a US Military Vessel operator, so I found out.  I had way more than   
   this time out at sea, being awake every hour on the hour 24 hours a day for as   
   long as more than two weeks at a time!  During the hurricane season in the   
   Gulf of Mexico back then there was no way to get the weather data back to the   
   USA every hour for hurricane alerts except by Morse Code to some USA land   
   telegraph station!  I did this for several years until I got so tired of it   
   than when the USAF first moved to SSB equipment aboard the B52's with the   
   original Collins SSB stuff originally designed for the USAF work, I hiddenly   
   applied for a research license for the A&M Oceanography Department to research   
   the use of SSB equipment for sea seismic work.   
      
   At that time, no satellites of course, they were only able to use little AM   
   radio short wave units to send the shooting ship blast noise for the work to   
   the listening ship.  About twenty nautical miles was the longest sea seismic   
   work ever done at that.  The FCC granted the license!  I took it in to the   
   department boss.  He was stunned!  Asked how much would the approved USAF SSB   
   equipment cost?  I told him about $35,000 USD.  He almost fell over on the   
   floor.  I told him that once the license was issued he had no choice.  They   
   found the cash.  The A&M Hidalgo was the shooting ship.  The Woods Hole Vema   
   was the listening ship.  The first run started with the usual blasting cap   
   pops.  It then went to the usual Nitromon W sticks, then the whole box as you   
   got out to ten miles or so.  Then you used the old Navy Mark 55 depth charges   
   they pitched over to spot the subs during war time.  Surprise! At over 25   
   miles out perfect shots.  We got out to 125 nautical miles and I had coached   
   them to tip over the whole four depth charge shipment pallets eventually for   
   each shot over the bow of the Hidalgo.  BOOM! BOOM!  Captain Hadley came   
   running down from the bridge - forced the end of this!  We were lifting the   
   whole back end of the Hidlago about six feet out of the water with each shot!   
   He screamed, "Mike!! Stop!!  You're going to sink us!!"   
      
   From which came the whole Mexican Campeche Bay oil field discovery.  But I got   
   off the boat for two weeks at a time of hour on the hour weather data they   
   were paying me $24,000 USD a year for my 'wages' to go to A&M.  Talk the data   
   back home to A&M!  As I later learned was more than my Dad made as the Math   
   Department Head here too then.  But wait there's more!   
      
   What I didn't know was that there are at least two US Federal Licenses you can   
   hold that subject you for LIFETIME call for service by the President of the   
   United States on 24 hours notice!  When I took the First Class Telegraph exam   
   at the FCC office in Houston, they told me I had to get my picture and send it   
   to Washington for the license!  ???  I did.  OK I got the original #329 one   
   per my memory here.  Very few have ever been issued.  Finally these were   
   turned into lifetime authority.  The final number is in the #3000 range. I   
   doubt that I'll ever get called for service for Morse Code but you never   
   know.  Instrument Flight Instructors can also be called this way.  I've got   
   that one too.  Amazing what Morse Code can do.  And teaching flying too.   
      
      
   Mike Luther - N117C at 1:117/100   
      
   ---   
    * Origin: BV HUB CLL(979)696-3600 (1:117/100)