[CW] Morse Code Podcasts

[Richard Knoppow]

     The license requirements are set out in (I think) Sterling's 
first edition of "The Radio Manual" about 1928. In it is the 
requirement for the holder of a first telegraph to have both 
American Morse and continental code. I think American Morse was 
used on the wire lines to the radio stations so operators needed 
both.  In one interview T.R.McElroy talks about having to learn 
Continental code when he began to work for RCA. He had worked 
mostly for Western Union and could read wire Morse at high speeds 
but needed the continental code for radio work. I wonder how much 
American Morse was used in radiotelegraphy, keep in mind that it 
started with Marconi and he would have used Continental code. The 
Navy also had a system of code but it was not used very long.
    As far as punctuation the Phillips code, used on wire lines 
mostly, had a very extensive system, including signs for 
capitalization, etc.
     FWIW, I used to copy the press transmissions from both RCA 
and MRT stations. KPH and WCC used the conventional signs for 
quotation marks but the MRT stations used two apostrophe marks.
     The old period sign did-dit did-dit did-dit is still listed 
in the forth edition of _Reference Data for Radio Engineers_, 
published about 1954. I tracked down the change to .-.-.- and, 
while my memory may be playing tricks, I think it was changed at 
the 1934 world wide radio conference. Why the publishers 
continued to show a sign that had been out of service for twenty 
years is beyond me.
    Also FWIW, KPH was the only one of the five stations I heard 
press from (I include WNU) that used the call CP, meaning Call 
for Press in place of CQ. I found this listed in some older book 
but have not been able to find it again. I was listening in the 
early 1960s on my newly acquired BC-779.
    As far as AA other than the web site I hear it on some 
traffic nets. I have to pay some attention to the context to see 
what they mean by it but you are probably right that its a 
separator.
     I will check out the web site with the tinfoil recordings on 
it. Foil on a cylinder was Edison's first successful method.







On 10/29/2018 3:56 AM, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
> AA isn't a comma, if I said that I spoke incorrectly.  AA is a 
> separator signal (New Line) used in portions of the address in a 
> radiogram. Paragraph signal was used in wire working practice, 
> but never in amateur or commercial radiotelegraphy practice.  
> Paragraph is dah-dah-dah-dah.
> 
> AA was used both in American Morse practice and in Amateur Radio 
> practice, but not in commercial radiotelegraphy where ITU rules 
> and regulations (Supplement B - Telegraphy by Aural means and by 
> telegraph sounder.)

-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL