[Elecraft] A Morse PDA/communicator and other uses for Morse code [was: Tonight Show]

[wayne burdick]

As some have suggested, Jay Leno is probably *not* trying to put in a 
plug for amateur radio tonight.

However, one possible result of the "showdown" between the CW buffs and 
text messengers may be a broadening of interest in Morse code. If the 
Morse contingent crushes the competition, it's hard to imagine light 
bulbs not going off among some hackers and tinkerers, young and old, 
individual or corporate. This thought will occur to some of them: "It's 
fast, can be used without even looking at it, and takes just one or two 
buttons. Hmmmm ... why not provide a Morse interface as an option on a 
messaging device?"

At my previous employer, a silicon-valley think tank, we evaluated 
Morse as a minimalist user interface for small PDAs, and I know of at 
least one other current research effort along these lines. I built an 
experimental version of such a PDA, which used simple one- and 
two-letter commands to input and output things like phone numbers, 
notes, appointments, etc.

It worked quite well, and some day (in my copious spare time) I hope to 
pack it into a keychain-sized device. This PDA would be the world's 
smallest, would go with you everwhere, and would cost almost nothing 
since it would need no display or keyboard. It would have a small audio 
transducer so you could hold it up to your ear when using it, or an 
inductively-coupled wireless link from the keychain unit to a 
lightweight earbud. The rest of the device requires just one chip -- an 
MCU with a lot of EEPROM and/or flash memory. (If anyone wants to help 
me prototype or write firmware for this unit, let me know. I'm a bit 
busy!)

We also looked at Morse as a UI for people with certain types of 
disabilities. Just about any type of body movement, no matter how 
slight, can allow people to communicate in this mode. Consider for 
example the pillow-tapping protagonist in the famous anti-war novel 
Johnny Got his Gun.

Those of us who have been using the world's simplest human-readable 
digital communication for decades ought to be the principle movers 
behind the effort to increase its uses and visibility. If a 
Morse-capable PDA/communicator ever appears on the market, ham radio 
could certainly benefit. (In fact, I'm hoping to put a tiny HF 
transceiver into the keychain PDA. Just add an antenna :)

To Ken (K6CTW) and Chip (K7JA): I wish you the best of luck tonight. 
Please pass along the above ideas if the opportunity arises.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


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