[Fists] Re: Fists Digest, Vol 16, Issue 8

[FISTS Club Down Under]

: From: Hank Kohl K8DD <k8dd at usol.com>
: Subject: [Fists] CW vs Text messaging
: To: FISTS <fists at mailman.qth.net>
: Message-ID: <k8dd$64.18.236.231$.4283E0EE.8060809 at usol.com>
: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
:
: >From the CQ-Contest reflector:
:
: Relayed from K7SS...73, Ward N0AX
:
: Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it...
:
: ... just in.
: if you recall the story last week about CW beating the fastest text
: messaging,
:
: Jay Leno is scheduled to do a segment, CW vs. Messaging race
: on Friday nights show.  This FRIDAY
:
: de K7SS Wireservice

They seem to be a bit slow in reporting it over there!

Vy 73 de Ralph ZL2AOH

=========================

DOWN TO THE WIRE, BUT MORSE SHOWS SOME DASH

By Richard Macey Sydney Morning Herald NSW dated April 15, 2005 (Reproduced
with permission)


It was a technological race between the best that 19th century science could
muster and the latest in 21st century communications.
Sitting by his Morse code key, set up yesterday inside the Powerhouse
Museum, was Gordon Hill, 93, a veteran telegraph operator who joined the
post office 78 years ago.
Across from him, armed with her mobile phone, was Brittany Devlin, 13, of
Seven Hills, with two years of texting experience. "I send about three
messages a day," she said. "I used to send lots more but I ran out of
credit."
The rules were simple: Mr Hill had to translate a message into Morse code
and send it to another telegraph veteran, Jack Gibson, 82, sitting a few
metres away. Mr Gibson then had to decode the transmission and print it out
using a manual typewriter.
Brittany had to use her mobile phone's keypad to punch out the same message,
then send it to another phone near Mr Gibson.
Which technology, wondered the crowd of onlookers, was fastest?
The message, a line selected from an advertisement in a teenage magazine,
was handed to each competitor: "Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best
pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing."
The race was on. Mr Hill tapped out his message in full, while Brittany
employed abbreviations to save vital time: "hey gf you can txt ur best pals
2 tel them wot u r doing, where ur going and wot u r wearing."
For a moment it seemed a tight race, with the fingers of both competitors
taking just seconds to key in and send their messages.
But just 90 seconds after Mr Hill began transmitting, Mr Gibson announced he
had the message down on paper. Brittany's message was delayed somewhere in
the ether for another 18 seconds.
Three other young competitors challenged the telegraph team and three more
times the text messages came in second.
Still, Mr Hill admitted he was impressed by the modern technology, recalling
the time in 1961 when he was given an amazing prediction: "A telephone
engineer told me the day would come when we would be able to send messages
without wires."