[LeArc] New Morse "Letter" Proposed

[Duane Whittingham]

INTERNATIONAL MORSE CODE GETS NEW ITU HOME, NEW CHARACTER

The 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-03) may have 
eliminated
the treaty requirement for prospective amateurs to demonstrate 
Morse code
proficiency to gain HF access, but the International 
Telecommunication
Union (ITU) hasn't forgotten Morse code altogether. In Geneva on 
December
5, the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Study Group 8 agreed 
on the
wording of a Draft New Recommendation ITU-R M.[MORSE] that 
specifies the
international Morse code character set and transmission 
procedures. It
also includes a new Morse code character to cover the "@" symbol 
used in
e-mail addresses.

Once it's made available in English, French and Spanish, the 
draft new
recommendation will go out to ITU member-states using a new 
procedure for
simultaneous adoption and approval. On December 3, the draft new
recommendation won the approval of Working Party 8A, which is 
responsible
for the Land Mobile and Amateur services.

Within the ITU, the international Morse code has been defined by the
Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), which is 
responsible for
the public telephone and telegraph network--mostly landline. A 
couple of
years ago, the ARRL pointed out to the US delegation to the ITU
Radiocommunication Advisory Group that Morse code's role more 
properly
resides in the radiocommunication realm, not wire, and should be the
responsibility of ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R).

The transfer was agreed to, and International Amateur Radio Union 
(IARU)
President Larry Price, W4RA, proposed the draft new 
recommendation at the
November-December Working Group 8A meeting. The draft new 
recommendation
is almost unchanged from its ITU-T text.

"No one wanted to disturb something with more than 150 years of 
history,"
said ARRL Technical Relations Manager Paul Rinaldo, W4RI.

To keep up with the times, however, the IARU proposed adding a new
character--the commercial "at" or @ symbol--to permit sending e-mail
addresses in Morse code. The draft new recommendation proposes 
using the
letters A and C run together (.--.-.) to represent the @ symbol.

While the draft new recommendation is still a working document, its
expected to become a Recommendation within six months or so, pending
approval by member-states.

(Tnx ARRL Letter)

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Duane Whittingham (N9SSN) - Producer
Tom and Darryl Radio Shows & Saturday Morning Confusion
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