The AM Forum

Interesting story about some hidden Morse messages in Hollywood
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/capitol-records-building-morse-code?utm_medium=atlas-page&utm_source=facebook.com

Pretty cool.  Some execs have a good sense of humor.

It usually amazes people when they find out you can copy CW. Way more "wow" than speaking a foreign language.  I remember during pilot training, my first lesson, the VOR was sending out:    ….  ..-.  _..     (HFD.. HFD)  meaning the Hartford VOR. I mentioned to my instructor that that must be the Hartford VOR we were hearing. He looked at me stunned and axed how could I possibly know that?  He said all students he's trained had to take the time to memorize the local VOR codes.

To CW guys, it's like the young kid who can copy 60 WPM RTTY in his head.

It's interesting how some movies that have Morse Code in the script are very accurate.  A few war movies are good.

Then there are some that are fakes and the operator is telling his superior what is being said at 90 WPM -  as the LID CW man sends garbage at 10 WPM.

And then there are the cowboy movies at the telegraph office that are almost always ridiculous.


T

I was listening to my kids play video games yesterday.  My oldest made everyone 'SHADDUP, SHADDUP!' at one point.  He heard Morse code.....

Whatever it was playing out in CW, he found a hidden Easter egg in the game!  Call of Duty Zombies I believe it was.

Oddly, I've never been able to learn CW.  I never knew my son knew CW.  I've never exposed him to it...  He's also a kid that picks up musical instruments and  'can play them" never having seen them before.

So CW also extends to video games, too.

--Shane
KD6VXI

Excellent!

  Passed my Novice 5 WPM test in December 1982, I had a difficult time learning the code, going to a class given by a local radio club was a great help. I agree that some people have the "knack" and being musically inclined helps. I did work CW for awhile but got frustrated as few seemed to know what QRS meant, I was never able to get good enough to pass the dreaded 13 WPM. Surprisingly I do remember enough that I can copy if it is slow enough and repetitive like and airport beacon.

  Last Winter I took a trip to Las Vegas and Arizona, one place I spent a day at was the Pima Air Museum near Tucson. I took a guided tour, they have a hanger full of WWII planes including a B-29 bomber. One the left front side of the bomber is  . . . _  by the bomb symbols for missions flown. The tour guide asked if anyone knew what the significance of the . . . _ ? I told him it was the letter V in Morse Code but I was unaware what that was to signify on this particular aircraft.

   The tour guide was surprised and commented I was the first person to know in all the time he been giving tours to know what that . . . _ stood for. The significance is that this aircraft was present at the signing of the Peace Treaty in Tokyo Harbor ending the war with Japan.

     You know you are a real Radio Nerd when......

That's a new one, thanks for the info.

The Grant Building here in Pittsburgh has had a Morse beacon for a long while:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Building

Another computer game that has Morse code embedded (I have actually copied it) is Wolfenstein 3D.

Back in the early 1980's when I was working at KTAR AM/KBBC FM in Phoenix AZ, a friend was an engineer at KOOL TV channel 10. He showed me their new News Studio Backdrop which had a supposed nighttime mural of the Phoenix skyline. Tall buildings with lit windows. He pointed to a section of the windows, in Morse they spelled out an obscene phrase.

August KG7BZ

One of the more famous cases where Morse got the message through in a difficult situation:

https://youtu.be/rufnWLVQcKg

Back in the early 90's when I was in high school, there was a computer game with a long morse code intro. It was possible to bypass, but my friend who owned the game wanted to know what it said. It was sent at an average speed and told the story of the game.  It was a fantasy role playing thing (I had cool friends).

He was awestruck. Half with my ability to copy and the other about he was finding out the secret message.

Drink your Ovaltine.

Jon

And now for something completely different.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120829f.html


KLC

On the AMC series called Into the Badlands on the last episode of the second season I think it was, one of the characters, Baji, goes to a vintage but un recognizeable radio facility on a shore somewhere where he fires up the equipment and sends a message for help to someone unknown. The message is in Morse of course. I copied it and told the person that I was watching the show with what it said and it just blew her away. She got excited about learning Morse. Never did it though. So someone out there at AMC knows cw. Another  show is the post atomic war series Jericho. Great show, it seems to have been cut short though. Its probably from the 90's. The preamble of each episode contained a morse message. On both of these shows, they never reveal what the messages say. Interesting.
.......Larry