How to learn Morse Code?

[Delta Julliet Golf]

To everyone who has learned Morse Code,

I have to learn the good old Morse Code for my IR. I have some tapes, but I'm finding it very difficult to learn from them. Can anyone tell me what's the best way to learn Morse? For example: computerprogrammes (downloadable or not), will these work?

Thanks!
DJG

[paco]

Amateur radio clubs are a good source of inexpensive training. Starting off at a high speed is best, with the simplest letters. E, for example, is one dot (dit). Just listen to a stream of Morse, picking out that letter only, then add another, such as T, which is a dash (dah), then I (2 dots), M (2 dashes) and so on. In a few days you could be up to 20 words a minute.

Good luck

Phil

[expedite_climb]

I learnt it by

1) Using a tape to learn patterns e.g.

Elephants in straw hats....

E I S H

. .. ... ....

2) Making some flashcards with morse on one side and the letter on the other and running through as fast as possible

[DX Wombat]

Hi, I have to be able to send / receive morse for my Radio Amateur's A Licence. It was suggested to me that I learn it in letter groups, eg all letters beginning with a single dot then, two, thre etc, repeat for those starting with a single dash etc. There are also slow morse transmissions for people wishing to learn morse. These are provided free by the Radio Society of Great Britain and the dates and times can be found on their website at http://www.rsgb.org.uk Hope this will help you. Good luck. M3WOM :)

[SChanyi]

Transair Pilot Shops in the UK (www.transair.co.uk) sell the following:

Morse Cracker

Studying Morse Code remains an integral part of all pilot training exams, and is suitable for both civil and military use. When in flight, having practiced with the ‘Morse Cracker’ will help you I.D those NDB’s easily! This interactive CD makes learning this useful code easier to master. Includes three learning functions. A ‘text to code’ option which allows you to enter a letter of the alphabet and the computer produces the morse conversion, both visually and audibly. A ‘Mouse Key’ option allows your actual keying accuracy to be assessed, and there is a random test with “reveal” window to check learning progress. For use on your PC, just load the CD ROM and it will auto run.

Morse Cracker Multi-media CD £12.95

I haven't used it but was planning on picking it up this weekend.

[Vortex what...ouch!]

I had to be able to send and receive 18 words per minute when I was in the army.

There is no easy way to learn it. It is a pain in the neck and time consuming. The best way is to learn in 6 letter groups. I forget what they are but a previous poster mentioned a link which might help. Start at 6 wpm, it is just right for learning the letters. Then once you have the letters down pat increase the speed a bit until you reach whatever speed you need. About two hours a day is enough time to spend on it.

It is frustrating but possible for anyone to do.

Oh and search the net for a morse player, there are plenty about for free which are quite good. That’s what I used to help me as well as tapes.

Good luck

[Nick Lappos]

DJG

Did you say you needed it for your Instrument rating!!

Come to the US, where we have learned that radios for voice communication can be bought for about $5.

This is yet again an other artifact that proves how very staid the systems in Europe are, in their reluctance to accept change,and actually do something meaningful toward aviation progress.

Imagine that you had to study why aircraft crashed due to pilot errors. This is only a rhetorical question, because no CAA official would be caught doing so, of course. But just imagine that you did this, and wrote down the top 1,000 causes for pilot error. Ok, so exactly WHERE on that 1,000 item list would we put the item, "Didn't know Morse Code"?

I rest my case. If I had to train my son to fly, and worried that his brain could hold only so much useful information, why, oh why would I waste his intellectual capacity on that?
As you study the code, just picture the facts you COULD be learning on wind shear, VRS, icing, combustion, fuel hazards, rotor balance, ..........

Oh, I give up!

dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit

[ATPMBA]

Just relax!!!

Use the tapes but relax, you might be concentrating so hard that if you miss a letter you are so focused on the missed letter that you end up missing the next 2-3 letters.

I think tapes are the way to go as they are consistent. Several years ago I had (past tense) an ICOM receiver and I noticed that different ham operators actual had their own unique keying style, giving the morse code a slight twist. It was fun until lightning struck my long-wire antennae and fried the insides.
:cool:

[pilotwolf]

It's also interesting that the 'original' users of morse - the merchant marine stopped using it several years ago, the coast radio station operators were a pleasure to listen to.

I can no longer send it nor receive it without great difficulty - learnt it about 18 years ago and never ever used it in anger!

I believe that the relevant authorities are also going to scrap it's requirement for an HF amateur licence in the near future.

[Lu Zuckerman]

It is frustrating but possible for anyone to do.

Prior to going into aviation I was stationed aboard a Coast Guard Cutter. Everyone not working was told to go ashore and receive a Morse code (Blinker) message. We were told that when we received the message we could secure and go to chow. The radiomen and quartermasters got it first and the laughed as they went aboard the ship. Other guys got it and they too laughed as they went aboard the ship. I was the last one standing and the guy on the blinker was getting tired so they told me to come aboard. I found out at chow what the message said. The message read, ”When you receive this message secure and come aboard for chow".

To me it was a stream of lights. The same was true when I went into the radio shack and the radiomen were transmitting using a “Bug”.

:rolleyes:

[Steve76]

Nick beat me to the punch on this one....
Morse code is something I remember my old man learning back in the '70's for his ATPL. What an atiquated idea.

Considering the poor quality of pilot that is produced from your average IFR course, I fully agree that there are more important things to be concerned with. Perhaps they should ditch the morse and teach some operational GPS IFR skills instead?
How can the JAA system be touted as the epitomy and still have standards from WWII. Please God, don't let this get out of the EU!:yuk:

But on the other hand, Morse may be handy the next time I am trapped in an upturned ocean liner for communicating with the search parties... ;) I sure hope they've done their IFR :rolleyes:

[B Sousa]

Yes, Nick beat all of us here in the States. Whats to learn, Listen to the sound compare it to the diagram on the Charts....
Another Antiquated Licensing system yet to be revamped. Im betting they still have tubes in their Radios.
76s guys

[rotordk]

Come on guys, if they can teach it to boyscouts...........
And you still have to positively ID any beacon, localiser, VOR's and what have you..........last time I checked !

.-. --- - --- .-. -.. -.-

[Flight Safety]

Some of you may laugh at this idea, but I've been using Microsoft FS 2000 to learn morse code. Just locate the aircraft at various airfields in your area, tune in to various VORs and NDBs in your area (on your sectional chart), and listen to the broadcasts. The airnav.com website also has a list of radio aids, along with the usual AFD (which I don't have). An AIM/FAR has the morse code chart, so with this, a nav aids reference and Microsoft FS 2000 (or 2002) you're in business.

BTW, I've found that FS 2000 is useful for a few things, like learning morse code, learning the basics of how to capture a VOR radial or an ILS, practicing some cross country with nav aids, learning the basics of GPS navigation, stuff like that. It's actually quite useful for practicing certain aspects of IR training.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I'm afraid I'm part of the great unwashed who doesn't know Morse. Identing a VOR or NDB the pilot part of me gets irritated that I haven't learned it and I should, the engineer part of me wonders why the hell they can't put a voice ident on it. Can anybody recommend a good self-teach tape or tapes - I spend a couple of hours a day driving so that would be my preferred route.

Incidentally, back in WW2 the SOE operatives in France and Benelux (spies) used to transmit back to the UK in encrypted Morse. It was a matter of policy that the same UK end operator used to communicate with the same agent. The reason was that if an agent had been captured and their codebook obtained, although the Germans could try and transmit, they could almost certainly never manage to correctly imitate the misfortunate agent's "fist".

G


N.B. We only learned semaphore when I was in Boy Scouts. Would probably have been of some use had we been sea Scouts, but never seemed all that useful on night hikes.

[Delta Julliet Golf]

Thanks for your many replies and help! Don't get me started about the importancy of this code, but it's something I have to qualify for in order to fly my IR exam.

DJG

[MBJ]

Come on Mr Lappos, you're supposed to ID your Navaids (which transmit at about 5wpm) and if you know the code at that speed it saves a bit of frigging around with your Jepp.

I remember being a co-pilot in an S61 watching with amazement as the (Senior) Captain turned unflinchingly towards a North Sea NDB which was pointing nicely but with the wrong ID and which little event would have RUN US OUT OF FUEL. When we move to voice ID, then forget morse, in the meantime it can matter.

As a matter of interest I learned it when I was 10 or 11 and it stuck, at least at slow speeds.

PS In a survival situation at night you can even send intelligent messages like "Need Brandy and Dry ginger" rather than setting fire to things, prancing about and hoping someone gets the message!

[DX Wombat]

Genghis, I think the RSGB still does morse tapes. The url is in my previous post, hope it helps. :)

[LordGrumpy]

In the American documentry.Independance Day.

I recall that the Bill Pullman lead a counter attack, and the orders were sent out in Morse Code.

I say Lady G: The Americans are doing away with one of their own ----- Samuel Morse.
How's the semaphore progressing?

And in case you don't know: to paddle refers to a type of morse key.

[Watchoutbelow]

At first I laughed when I heard the U.K C A A/jaa are making candidates for instrument ratings learn Morse code, but then I cringed! :*
It is really just another piece of pathetic pommy irrelevent B.S, that only makes an already overpriced course even more expensive and further out of reach to a regular hard working devouted Joe Bloggs trying to get his/ her foot in the door, by funding it him/ herself, or even a recreational Pilot trying to improve his/ her skills and make him/ herself a safer pilot!

Studying Morse Code is not an integral part of all pilot training!
However, Good flight planning is!

I definitely believe that one day someday, somebody with a bit of pull and a lot of balls will stand up to the CAA and say
"Stop, dishing out pointless, useless total and utter crap, and stop making things more awkward, and expensive then it has to be and stop using the mantra all in the name of safety, cause its not any safer then the FAA or most other Aviation Authorities for that matter! And just more thing, get with the times, or your all fired!" :ouch:
I fail to see how saturating your brain with so much irrelevant outdated technology is supposed to make you a superior pilot!
But unfortunately my phsycic powers don't envision this happening any time soon.
How any up and comming self sponsered European pilot is going to make a living in this business is beyond me!


Hopefully I am wrong!


:confused: :confused:

[Flight Safety]

Here's an interesting site that might help those who want to learn morse code.

morse code club site (http://www.morsecode.dutch.nl)

[helmet fire]

I learnt it by envisigaing each letter drawn by their respective dots and dashes. Passed the test in 1988 and have never used it again! What a waste of effen time.

Here in Oz, they write the morse ident next to the frequency box for the navaid right on your enroute chart. Easy. Just listen and read. Wouldn't that be more sensible?

:rolleyes:

[rotorboy]

Morse...

I learnt it as a kid. The ol man was big into the amateur radio. At one point i was doing 30+ wpm.

Here is a good way if you start to memorize the tapes and get bored. Find a cheap sw reciever . Go to the ARRL (american radio relay leauge) web page. They broadcast morse code practice several times a day accorss the full spectrum of bands, from leauge headquaters in CT. You will be able to hear it on one of the frequeiences no mater where in the world you are. They start at 3wpm and go up to 25 , I think.

They broad cast a page from the magazine, QST. You can double check your work against the mag, and they put it on line , as well.

Check the web page www.arrl.org , look for W1AW ( the call station of the transmitter) scheudals.

Also check out www.radiobookstore.com (maybe something close check google). He has a number of differnt tapes and cd's that can help you.

Hope that helps

--... ...--
.-. --- - --- .-. -... --- -.--

[Ascend Charlie]

As B Sousa says, if you can hear an NDB / VOR / whatever, look on the chart and compare the noise with the dots and dashes on the chart, or on the back page of ERSA.

Learning it is a bag of ... .... .. _

[offshoreigor]

:eek: I agree with Nick, thats about as useless as Aural Null!!! :eek:

But if you must learn Morse the easieast way is to buy a GPS with a JEPP Data card and just scroll to the IDENT. She'll be right mate!

Cheers, :eek: OffshoreIgor :eek:

[Whirlybird]

Delta Juliet Golf,
I sympathise. I had to learn Morse for the old CAA CPL(H) exams, and being told that it had gone the way of the dinosaurs was no use whatsoever in passing!!! There are several free tutors that you can download - do a search - and they aren't bad. However, the best is a CAA one that I managed to get a copy of. Unfortunately I don't have it now, but if you ring Bristol Ground School on 01275.474701, they had it and may be able to tell you how to get hold of it. Unfortunately practice practice practise is the only way to learn Morse, but good teaching aids help. And it IS possible...it even starts being fun! :eek:

Genghis,
I had a Morse cassette tape; I used to listen to it in the car as well. It's not brilliant, but you'd learn enough to ident beacons; it's getting up to speed that's the hard bit. If I can find it you can have it, though I think I passed it on long ago. If not, I think I got it from Transair or similar, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get hold of.

[Nick Lappos]

MBJ,
I do understand that one might like to ID the beacon he is flying at! It is always a good idea, so good that all the charts I use have the dots and dashes cleverly written next to the frequency.

I could spend 20 hours memorizing Morse, but I stand by the observation that it is a WASTE OF TIME and OF NO USE, but otherwise a very piloty thing to do.

Perhaps the fellows who invented the test could have found one or two more important things we need to know, because that's what you taxes go to do - pay them to keep things tidy and proper. The operative thought here is that those pesky examiners work for you.

This is a uniquely American outlook, I admit, made even more bizarre by the belief that we get a say in what they do to us.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Ah but, when you get locked up for not observing the right attitude to the regulations, you can use it to communicate with your fellow prisoners my banging on the radiators at night.

Incidentally, in a sudden flash of enthusiasm I took a look on Pooleys website. They do a 2-tape set, one is learn Morse, the other is pass the exam in Morse (interesting that these are different tapes) which at £12 I thought wasn't bad. They do a stack of other tapes on the same page, such as the IR and IMC courses, slightly cheaper than Trevor Thom's books as well.

(Whirly, they do a rotary PPL tape also, any good for revising your instructor speak?)

G

N.B. http://www.pooleys.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Audio_Tapes_and_CD_S_8.html

[Lu Zuckerman]

To: LordGrumpy

And in case you don't know: to paddle refers to a type of morse key.

In the USA the Morse key you alluded to is called a Bug. it is used by highly experienced radio operators and it allows very high speed transmission. Those that do not use it have difficulty in transcribing (reading) high speed transmission.

When I was in Greenland our (Coast Guard) radiomen mostly used a Bug and when transmitting to the US Navy communications ship (The USS Taconic) the return trafic was very slow. Our radiomen would transmit back "Int foot?" which would get the Navty personnel p***ed.

Int foot?=are you transmitting with your foot?

:cool:

[Flight Safety]

Here are links to 4 NTSB accidents where failure to properly identify a Nav Aid caused a really bad day. Two are fatal, two are non-fatal.

A 737-500 that landed at the wrong airfield (http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001208X07902&key=1)

Beech A36 that appears to have missed a navaid tuning error (http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001208X06594&key=1)

Beech C90 that flew a discontinued NDB approach, even though ATC cleared it (http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X20423&key=1)

Piper PA-31 that failed to properly identify an out of service NDB (http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001207X02915&key=1)

As for me and my house, we're learning morse code.

[Nick Lappos]

Flight safety,

Yep, I agree, if that 737 pilot had only known Morse, he would have found the right airport. Yep, that's exactly the right answer to the puzzle. You must make a mighty fine accident investigator. NTSB, huh? No, that's more the "60 Minutes" type of accident investigation.

If the Beech pilot had known Morse, he would have recognized that his ADF had not morphed into a VHF ILS receiver (they teach that in Morse school, I guess), and those two other sods did not learn to read a chart with little dashes and dots printed on them, so you know they would have faired better trying to memorize all of them instead.

In my house, we learn the right things, not the ancient things.

And we use good evidence when we make our cases, too.

[Flight Safety]

Nick,

I read the Beech A36 accident more carefully (I was in a hurry earlier). I got confused and thought the Vinton NDB was north of Roanoke instead of south, on the same heading as the runway and the ILS. It's conceivable that when you're not used to flying in bad weather (low cloud cover, rain and some fog in this case) that you could get confused and fixate on the ADF instead of switching your attention to the VOR/ILS, especially on the instrument panel of a smaller aircraft, when both Navaids are nearby and on the same heading. I realize the ADF has no bars, etc, etc.

Anyway since the Vinton NDB is actually south of Roanoke, that possible confusion didn't happen here, so on that point you're correct.

However after reading the incident more carefully, I still think it was a failure to ident the navaid that got this pilot in trouble. He was vectored to intercept and line up with the 33 ILS approach by ATC. He had the correct frequency (109.7) tuned for the 33 ILS approach, but his ADF was tuned to 278 instead of 277, which was the Vinton NDB frequency (a common mistake). Attempting to ident the Vinton NDB should have caught that tuning error. It's apparent he was trying to use the NDB for course alignment, but couldn't because of the tuning error. In my opinion a good ident-after-tuning procedure should be done by habit by all pilots, since it appears this pilot also failed to capture the ILS localizer.

It took this pilot far too long to realise that he had missed the approach. In my opinion, a pilot who is quick to recognize a tuning error or other problem with a selected navaid, can avoid a whole lot of trouble, especially since 3 of the 4 incidents I mentioned also involved either ATC or notification errors.

Back to the main point, any good ident-after-tuning habit requires the use of morse code. Heck, nearly all of the navaids in the Dallas/Fort Worth area are non-voice navaids. In my area, I don't see an option here.

[Steve76]

We don't have any ident problems up here, but we do have lots of switchology problems with drivers tracking using the GPS for the approach or just getting the NAV/GPS switch wrong eh!
;)
Nothing like standardisation to stop that.

[Genghis the Engineer]

If anybody's interested, I've ordered the Pooleys tape and have plenty of long drives coming up in the near future. I'll post my views on it once I've made use.

G

[ATPMBA]

A quick question, does one need to take a Morse code test for a conversion to U.K. ATPL from a FAA ATP ?


Thanks

[Watchoutbelow]

Hi ATPMBA


As far as I know you only need to learn Morse code for the JAA Instrument rating, if you wish to convert your FAA ATP to JAA ATPL, you will need to sit the 14 exams and do the flight test.
As well as the having the required 830 hours in the classroom slightly less for modular course.

To convert your FAA instrument rating to JAA instrument rating you will need to do about 10 hours in a JAA approved twin engined helicopter or a JAA helicopter Certified for Instrument training, and all the other tests that come with it, including morse code!
For what reason, I do not know, it is way beyond me, really is just unnecessary hassle that you could do with out!

So if you want a JAA instrument rating, put on your top hat and start learning how to tap dance!

[rumour reader]

Dunno what the big fuss is about?
Learning morse is a peice of piss. Saying things like it takes 20 hours to learn, is a waste of time, ancient technology etc.. is all rubbish.
I learnt it in 2 weeks, ok i'm not decoding messages at 30wpm from some radio geek on the other side of the world but i am easilly able to identify any 3 letter code for purpose of atpl.
Here is some advice.
You only need to learn 26 differnet sounds. sounds hard? well you probably know sos? that makes it 24.
learn:
E.
I..
S...
H....
that makes it 21.
learn:
T-
M--
o---
that makes it 19.
learn or make up sayings that sound like the morse..
A .- 'al pha'
c-.-. 'charlie charlie'
D -.. 'dad did it'
F ..-. 'fit a fair-y'
Y -.-- 'yankee doodle'
X -..- 'onl-y da bones' (X ray)
V ...- sounds like beathovens vth (der der der dumm..)

That leaves you with 12 left to learn.
Learn opposites A and N
D and U
G and W
V and B
Learn your name.
If you have got this far you have probably nearly cracked it and will be inventing ways of memorising it yourself. I discovered that my nokia mobile bleeped 'sms' in morse when i recieved a text message!
download a morse tutor. do a search for 'free morse tutor'
only learn the sounds, don't learn in dots and dashes or you will have to convert the sound in your head (takes longer). Practice decoding one letter at a time then progress to two, then three etc.
It doesn't take long, ten minutes a night, drive in your car decode number plates.If you are serious about aviation then you will learn this regardless.

[Whirlybird]

rumour reader,

All true, useful hints, and that works for identing beacons. BUT for passing a test, it depends on how quickly you need to be able to decode. When I did the CAA CPL(H), the Morse test was to decode ten sets of three letters at a specific rate (which I've forgotten), and you only got to hear them once, and were only allowed three letters wrong. Take it from me, to do that, you had to be able to recognise a letter instantly and automatically, not think about it at all. And that does take a certain amount of practice.

For anyone interested, there's a Morse Tutor on sale on Ebay, in "Pilots Gear" - can't remember any details; I was browsing in there late last night and just happened to notice.

[Winnie]

To all of you:
-... -
I did this in my years as a naval telegraphist, and I thought it was kina cool to know a dying art (I wont push my enthusiasm on you);) but then again why not?
In Norway, your VFR charts (1:500.000) does NOT contain any identifiers, morse idents, frequencies or the like (unless the new series have them) so you actually have to search through a book to find them,
Thankfully i was already proficient when I did my conversion from my FAA CPL/H and IR/H. To my understanding, the Norwegian portion of the JAA does not require Morse any more, so that is standardisation for you. To all of you, learning Morse seems quite tedious, but if you put away the "negativism" it is not really that bad. I have seen some really stunned people pick it up quite easily. But lick Nick Lappos and others said, Voice idents are coming out, most charts have them written on them, so why learn it, after all with the introduction of GMDSS for maritimers, morse was out!

Thanks for reading
-... -
--.- .-. ..-

[Steve76]

ZZZZzzzzz..........:rolleyes:

[Robbo Jock]

Just to stick my tuppence-ha'pennyworth in. You're learning it to pass an exam. As Whirly said: ten sets of three characters at (I think) 5 words per min. Learn it that way. Don't over-complicate by trying to understand it at a higher rate or thinking of transmitting it. On my course we had some guys try to learn to decode at a faster rate, only to get confused by the slooooow presentation in the actual tests. Don't fork out loads for a tape or CD - it's a waste of money. Grab any freebies off the net that you can and just listen to them.

In three character sets at 5wpm.

Rumour Reader is about right with his list of aide memoirs
The only two additional ones I can remember:
G --. (Golf is two long drives and a putt)
U -.- (Uniform belt with a buckle in it)

I personally have an aversion to 'learning opposites' 'cos I always confuse myself: "now is that the opposite of that or is it its opposite. Which one's which one's opposite ? Eeek!"

And you can just hope that a truck doesn't reverse past the exam hall while the test is on. Beeeeep, beeeeep, beeeeep .....
(It happened !)

[MBJ]

Nice try Robbo Jock, your "U" is actually a "K";)