{"id":37934,"date":"2019-05-25T06:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T10:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=37934"},"modified":"2019-05-25T06:32:35","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T10:32:35","slug":"smithsonian-morse-code-celebrates-175-years-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/smithsonian-morse-code-celebrates-175-years-and-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"Smithsonian: Morse Code Celebrates 175 Years and Counting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The U.S. military J-41-A straight key (Photo by WD8RIF)<\/p><\/div>\n

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post<\/em> readers who shared the following article from the Smithsonian Magazine<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The first message sent by Morse code\u2019s dots and dashes across a long distance traveled from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore on Friday, May 24, 1844 \u2013 175 years ago. It signaled the first time in human history that complex thoughts could be communicated at long distances almost instantaneously. Until then, people had to have face-to-face conversations; send coded messages through drums, smoke signals and semaphore systems; or read printed words.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Samuel F.B. Morse, communication changed rapidly, and has been changing ever faster since. He invented the electric telegraph in 1832. It took six more years for him to standardize a code for communicating over telegraph wires. In 1843, Congress gave him US$30,000 to string wires between the nation\u2019s capital and nearby Baltimore. When the line was completed, he conducted a public demonstration of long-distance communication.<\/p>\n

Morse wasn\u2019t the only one working to develop a means of communicating over the telegraph, but his is the one that has survived. The wires, magnets and keys used in the initial demonstration have given way to smartphones\u2019 on-screen keyboards, but Morse code has remained fundamentally the same, and is still \u2013 perhaps surprisingly \u2013 relevant in the 21st century. Although I have learned, and relearned, it many times as a Boy Scout, an amateur radio operator and a pilot, I continue to admire it and strive to master it.[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here to continue reading the full article at the Smithsonian online.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post readers who shared the following article from the Smithsonian Magazine: The first message sent by Morse code\u2019s dots and dashes across a long distance traveled from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore on Friday, May 24, 1844 \u2013 175 years ago. It signaled the first time in human history […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,288],"tags":[90,88,7788],"class_list":["post-37934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-radio-history","tag-cw","tag-morse-code","tag-smithsonian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-9RQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55255,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/radio-waves-absolute-radio-turns-off-am-in-uk-carlos-latuff-interview-x-class-flaring-and-morse-code-is-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":37934,"position":0},"title":"Radio Waves: Absolute Radio Turns Off AM in UK, Carlos Latuff Interview, X-Class Flaring, and Morse Code Is Back!","author":"Thomas","date":"January 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.\u00a0Enjoy! Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK (Radio Today) Bauer is removing Absolute Radio from Medium\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Elecraft-KX2-CW-Morse-SP4-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Elecraft-KX2-CW-Morse-SP4-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Elecraft-KX2-CW-Morse-SP4-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Elecraft-KX2-CW-Morse-SP4-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Elecraft-KX2-CW-Morse-SP4-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1308,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/passion-for-morse-code-night-of-nights-featured-in-ny-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":37934,"position":1},"title":"Passion for Morse Code, Night of Nights featured in NY Times","author":"Thomas","date":"July 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Many of you reading the SWLing Post are not only passionate shortwave radio listeners, but also amateur radio operators. My love of shortwave radio listening eventually led me to obtain my ham radio license, and as a result, to learn about Morse code. I had always admired Morse code--a.k.a. CW\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/BegaliSimplexPro-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":224,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/google-commemorates-218th-anniversary-of-samuel-morse%e2%80%99s-birthday\/","url_meta":{"origin":37934,"position":2},"title":"Google commemorates 218th anniversary of Samuel Morse\u2019s birthday","author":"Thomas","date":"April 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We woke up this morning to find the homepage of search engine, Google, in morse code. What a great way to commemorate Samuel Morse's birthday. In case you missed this special Google Doodle, check out the screen capture below. _ _. _.._ Google! Why not learn morse code and add\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"googleincw","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/qrper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/googleincw-300x159.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61346,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/the-bbc-world-service-covers-the-morse-code-championships-in-tunisia\/","url_meta":{"origin":37934,"position":3},"title":"The BBC World Service covers the Morse Code championships in Tunisia","author":"Thomas","date":"December 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Korchin and Pete Polanyk, who share the following documentary from the BBC World Service: Morse code: Ready to transmit The Documentary Podcast At the world Morse Code championships in Tunisia, competitors must battle to be the fastest and most accurate at sending and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/POTA-Icom-IC-705-mat-tuner-mAT-705-CW-Morse-Paddles-13.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/POTA-Icom-IC-705-mat-tuner-mAT-705-CW-Morse-Paddles-13.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/POTA-Icom-IC-705-mat-tuner-mAT-705-CW-Morse-Paddles-13.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/POTA-Icom-IC-705-mat-tuner-mAT-705-CW-Morse-Paddles-13.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3156,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/gmail-tap-email-with-morse-code\/","url_meta":{"origin":37934,"position":4},"title":"Gmail Tap: email with morse code?","author":"Thomas","date":"April 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Google has once again featured a radio-related theme--this time (unfortunately!) as an April Fool's joke. This video will explain it all:","rel":"","context":"In "Funny"","block_context":{"text":"Funny","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/funny\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31040,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/morse-code-safety-shoes-are-a-thing\/","url_meta":{"origin":37934,"position":5},"title":"Morse code safety shoes are a thing…","author":"Thomas","date":"March 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors, Richard Langley and Robert Gulley, who shares this news item from the BBC: Morse code shoes send toe tapping texts at MWC 2018 A pair of smart shoes has been created to let industrial workers keep in touch via toe-typed coded messages. The footwear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Morse-Shoes.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Morse-Shoes.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Morse-Shoes.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}