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What Is Morse Code?
Episode 61: What Is Morse Code? – features James Wades, President of the Morse Telegraph Club and Advisor on Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, exploring the language of dots and dashes.
Episode Summary: This episode features a conversation with James, an expert in telegraphy and historical communication infrastructure.
Listen as James breaks down what Morse code really is, how telegraphy shows up in early commercial and hidden industrial systems, why efficiency and rhythm patterns matter, how the technology evolved into the internet, and what separates American Morse code from International Morse code.
In this episode we discuss:
- 00:36 – Introducing James Wades
- 01:30 – How James Wades became interested in Morse code
- 01:57 – Distinguishing American Morse code from International Morse code
- 02:57 – The common myth of telegraph obsolescence and overlapping infrastructure technologies
- 03:36 – The ubiquity and scale of early telegraphy infrastructure
- 05:12 – The evolution of the technology, commercial advantages, and automatic switching
- 09:36 – How automatic telegraph routing and switching evolved into the Internet
- 11:24 – Public interactions with the telegraph and its invisible commercial industry users
- 15:54 – Walter P. Phillips and the development of Phillips code shorthand
- 17:05 – Using Phillips Code for rapid baseball play-by-play and news reporting
- 21:23 – How Morse code characters are structured as rhythm patterns rather than manual translations
- 24:54 – Efficiency in telegraphy through the disciplined elimination of unnecessary language
- 28:48 – The economics of word-based charging systems
- 30:19 – Understanding telegraphy as a holistic, practiced art form
- 33:36 – Historical myths surrounding telegraph efficiency and the concept of the Victorian Internet
- 36:36 – The distinct design elements and historical adoption of American and International Morse codes
- 42:54 – Resources for learning more: The Morse Telegraph Club and the Long Island CW Club
- 45:54 – Conclusion
Resources:
- The Morse Telegraph Club
- Long Island CW Club
This episode includes the track 'RSPN' by Blank & Kytt. The song is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. You can find more of Blank & Kytt's music here.
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By Dylan Carnahan
5
66 ratings
Episode 61: What Is Morse Code? – features James Wades, President of the Morse Telegraph Club and Advisor on Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, exploring the language of dots and dashes.
Episode Summary: This episode features a conversation with James, an expert in telegraphy and historical communication infrastructure.
Listen as James breaks down what Morse code really is, how telegraphy shows up in early commercial and hidden industrial systems, why efficiency and rhythm patterns matter, how the technology evolved into the internet, and what separates American Morse code from International Morse code.
In this episode we discuss:
- 00:36 – Introducing James Wades
- 01:30 – How James Wades became interested in Morse code
- 01:57 – Distinguishing American Morse code from International Morse code
- 02:57 – The common myth of telegraph obsolescence and overlapping infrastructure technologies
- 03:36 – The ubiquity and scale of early telegraphy infrastructure
- 05:12 – The evolution of the technology, commercial advantages, and automatic switching
- 09:36 – How automatic telegraph routing and switching evolved into the Internet
- 11:24 – Public interactions with the telegraph and its invisible commercial industry users
- 15:54 – Walter P. Phillips and the development of Phillips code shorthand
- 17:05 – Using Phillips Code for rapid baseball play-by-play and news reporting
- 21:23 – How Morse code characters are structured as rhythm patterns rather than manual translations
- 24:54 – Efficiency in telegraphy through the disciplined elimination of unnecessary language
- 28:48 – The economics of word-based charging systems
- 30:19 – Understanding telegraphy as a holistic, practiced art form
- 33:36 – Historical myths surrounding telegraph efficiency and the concept of the Victorian Internet
- 36:36 – The distinct design elements and historical adoption of American and International Morse codes
- 42:54 – Resources for learning more: The Morse Telegraph Club and the Long Island CW Club
- 45:54 – Conclusion
Resources:
- The Morse Telegraph Club
- Long Island CW Club
This episode includes the track 'RSPN' by Blank & Kytt. The song is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. You can find more of Blank & Kytt's music here.