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SAMUEL MORSE AND THE REVOLUTION OF DISTANCE COMMUNICATION

Even though the telegraph may not be used much anymore, it was a huge growth in communication when it was invented and for many years after. An optical telegraph developed in the late 1700s required a line of sight between the people communicating, but the electric telegraph is what most people think of when they hear the words “telegraph.”

The electric telegraph was the culmination of the efforts of multiple inventors that were finally brought together in the 1840s. Electrical signals might be transmitted from one place to another using this technique, where they would be converted into messages. This changed the entire nation, as messages could now be sent and received almost immediately.

Although they were and still are a significant means of communication, written letters were less necessary. Telegrams might be expensive to send, therefore they were typically saved for matters that needed to be communicated more immediately; letters remained still the preferred method of communication.

Electromagnet

William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet in 1825. Sturgeon's innovation, the electromagnet, allowed for the lifting of bigger weights than had previously been conceivable. It would also be used in other advances in communication.

The Emergence Of Telegraph Systems

In 1830, Joseph Henry used an electromagnet to transfer an electric current across a wire and ring a bell more than a mile away. William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone operated similar electromagnetism concepts to create an early telegraph, which they patented in 1837. But Samuel Morse was the one who developed the modern, economically viable telegraph system.

Joseph Henry
Cooke and Wheatstone Five-Needle Telegraph

Samuel Morse was a New York University professor in 1835 when he successfully delivered a message on a strip of paper using electromagnets and pulses of electricity. He expanded his concept to include a system of dots and dashes a year later.

After seeing how much easier the telegraph could make communication between Baltimore and Washington, Congress decided to pay Samuel Morse $30,000 to build a 40-mile-long telegraph line. Make communication with their components, and more lines were added.

Morse was also an artist who was known for his power to capture the essence of people’s personalities through his delicately developed portraits.

“What Hath God Wrought?”

"What hath God wrought? " was the first telegraph message ever sent on an official line. Annie Ellsworth, the daughter of a friend of Morse, chose the message. She picked this sentence from Numbers 23, which was written as dots and dashes on paper tape and afterward translated by a machine.

The Telegraph Spreads

As Samuel Morse and other investors operated private capital to build lines to Philadelphia and New York, small telegraph firms started to proliferate across the country. In 1851, Western Union was founded, and railroads started to transmit trains using telegraphs.

However, 1861 was an even more historically important year for the telegraph: This is when Western Union completed the first-ever transcontinental telegraph line, which ran mostly alongside railroad tracks.

Originally printed on paper tape, Morse code transmissions eventually transitioned to an auditory process in which operators typed the messages at a rate of 40 to 50 words per minute while listening for pauses and sounds.

Morse code-to-text conversion technology was created in 1900, while automatic transmission technology was created in 1914.

Multiplex Telegraph, Teleprinters, and Other Improvements

Multiplexing, developed in 1913 by Western Union, let four messages be sent in each direction at the same time. This quantity climbed to 36 transmissions in each direction in 1936. Western Union invented the first facsimile machine, which was somewhat akin to modern fax machines, in 1938.

The development of the telex network, which took place in 1959, was the following significant development in communications. This technology permitted subscribers to communicate directly with each other, which drastically improved communication capabilities nationwide.

How Long Does it Take to Learn Morse Code?

3 Ways to Learn Morse Code Faster

1. Morse Code Tracing

The method of learning the Morse code alphabet by tracing the dot and dash (dit and dah) combinations within the letter is known as "Morse code tracing."

The reasoning behind this is that remembering the lines or shape of the letter will make it easier for you to recall how it is represented in Morse code. While it won't much help with timing, this should help more visual learners quickly recall the letters.

After mastering the alphabet, numbers, punctuation, and special characters, one should concentrate on understanding the timing, which is the most difficult element.

2. Morse Code Learning Apps

Now that everyone has a phone, you might as well use it to practice Morse code. Gboard is a fantastic tool to start with among the many helpful ones out there for the learning.

You can add Morse code to your keyboard with this app, which is accessible on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

With the Gboard app, you can add Morse code like a language to your texting menu options so you can quickly use it to text Morse code. Your input will be translated into English as dot (dit) and dash (dah) combinations.

3. Use Proven Methods For Copying

Morse code is easier to send than to receive, comprehend, and copy. This is because no one can convey codes perfectly, therefore timing will nearly never be ideal. It will never sound precisely the same every single time because of differences in timing, pitch, speed, and device. While learning to send is crucial, it is better to practice copying received messages.

If you focus on the more difficult aspect of the situation—copying the code—first, sending it should be simpler. By asking an app or website to deliver you the code at a specific rate, you can practice receiving and copying down the code.

Using Farnsworth Timing, or, to put it simply, sending the characters faster than the words, is one of the most used methods for learning Morse code.

Simply extending the gap between words rather than slowing down the entire signal, enables a beginner to pick up knowledge more quickly. This approach aims to induce learning through rhythm rather than through counting.

Another approach is to adopt the Koch method, which only requires the learner to memorize a small number of characters at a time while forcing them to listen to Morse code at full speed from day one.

With this approach, the learner copies an increasing amount of characters and can only move on to the following lesson if they get 90% of them right.

Conclusion

What both of these methods have in common is that they suggest you don't start learning Morse code at a slow speed. Just keep in mind that the software or application delivering you the audio code will always sound the same.

If you are serious about learning the code, you should look for many Morse code audio samples to duplicate from authentic and various senders.