Connunications update following Polls:

[Lightspeed]

(30 October 2012, 17:01)gary5wift Wrote: I just signed up to do the foundation license with my local ham group but i am hoping to progress into HF and CW once I've got the foundation under my belt. For anyone wanting to learn morse there is a good SW program that you can download for free called MorseCat - just google it to find the link.

Maybe we'll touchbase on air sometime

Cheer
Gary

Good luck with the FL Gary,

73 de

Lightspeed

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(30 October 2012, 20:33)Paul Wrote: What do I mean by that?

Voice wins every time over Morse especially when talking to strangers in a crisis.

Of course the hams among us will rightly state that Morse carries further than voice. It does.

Your problem might be getting someone down the road to pull you out of a ditch and stop the severe bleeding rather than talking round the world to a fellow ham.

Try sending Morse in a vehicle, lying on your side.
It's going to be easier to key a mic and scream "somebody help me" than establish a Morse key link and gently transmit your location at 8 words a minute.

Time yourself.
Send in Morse to a friend:-
Stuck in a ditch by the oak tree, 3 miles west of Cliff road, a village, a town, a county, TW10 1AA for a GPS fix.
I've severely cut my wrist and am bleeding out, come quick.

I'm working on say 150 characters at five characters a word, 30 words.
8 words a minute, about 4 minutes.
Wow that's fast (not).

Now go onto a microphone and say the same thing.
What, 15 seconds at the most?

IMO you need to concentrate on getting PHYSICAL help and that means plain language short range communications.

PMR, VHF Ham, CB, Marine. It doesn't matter.
Voice rules in emergencies and short range comms should be your goal.

Morse? How quaint.

Welcome back OM.

I completely agree with everything you have said here.
Agreed phone ( voice) is the best for summoning immediate help and for most open communication.

Morse is really of use when looking for wider area communications, using low power and simple technology equipment.