Keeping It Alive | A Morse Code Documentary

The days of Morse Code are long gone and almost forgotten by the young generation of today. But a small group of old ex telegraphists from around Australia are dedicated to preserving, remembering and educating how important Morse code once was to Australia.
DIRECTED, EDITED AND CINEMATOGRAPHY BY
JACK MORROW
PRODUCED BY
JACK MORROW
JOHN MORROW
CAST
LEO NETTE
JOHN SYDENHAM
BILL MORROW
MUSIC
‘MORSE CODE OF LOVE’
Written By NICK SANTAMARIA Performed By THE CAPRIS Courtesy of RESNIK MUSIC GROUP
‘RED CADILLAC’
Composed By LINCOLN GROUNDS and PAT REYFORD Courtesy of AUDIO NETWORK LIMITED
‘WHY DO YOU DO’
Composed By LINCOLN GROUNDS and PAT REYFORD Courtesy of AUDIO NETWORK LIMITED
‘CHRISTMAS LIST’
Composed By DAVID TOBIN, JEFF MEEGAN and CHARLEY HARRISON Courtesy of AUDIO NETWORK LIMITED
‘CHAPMAN STRUT’
Composed By LEON HUNT and JOSH CLARK Courtesy of AUDIO NETWORK LIMITED
‘TWILIGHT WALTZ’
Composed By LEON HUNT and JOSH CLARK Courtesy of AUDIO NETWORK LIMITED
‘WHY DID SHE GO’
Composed By JASON REBELLO Courtesy of AUDIO NETWORK LIMITED
SPECIAL THANKS
STEFAN NOWAK MANAGER TELSTRA MUSEUM MELBOURNE
TELSTRA VICTORIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS MUSEUM
BEECHWORTH TELEGRAPH STATION
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA
STATE LIBRARY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
CENTRALIAN ADVOCATE
BALLARAT NEWS AND THE COURIER
RESNIK MUSIC GROUP

[@terryhayward7905]

Ham radio is still keeping morse alive 73s

[@keithbarlow8415]

I'm currently learning Morse simply for the joy of it.

[@Godhumbledme]

need any help with mors been doing it since '78 be glad to help let me know okay? tnx de k8jcr

[@halonothing1]

Me too. There WERE some nice apps on Android for it back in the day. But they all seem to be crap now. Maybe I have to look again. I figure if I can learn to read/write Russian (but not understand it lol), type on a DVORAK keyboard, and learn to read a font that replaces all characters with the Aurebesh alphabet from Star Wars, I figure I can learn morse code. It's just too bad I don't have money for anything HAM related to actually put it to good use. If you learn about radio, get a HAM liscence, and set up, there are still people all over the world using it. Just don't ask me about the particulars. There are probably tons of videos about it, come to think of it. Like this one. lol

[@tomscyclerecycling8242]

CW is my primary mode of communication in ham radio. It lives on!

[@leshigger6517]

I was a code operator on kodiak Island in 1969 with the US navy. Before that I was and still am a ham radio op since 1960. Still pound the key from time to time. Great memories.

[@waylonk2453]

Thank you for your service. And, thank you for being a morse contact for new HAMs on CW

[@Aimsport-video]

Gents, rest in the knowledge that Morse Code is alive and well! Thank you for your service.

[@TheArtofEngineering]

Morse did NOT fade out in 1962! Landline did but maritime radio officers were made redundant in 2000 (I was one of the last groups of ships RO’s / sparks trained) …. Hams (amateur radio operators) continue the legacy … MORSE WILL NEVER DIE!!!

[@adamtaylor31]

That's right!

[@87398]

A 22 years and starting to learn it

[@ledguy315]

32 and learning CW while studying for General. CW is alive and well.

[@TheArtofEngineering]

🙏 AMEN! ❤

[@trig6712]

Morse Works Here For me I am an A 82 year old radio ham in Scotland Excellent Video,,, thank you all so much

[@EJRadio]

It works for me too. I'm a ham born in 1981 and I enjoy code more than any other communication. I'm generally anti-paddle as well, either bugs or straight keys for me.

[@TyeMorrisVlog]

I was born in ‘81 as well, and I love operating CW. I’m one of the lucky US hams who had an older Elmer who encouraged me to learn Morse code when I was studying for my ham radio exams after the code requirements had been dropped.

[@EssexCountyPhoto]

Born in 76, raised in France, living in the UK. Passed my Intermediate licence in 2021. Learning CW. We are its future.

[@rosswaddams]

Only 687 views? - this video deserves far more, both for the content and for the production (which is excellent). The days of professional Morse Code over landline telegraph may be long gone but Morse Code is alive and well over amateur HF radio, and over the internet (CWcom, iCW, MoiP) which is a form of landline! Modern Morse Code builds on the legacy of early electronic communications as practised so admirably by these guys.

[@thomaskilburn3111]

I was in the ASA through the 60's and 70's. Mostly in Vietnam. Intercepting enemy communication. It was at times a little bit dangerous and other boring. It was the best years of my life.

[@UndyingShadow83]

Morse is becoming MORE popular in Ham Radio, not less. As long as there are radio nerds, there will be Morse.

[@dougkelly311]

I’m 87 and became a Telegraphist at 18 after a 9 month course in Brisbane. I was transferred to Thursday Island postoffice in 1956 where there was a combination of landline and radio morse due to passing ships through the Torres Strait. I visited the Beechworth museum a few times just to hear it again.

[@mickjohnson6042]

Great Video thanks, I have taught myself Morse Code over the last few years, I find it fascinating. There are a lot of people in the Ham radio community taking it up. I think it will be used for many years to come.

[@adamtaylor31]

I've been using it on the air for 40 years. There is no other mode like it. What they did was the true classic art, but ham radio is how telegraphy will stay alive. I just made a contact with French St. Martin about 30 minutes ago, i plan to make more tonight. I understand how these men feel to a degree. I look forward to getting home and to my operating position every day. I am going to start training a young friend of mine in the code later this month, he is excited to get rolling! They are the next generation of operators and I want to make sure I get it right. I have immense respect for these OT's. Tip of the visor to them...dit dit.

[@EJRadio]

I will be keeping CW alive as long as I can. I'm 42 years old and enjoy bugs and straight keys. It is also the only mode I like.

[@JamesSanders]

Awesome program, happy to say that MORSE is making a comeback on ham radio. God bless

[@bodacious2276]

Morse is alive and well on the HAM bands.

[@adamtaylor31]

It certainly is, especially the last weekend of November. You cant find a clear spot!

[@Kd4stt.]

Absolutely beautiful documentary! Being a former U.S. Army teletype operator and ham radio operator, this video is much appreciated! Thanks.

[@davedeiler2037]

Get into HAM radio. It's not exactly the same, but at least we regularly use Morse Code, CW.

[@ronaldschatte1383]

May not be overland per se, but certainly Morse Code continues to be sent as Continuous Wave worldwide on the Amateur Radio bands. Thanks for making this documentary for the overland Morse transmission in Australia!

[@dukesins]

I started to work as a telegram boy at Granville (NSW) Post Office in 1960 and that's where I first saw first-hand how telegrams were sent and received. We thought that we'd reached the pinnacle of technology when they replaced our Morse set at Granville with a teleprinter.

[@mike94560]

I still do it on my ham radio. They still haven't made a decoder better than what the human ear can do.

[@bhk7az641]

Wonderful video! 73 de K7ZB

[@TheRubbersoul1991]

Great stuff. Thank you for this wonderful piece of history.

[@herzogsbuick]

all these folks mentioning ham radio which is what i came to say, too -- i really enjoyed this, and i hope these fellas are keeping it alive over the air!

[@PopeyeKF4LBG]

How grateful I am to you for sharing this history and these memories with me... Thank you... 73 de KF4LBG

[@KD0RC]

Thanks for producing this great video! While not landline morse, I still operate morse over ham radio, and really enjoy it. 73, Len, KD0RC

[@Windmill97]

Morse is alive and well in Amateur radio.

[@rjy8960]

I'm learning Morse at the moment to use with amateur radio. Only a couple of weeks into this attempt, but decided to ditch the printed charts and learn by ear this time.

[@jerunspriggsterlaak]

Hi Jack, just want to compliment you on this video. I am just filming with Leo Nette on similar content for the Shire here and he proudly referred me to this video.

[@kennethkowalchuk7868]

I learned morse as a second language in the early '80's as a radioman in the Canadian Navy.

[@fintronics]

Morse code is alive. As a licensed amateur radio operator, I have been using Morse code (CW) for 50+ years now.....

[@1boortzfan]

Great video! I'm trying to relearn morse after being away from it for several years. I want to use it on ham radio. Thank you for paving the way.

[@goinghomesomeday1]

Brilliant video. I am a Ex Marconi CW op. Still operating 100% Morse on my NATO Key and my Vibroplex. 73 de EI6DP ..._._

[@lyingcat9022]

In my 30’s and I’m learning Morse for Amateur Radio. My Son is 9 and listens too. He picks up the letters much faster than I do… he just doesn’t have the serious drive to really learn. But if I keep using it around him he might just learn it passively. So no worries old timers, people will keep Morse alive for you :)

[@MadGoat]

Unfortunately Overland Telegraph is dead, but Morse is alive and well on the air! I am just starting myself, but I figure by summer of 2024, I'll be ragchewing with the best of them! What's nice about HAM CW, is that you don't need need a big, expensive unit. Just a small, portable 5-10W transceiver and a good quality antenna will get you right across the country. So much more versatile and more reach than voice.

[@hakangustavsson3538]

Nostalgic video. I was a military telegraphist more than 50 years ago. Nice memories.

[@bdcochran01]

Telegrams were very important in the US in the 1940s and 1950s. I learned code. Somewhere in my possessions, I still have my key set.

[@basshorseman998]

Better late than never. Fantastic documentary and look at Morse seen through the gentlemens eyes. Thoroughly enjoyed it, Thank you.

[@gregsz1ful]

I started watching and made me think of Perls Before Swine record.😀

[@pravoslavn]

Like ! Thank you ! Some of us here in the US copy Morse off a telegraph sounder, too, but it is American Morse and not the Continental Code. We love our spaced letters and long Dashes !

[@user-xc9cl3cu8d]

I first learned morse code whn i was just 14 yrs old. As a general class Ham since the 80s, i still prefer CW mode than FM, SSB, PSK64, Packet. I hv tried FT8 but all these so called digital modes just can't Deliver the vry same fun. Pleasure, satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment that CW/morse Could Give !!! Specially copying by Ear in my head without digital decoders the way Old timers did in yesteryesrs !!!

[@lowelljacobsen5122]

Outstanding! Only wish it could have gone on for hours. Absolutely loved it!!

[@cw7422]

At one US Navy communications base I was stationed at in 1974 we had a teletype to Morse converter for sending messages to submarines.

[@HannoBehrens]

Don't be nostalgic DR OM = I just learned Morse code as a HAM OP ES starting my life on the airwaves with that = Maybe the landlines are dead ES decommissioned, but the code lives on = am still a beginner, but have a life of Morse code before me = 149 QSO to 42 countries and going for more = Helping to get other newcomers get on the brass, 13yo daughter of a friend has her exam in dec = 2 next YL now in training = U CANT STOP THE SIGS, MEL = MORSE NEVER DIES = TU OM FER SERVICE ES CUAGN 73 ES AGBP + DE DL7HH ..

[@HannoBehrens]

@@JustMe-dv5ix N7KO de DL7HH R OK = TNX FER INFO = Yes, the new contests bring a lot of people to the bands, sadly, MNI of them only learn to read the callsign at 35 wpm, do contest-style QSO but if you try to start a conversation with them, they just lean back, do nothing, give a 73 TU .. in the and and that's it. It's not that they don't want, they can't. It is something completely different to learn to read a callsign and to read a full conversation it seems. I can't read callsigns at 35. Not yet. Maybe with some repeats at 25-30… if I have a good day. I am fighting hard to find people on band, that are actually engaging into a real QSO, a real conversational style. I am lucky here in Northern Germany to have a small community, but that are mostly Swedes, I know of maybe a handful of German OP that I can hear and that are daily on the bands, but I'm the youngest, in time on the bands and in years on the tachometer. I sometimes, when the Fading Fairy is well mannered, not drunk and not malicious, I can buildup a strong connection to NY on 10m and I had some guy from Pennsylvania. I think I got most of them on 10m, because that's the band I sometimes power up my PA and will have an extremely strong signal over the pond. I know that I am well audible in the US even with 5 watts, but people seem to be quite spoiled and don't take a signal with +10 dB S/N anymore nowadays, sadly. 😀 From my first visit to this clip to now there has gone bye almost a year on the bands and I got a bit more boldly now, dare to take guys, that are a bit faster. But I do not touch the 20 wpm yet, am training towards that, but I am not just there. Training with my bug here, too, but when I'm not safe in listening to 20, I should not send it at that speed. I never had imagined how much fun it is and how satisfying to connect somewhere on the other side of the world with nothing but a key and your ears and even the cheapest little rig would work, got a µSDX here, which is fun to use, for example. I had established really hard connections with RST 219 or something and brought them home, with a bit of work of course and a friendly OP on the other end, that was putting work in that, too. And I just listened in to some really old rigs on 3568 today, Saturday evening 2100 LT, they were chirping and one of the guys was doing A2A, I first was not understanding what was coming in there, until I understood and turned to AM to listen. There is so much beauty, so much to discover! I think people have not heard A2A for a long time now… It's hard for me to get everywhere, guess I never get my DXCC, because I usually don't do contests, just rag chews and they are only sporadically to find. I almost stopped using phony on HF so far. Maybe one of 50 QSO I do in SSB, mostly because someone wants me to or needs me for some silly points. I'm fully infected with this and feeling great! There is something really huge gone by. People say this won't come back, I doubt that. Let something happen to our satellites and all that modern crap will be gone and everybody is back to brass pounding, I don't see how a digital mode can replace this on shortwave. No way. I have still problems to reach the US West Coast from my station. Maybe I should build myself a beam… hm… 73 DE DL7HH TU ..

[@whippoorwill1124]

"I went away one weekend. My wife stayed home, and when I came back home she had, over the weekend, put all these telepoles up around the room in place of the overland telegraph." Try hearing that dry-eyed. Love: how could you ever measure what that meant to somebody? She knew.

[@seanfoley7097]

Beautiful typewriter

[@captbart3185]

I’m a fair Morse operator but on ham radio. I couldn’t do justice to a sounder. Getting the DAHs from the clicks cuts my speed from 30WPM to 5WPM or less. There is a group that does land line Morse over the internet here in the states. They use Morse’s original code not the International version used in Europe and on radio.

[@billygamer3941]

I still am using Morse via Amateur Radio. I realise this is a different code from that used on land but I sense the kinship with you land ops!

[@gammondog]

American Morse was used in US and Canada on the wires. Abroad, continental was the norm which is what is used on the ham bands. The difference is that they are using sounders. Clicks rather than tones. I found it impossible to copy landline Morse even though I was a competent radio telegrapher.

[@waylonk2453]

Thank you for producing this documentary. What a nice group of gentlemen! If only they got into using morse over the air waves.

[@AlHearn]

Every school kids today should see this and learn how we communicated before cell phones.,

[@ukrainehamradio]

not a single schoolboy will watch a video where 80-year-olds tell something

[@camve3kcn691]

@@ukrainehamradio Well, this one certainly did, and I'm a morse operator on amateur radio so there's that. But yeah, forgetting the fact that it's an older generation talking, you'd be hard pressed to get a lot of people my age to even watch a video this long regardless of what it is. Attention spans don't exist lol

[@ukrainehamradio]

@@camve3kcn691 Cool! Hope to make CW QSO with you one day! 73 de US7IGN!

[@lowelljacobsen5122]

Yes, This was the FIRST texting!!

[@TyeMorrisVlog]

This is a lovely documentary! I’d love to get over to Australia and meet this group some day! I love operating CW, even though I’m really only good for about 18wpm on a good day. When I took my ham radio exams twenty years ago they had dropped the 5wpm code requirement in the US for the Technician exam, but thankfully my Elmer was wise enough to tell me to learn CW anyways. I’m forever grateful that he did.

[@jim671671]

This was brilliant mate. Surprised I haven't seen it sooner. I'm only a young buck (41) but would love to build a small station on some acreage I live on. Hopefully that will compliment my amateur radio station once I get my foundation ticket (many years in progress, life gets in the way hihi).

[@michaeldinelli112]

Excellent documentary. 73 ES DIT DIT

[@SuburbanDon]

These are great stories and these got to live them. 73

[@user-hm2gb6pm6b]

Landline Landline Thank to morse Beautiful presentation

[@FloydMaxwell]

Nice doc

[@uncommon_name9337]

It'll be needed and used by survivors of the Apocalypse.

[@DeeegerD]

Learned morse in the military and also became a Ham Operator. Great past time. Amateur Radio should have never dropped this requirement as it made sure people were serious about the hobby and not just CBers (of which I was in the seventies before I joined the military) who wanted to have more power (1000 watts vice 4). Now I focus on low power (called QRP) under 5 watts.

[@KD7QOW-np9gd]

I just completed my third CW only POTA activation and I would never have bothered to get on hf if code had still been a requirement. SSB was just the gateway drug. Ironically, I think that dropping the code requirement is leading more people to learn code. I know it worked to lure me in.

[@HALEdigitalARTS]

Great video... How is this just now coming up in my feed?

[@gerardosullivan1642]

A great band of workers united as a community in Morse Code I was in the Irish Navy WT operator it was all C.W. When communications collapse who will train the new operators.

[@ukpotaparksontheair3670]

Believe me, morse will persevere. There are thousands of hams using it every day.

[@BGBengtsson]

Thanks for sharing! How did you manage to send 40wpm! Did you not have straight keys!? And reciev!? And write it down!

[@sbright33]

I'm still going and I'm young!

[@paulthompson1988]

A nice little video, but fails to mention that professional Radio Telegraphy went on for many years, and also that it continues in the Amateur Radio service which includes Morse Code with many new operators learning the skill. I learnt Morse Code in the RAAF in 1979. Most of the guys on Ham Radio operating Morse are a lot younger than me.

[@petertate3436]

Brilliant Documentary!! Thank you! I'd like to see something about the technology please. How much voltage etc etc? Then there is the different types of morse...used between PMG and international ham etc. I did my Novice ticket here in Australia in the early 80s.... You got 3 hf bands and needed 5 wpm morse. First thing drummed into me was.... don't look at the chart... don't think of it as dots and dashes.... that's for visual reference... You get "the sound" in your head not the individual dots and dashes. So for me its beeps not clicks. I also see different keys used.... Thanks again 73's

[@madcarew5168]

Wish you well -.-

[@patrickbuick5459]

I'm curious how they connect. I did see the one post about using sites on the internet as if they were land line. I was also curious that they used what appear to be sideswipe keys. I'm learning or trying to learn Morse for ham radio, at least.

[@gettingpast4391]

Morse code is FAR from dead! Listen to the lower section of each amateur radio band and you will find a morse code conversation ANY nearly time of the day! I am 52 and use morse code.

[@jemmrich]

When I was 10 I made a point to learn SOS, now in my 40's I am actually following through with learning the full alphabet!

[@bazza945]

Hello Gem, in Morse code the distress code S O S is keyed not as ... --- ... (separately) but as one group of characters. ...---... Ex New Zealand coast radio station radio operator, 1964/1991.

[@Homer19521]

Some say background music should be between -18dBs and -20dBs lower than the main dialogue. To my ears, the background music in this vid is 0-3dB lower than the dialogue. Great vid, marred by loud background music.

[@daryldixon99]

Use it for work love doing it

[@seekandfind5005]

The code man might still prevent an advantage in wartime.

[@seekandfind5005]

Might give his navy an advantage

[@robcarnaroli269]

Looks like I need to try to work CW over starlink from a remote location. That would be a modern mash-up!

[@robputt]

I don't really believe Morse is dead. Just need to go on HAM radio bands and there is morse all over the place and younger operators learning it too. 🙂

[@stuartdunk803]

There are many new Amateur radio operators learning and using Morse code. May not be land line but the code itself is living on!🤔🙂

[@skykingimagery899]

Wonderful video. Very tender stories. Note the real typewriters. No one uses a simple key. All are using a paddle. K6AGE

[@cujimmy1366]

Any good Yt channels for learning Morse.

[@JR19578]

There was also semaphore - Boy Scouts could get the relevant badge by learning either semaphore or morse (Unfortunately, what we learned was semaphore). But I don't think anyone is sentimental about keeping semaphore alive!

[@MrScotchpie]

I don't know why these guys are so pessimistic, Morse is alive and well and actually seeing a renaissance on the amateur radio bands.

[@coldandaloof7166]

Still some old amatuer radio operators keeping the code alive. Most are faster than I can decode it.

[@Bobbysoxer2]

It is so unfortunate the amateur radio operators are not required to be proficient in Morse Code. One would think that Morse would at least be required for the most advanced Extra Class license. That would be an Extra for sure!

[@fintronics]

I'm sure you've all seen Independence Day.

[@surak1841]

Morse, like smoke signals communication from a different century.

[@blutear7408]

god of s hope

[@BentConrod]

dididahdit F

[@roadrunner_meepmeep]

Never could discern individual letters out of morse code. That being said, just trying to discern individual words out of air traffic control talk gibberish is pretty much as hard and incomprehensible.

[@germanjohn5626]

Morse code as out dated as smoke signals and horse buggies.

[@Godhumbledme]

I love this! thank you for this video. LONG LIVE MORSE CODE!! my favorite mode! love it! de K8JCR

[@dalewagnerW1EW]

Thank you!! KC1TRN