Messaging vs Morse Code, Jay Leno, Part II
Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" will have a message sending/receiving contest between a cell phone text messaging team and a Morse code team tonight.
I'm betting on the Morse Code guys, if for no other reason that Morse Code guys regularly have contests. They typically compete in 48 hour no holds barred marathons (called "Contests" or "Radiosport"), and the Morse Code team consists of two experienced and very competitive gentlemen.
I don't know if text messaging aficionados hold competitions or not :)
Postscript: It happened last night. The text messaging teenagers were amazed to be beaten by a wide margin. Interestingly, the Text Teens were allowed to use their normal shorthand and slang but the Morse Code ham radio guys, better known as Chip Margelli K7JA and Ken Miller K6CTW, did not use normal Morse Code abbreviations and sent the full text.
In the words of the Ham Radio contesting club Yankee Clipper Contest Club President, Mark Pride, "our contest boys kicked their butts."
Video currently available online at http://www.kkn.net/~n6tv/Text_vs_Morse_Leno_2005_05_13.wmv
I'm betting on the Morse Code guys, if for no other reason that Morse Code guys regularly have contests. They typically compete in 48 hour no holds barred marathons (called "Contests" or "Radiosport"), and the Morse Code team consists of two experienced and very competitive gentlemen.
I don't know if text messaging aficionados hold competitions or not :)
Postscript: It happened last night. The text messaging teenagers were amazed to be beaten by a wide margin. Interestingly, the Text Teens were allowed to use their normal shorthand and slang but the Morse Code ham radio guys, better known as Chip Margelli K7JA and Ken Miller K6CTW, did not use normal Morse Code abbreviations and sent the full text.
In the words of the Ham Radio contesting club Yankee Clipper Contest Club President, Mark Pride, "our contest boys kicked their butts."
Video currently available online at http://www.kkn.net/~n6tv/Text_vs_Morse_Leno_2005_05_13.wmv
posted by Ted Demopoulos at 9:14 PM
Comments on "Messaging vs Morse Code, Jay Leno, Part II"
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Late Night TV Critic said ... (Sunday, May 15, 2005 8:45:00 AM) :
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post a commentThe Morse Code guys had excellent uniforms! I wonder whose idea that was?
I also understand that many segments on Jay's show are rehearsed. Wonder if this one was? It was so smooth.
And was the Morse Code very very fast, or just average? I'd imagine copying Morse code live on TV is more difficult than normal.
Believe it or not, Hams can be pretty fun and creative. I would not be surprised if it was thier own idea.
I do not think the Morse code was rehearsed because the Hams were not sending all that fast. Up until around 3 years ago, you needed 20 words per minute just to get your Extra Class License. These guys were sending at around 30 words a minute. Many experienced operators can go much faster.
Copying code requires good concentration since many signals can be very week, mixed in with other code signals, and often almost lost in a sea of radio static noise. Unlike text messaging, morse code sounds become like words. Live TV jitters or not, the recieving operator, heard the message as easily as you did when he said the sentence in English.
Frank
Thanks for comments Late Night TV Critic and Frank.
Here is what I found out:
The Uniforms were chosen by producer (The Code guys were dressed as old time telegrapher operators, complete with visors and bow ties).
There were three rehearsals - each time different "text" was sent and no one knew what it would be in advance. Morse Code won every time.
The Morse Code was about 28-30 words per minute. Not particularly fast, but calculated by the Morse Code Team to easily beat the Text Teens.
So Ted, are you are ham?? I used to be but my license lapsed maybe 20 years ago. Living in a condo with "no antenna" rules doesn't help!
Spiny Norman
Spiny,
I'm a ham, callsign KT1V, ex KR1G, KA1LY and KA1CRB. I was inactive from about 87-97 but am back on the air, with three towers up to 140 feet and a few dozen antennas :) Living in rural New Hampshire has its advantages!
Whatever's worth doing is worth overdoing - errrr, make that "doing well."
I like Morse Code - it's as obselete as sailing. Maybe not used much commercially anymore, but still quite popular.
http://ac6v.com/Leno.htm - K6CTW's comments on the segment. He was on the receiving end of that pair. God Bless from WX4TCL
they wouldn't beat british kids! all lightning thumbs using a dialect invented specifically for txt msgs
I hate to be the one to break the news to you Deekstette but the Hams have a very effective shorthand too. When you kids can send over 80 words a minute, then come back for another challange. Until then be humble.
The text messaging was faster however, they had to wait for the cellular carrier to connect the message with the other phone (no different than making a phone call. It was discovered in rehersal who would win. The cellular team tried to even out the playing field but the producers didn't care as it was all about the entertainment value and not who won or lost!!!
Morse code is very efficient, and is very easy to learn if you have the correct tools.
As has been posted before, the morse code was a PTP communication while the text message had to be relayed through a nearby cell tower. That alone cost the SMS team the victory. It was in fact my brother (Ben Cook) who was the message sender. Regardless of what you may see on other HAM radio websites, Ben did type the message quicker and had hit the send button before the ham guys were done. Also, I don't think that they were "shocked" to lose. They did have about 2-3 rehersals before the actual taping of the show. Morse code won each time. Another thing is, the SMS team did NOT use any shorthand and they did NOT use a predictive SMS tool. Everything was written word for word using the "ABC" typing function on the cell phone. One more comment. The team consisted of Ben (my kid brother) and Jason (a paid actor living in Burbank, CA). Just my two cents.
Hooray for the Hams using CW! Anybody can buy a cellfone in a bubblepack and text each other. The hams were demonstrating an aquired skill and lifelong devotion to the radio hobby. This is something that is rare in todays world of x boxes and instant messaging on the internet. We have lost something today as a society. The ability to think, to discover, to learn for the sake of learning and nothing else.
Just want to put in my two cents. I didn't see the video, but it seems that everyone agrees the ham on the other end got the message faster than the text messager. This demonstrates that CW is faster than text messaging. If there's a network delay, well, that's just part of what makes CW faster. I'm 13, a licensed ham, and proud to know the code.
KC2OWE
Ben is my brother, and I was there at the set with him when he was on The Tonight Show. Just so you all know, he did TYPE the text faster than the hams typed their message... the only reason the hams won was because it was based on who recieved the message faster and because of the text having to go through cell towers etc... it took longer. So morse code technically is faster to recieve, but Ben has faster fingers.
Even if he did text message faster, the morse code guys were not even doing going at their top speed. In our ham radio contests, the messages can be sent up to about twice that fast, and that's noteven using high speed cw mode where we can crank up to about 99 words per minute. Trust me kids, in real life, the atmospere that our code travels through will outdo your cell phone towers every time. Remember Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Scott Burg/ KC9HDN
I don't know where the text messenger's sister got this idea that his brother finished first. Looking at the video it seems the text messanger is still pushing buttons on his phone when the Morse Code guy removed his hand from the device. It seems the video proves her wrong.
I am also a ham, (AA9CK), and I thought it interesting that no one mentioned that the Morse Code guys were using Bencher paddles and an electronic keyer, which is not 170 year old technology. The keyer and paddles allow the "dits" and "dahs" to be sent faster. It would be interesting to see the outcome if we found the worlds fastest ham with a straight key. The electronic keyer was not running anywhere near full speed. A Bencher paddle with a Curtis keyer chip will run at 99 wpm. A straight key is nothing more than a set of contacts that are manually controlled. The dit is sent by shorting the contact for a short duration, the dah is sent with a longer duration, (3X ideally). The radio they are using is modern and probably has the Curtis 8044ABM chip, which wasn't invented until the spring of 1986. http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2002/02/04/2/?nc=1 P.S. The guy sending did a terrific job. Great spacing, no mistakes, good fist.
According to one of the HAMs in the contest, "Ben was just getting ready to start entering the last 2 words when I was done."
See the first note here.
The contest is about which method of communication is faster, not which method of encoding is faster. To me, the measurement of a complete communication includes encoding, transmission, transit, reception, and decoding - the complete end to end process.