Unit 17 text a What is the Morse Code?

1. Read and translate the text.

The Morse code is probably the best established electronics based communications code. Originally created for Samuel F. B. Morse's electric telegraph in the early 1840s, Morse code was also extensively used for early radio communication beginning in the 1890s. For the first half of the twentieth century, the majority of high-speed international communication was conducted in Morse code, using telegraph lines, undersea cables, and radio circuits. However, the variable length of the Morse characters made it hard to adapt to automated circuits, so for most electronic communication it has been replaced by machine readable formats.

This system became the first widespread method of sending messages over great distances. It was simple to use and flexible, and it soon became a World-Wide standard.

Later with the invention of wireless or radio communications, the simplicity of the Morse code lent itself to the transmissions of the day, and it soon gained a new applications becoming a mainstay for radio communications for many years.

Nowadays with the development of new technologies, the Morse code has been superseded in many areas. Despite this Morse code can still be heard when listening on the HF radio bands, and in fact it is still in widespread use in amateur radio or ham radio circles.

So what is the Morse code?

The Morse code is a code that uses a series of dots and dashes to represent the different letters of the alphabet, numbers and procedural notations. In this way it is possible to send a message in Morse code by simply turning a signal on and off in the correct manner to represent the dots and dashes.

By definition a dot is one unit long, and a dash is three units long. Spaces between adjacent dots and dashes are one unit long, the gap between letters is three units long, and between words it is five.

Modern International Morse Code

The Morse code has been in use for more than 160 years — longer than any other electronic encoding system. What is called the Morse code today is actually somewhat different from what was originally developed by Vail and Morse. The Modern International Morse code, or continental code, was created by Friedrich Clemens Gerke in 1848 and initially used for telegraphy between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in Germany. After some minor changes, in 1865 it was standardized at the International Telegraphy congress in Paris (1865), and later made the norm by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as International Morse code. Morse's original code specification, largely limited to use in the United States, became known as American Morse code or "railroad code."

2. Find the English equivalents to the following words and phrases:

Встановлений, заснований на, гнучкий, бепровідний, простота, застосування, заміщувати, аматорське радіо, точка, тире, розташований поруч

10. Translate the sentences into Ukrainian:

1. Morse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm.

2. The original "MORSE CODE" used by Samuel Morse since the 1840's allows letters to be sent as short electrical signals (dots) and long electrical signals (dashes) along with some embedded spaces.

3. It was widely used throughout Europe and America in very early land-line communications.

4. The original "Morse Code" was replaced in England in the 1800's by a somewhat similar code which eliminated all of the embedded spaces and long dashes within letters.

5. This new code was called the "CONTINENTAL" or "INTERNATIONAL" MORSE CODE and became the universal standard for Radio Telegraph Communications and for European land-line telegraphic communications.

6. In the professional field, pilots and air traffic controllers are usually familiar with Morse code and require a basic understanding.

7. Morse code is designed to be read by humans without a decoding device, making it useful for sending automated digital data in voice channels.