Morse Code Faster Than SMS

mentalflossboy writes "Engadget is reporting that Morse Code is actually faster than text messaging. According to the article, 93 year old Gordon Hill transmitted a message faster than 13 year old Brittany Devlin, despite Devlin's 'liberal use of texting slang.' And the fabulous quote they were they sending: 'Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing.'"

Newsflash!

[EnronHaliburton2004 (815366)]

Newsflash:

Voice is faster then either Text Messaging or Morse Code, it's already included with your phone plan, and it doesn't make you look like an idiot.

Re:Newsflash!

[by Anonymous Coward]

No, it just makes you sound like one. :P

Seriously, I'd rather be on a bus full of txters than people phoning.

Re:Newsflash!

[wahsapa (767922)]

NEWSFLASH:

Telepathy faster than speech... however it DOES make you look like an idiot

Re:Newsflash!

[kaalamaadan (639250)]

The best lightbulb joke:

A: One

Q: How many psychics does it take to change a lightbulb?

Re:Newsflash!

[Capt'n Hector (650760)]

I assume from your post that you've never tried to call someone from a concert or a party (hey this is /. after all) where there's loud music. There really are times when you can't hear shit.

Re:Newsflash!

[Chemisor (97276)]

I assume from your post that you are unaware that exposure to loud music causes hearing loss. I would put your problem in the "Doctor, it hurts when I do this" category.

Re:Newsflash!

[Jozer99 (693146)]

So true. I'm in a band, which means lots of concerts. At 100 dB+, I don't want to call anyone, or even take my protective earplugs out for that matter (call me a sissy, but I will be insulting you in ten years, but you won't hear it, or much of anything). Text messaging is a great way to contact people to tell them when our set it, tell people that to bring a forgotten cable or instrument, or even in some cases find out WHERE THE #$%#$ our base player is. Other than that, I usually use the phone for wha

Re:Newsflash!

[soft_guy (534437)]

Hmmm. Most bands I've been in had bass players. I'd be interested to see your base player.

All your base are belong to us?

Re:Newsflash!

[magefile (776388)]

Are you familiar with etymotics plugs? They probably wouldn't be good for using a cell phone, but (in theory) you can often talk to people even when you have them in and there's loud music in the background.

Re:Newsflash!

[by Anonymous Coward]

It's mainly useful for: "We're leaving, where the hell are you?"

Well Duh!

[Zeinfeld (263942)]

I just read my spouse the headline to this story

"Well Duhh!", she replies

"No Duhh Duhh Dit Dit Duhh Duhhh"

<thump>

Re:Newsflash!

[DustyShadow (691635)]

- Texting is better when I'm in a situation where I don't want others to know what I'm talking about.

- Texting is better when I need to tell someone something but I don't want to have to have a full conversation with them.

- Since I travel a lot, I love using Google text (46645) when I'm looking for something like a restaraunt in the area

- Texting saves minutes.

Not for real men!

[Chemisor (97276)]

> Texting is better when I'm in a situation where I
> don't want others to know what I'm talking about.

Real men speak Klingon for this purpose.

> Texting is better when I need to tell someone
> something but I don't want to have to have a full
> conversation with them.

So call them, say it, and hang up. If it's important, they'll call back and use up their minutes.

> I love using Google text (46645) when I'm
> looking for something like a restaraunt

Real men aren't afraid of asking for directions.

> Texting saves minutes.

Sounds like you need to work on your words per minute. Some people speak very slowly at as little as 15 wpm. With a little practice you can work up to 175 wpm. Not only will that save you valuable minutes (although real men buy unlimited calling plans), but it works as an excellent device for winning arguments. Just imagine, being able to say ten words for each one your opponent utters! He'll never be able to come up with a counter argument before you completely devastate him with an astounding verbal barrage and move through seven topics before he gathers enough wits to reply to the first one. If he tries, just sneer and invoke the three-second rule.

Did I mention that women are really impressed by verbal prowess? Typing up these voluminous Slashdot comments is gonna pay off today!

Re:Not for real men!

[Xzzy (111297)]

I'm a guy, and I must admit I'm kinda turned on.

rowr.

Re:Newsflash!

[zeromemory (742402)]

it doesn't make you look like an idiot

Newsflash:

Most people would rather have you text than yap loudly on the phone in public places.

Don't get me wrong, voice chat is usually more efficient, but text messaging is a whole lot more discreet. My friends and I use it to schedule study-groups - that way, we can notify someone of a meeting later that day while they're still in class.

Re:Newsflash!

[PsychicX (866028)]

In other news, some bratty teenager just got owned by somebody 80 years her elder.

Re:Newsflash!

[OrangeTide (124937)]

Texting is asynchronous though.

Yeah, but does this include T9 input?

[Smiffa2001 (823436)]

I find T9 [t9.com] predictive input [t9.com] input a real help, much quicker than even the folks that use "u", "m8" and other abbreviations.

Still annoys me when people (really had to concentrate and not type "ppl" then) try to use SMS to see if I want to go for a beer tho... I always end up calling 'em, it's far cheaper and quicker. Texts seem so impersonal sometimes too...

Re:Newsflash!

[Xugumad (39311)]

Texting is great for either messages that require no response ("I'll be in the pub from 6, feel free to join me", "It's <blah>'s birthday on Friday, thought you might want a reminder", "Arrrghh I hate Mondays/my boss/computers/the weather", etc.), or where a response is not time critical, and likely to be delayed ("Can you tell me <obscure information>", "Are you free next week sometime"), this sort of thing.

In particular, you don't have to interrupt the other person to get your message across. I may notice a message arriving, and read it at the time, or I may leave it until I'm less busy, or more frequently I'll just not notice for a few hours. On the other hand, if someone calls me, I have to stop what I'm doing, respond to them, then go back to what I'm doing.

Re:Newsflash!

[SithGod (810139)]

Except for the fact that most plans charge per text message, making it more expensive even if by some chance you have run out of minutes

Re:Newsflash!

[nate nice (672391)]

What plan do you have? Text Messaging always costs a lot more than talking. Not to mention many plans have free weekend talking where as the text message will still cost way too much for using the exact same technology that simply has a branded name to trick consumers into paying more.

It does however provide a nice service if in a bar and want to let someone know where you are. Then again, you could always call them first but that's not always possible for various reasons.

Re:Newsflash!

[impaler (78415)]

Bullshit. I pay $10 a month for unlimited SMS. And I live in the US.

You can get 1000 for $7 from T-Mobile, $9 from Cingular. Verizon charges something like $20 a month for that (disclaimer: it's been a year since I had Verizon so they may have changed the prices now). You really only get screwed on SMS/data if you use Verizon.

And overage is usually $.05 per message ($.10 for Cingular, but incoming is free...so it balances out). That's way less than the $.40 per minute I pay for voice overage. For the same price, I could send eight text messages. You can say a lot in 1280 characters.

So did he ...

[bigjocker (113512)]

Get a first post?

beeeeep beep beep beeeeep ....

Sell me an open phone

[Sloppy (14984)]

This is another reason I would like to someday see "open" phones. I always thought it would be great to build protocols on top of the phone system (e.g. if your phone and your friend's phone both have some sort of GPG extension installed, then go ahead and encrypt end-to-end). But this article shows that the possibilities for innovation (if you can call Morse code an innovation ;-) even extend to UIs. If we had open phones, then within a few minutes of this article, some people would add a morse input interface to the text entry part of their phone. And when you think about it, it does seem pretty ridiculous that a handful of companies could possibly come up with whatever UI happens to be the best possible.

Electronics companies, go on making the hardware. But let us screw around with the software. If you remember a little something called "the internet" you'll realize that there are a hell of a lot of good ideas out there (as well as a hell of a lot of really dumb ones, but let's not talk about that).

Re:Sell me an open phone

[TheSpoom (715771)]

Most phones with Java support M2M, so you could install a Java app on both phones and communicate that way.

Re:Sell me an open phone

[Turn-X Alphonse (789240)]

or they could use the current system where 1 is . 2 is dash and 3 is a space.

Automatically translate it and you've just added support.

Sweet

[gordgekko (574109)]

A phone with only dot and dash buttons!

I think the US Navy stopped training

[geomon (78680)]

But is Morse proficiency still required for amatuer radio licensing?

Re:I think the US Navy stopped training

[Kaimelar (121741)]

But is Morse proficiency still required for amatuer radio licensing?

For the Technician class license (the lowest one), no. For others (Technician Plus, General, Extra) there are still Morse code tests. Test requirements start at 5 WPM, if memory serves.

More info at http://www.arrl.org/ [arrl.org]

Damn, now you've got me wanting to order some study materials and upgrade my license, which I've been meaning to do for years . . . plus I could finally use the "use the keyboard LEDs to show data in Morse code" trick.

Well...

[fitten (521191)]

I'm a touch typist and what I think just goes to my hands. It's actually harder (and takes longer) for me to type "u" to mean "you" than it does to type "you" because I have to throw my brain into idiot mode and override my normal typing skills to get idiot-speak onto the screen.

I'm sold on this idea !

[Adult film producer (866485)]

After I learn morse code I'll have exactly zero friends to morse with, sort of like my current contact list.

Re:I'm sold on this idea !

[jerometremblay (513886)]

You could use morse only for input, the phone can easily convert it to text and display it as a normal text message.

It might even be a good idea.

Well of course

[Rosco P. Coltrane (209368)]

93 year old Gordon Hill transmitted a message faster than 13 year old Brittany

Parkinson's disease helps...

Re:Well of course

[citking (551907)]

Morse code takes way more talent than I've got. I give the guy props.

Re:Well of course

[geomon (78680)]

Parkinson's disease helps...

I hhhaavvvee PPPParrrkkiinnnsonnnnsss, yyyyouuu innnnseennnssssitiiivvee cccllllooddd!!!!

Misleading article..

[peculiarmethod (301094)]

I feel jipped. I can't find what the 93-yr old was wearing ANYWHERE in tfarticle.

Aside from that, this doesnt suprise me, as the bottleneck was not the tech itself, but the input methods. And having 3 or 4 letters per key is NOT efficient.

Translated

[citking (551907)]

"Sup g/f? U can txt all ur homies 2 tell dem wats da haps and wut u waring"

Re:Translated

[Sweetshark (696449)]

Well, the ham op did send:
YL, QSP to best OMs ur QTH es rig.
And people wonder why he is faster ....

The young and the restless

[by Anonymous Coward]

So, a 93 year old morse code veteran beat a 13 year old novice-at-typing child? Wow...good story!

In other, seemingly unrelated news: Big marbles are larger than small ones.

Allow me to be the first to say

[Brento (26177)]

-.. ..- .... .-.-.-

(Damn Slashdot's filters. Telling me to use less junk characters. Morse code isn't junk! It's top quality characters!)

Re:Allow me to be the first to say

[appleLaserWriter (91994)]

It took me hours to figure out how to post ASCII code to slashdot.

Re:Allow me to be the first to say

[zoloto (586738)]

Quote:

-.. ..- .... .-.-.-

DUH. (pretty cool eh?)

Morse Code Translator [scphillips.com]

Morse IS fast

[f8ejf (755486)]

Starting from scratch, one can reach over 20 words per minute solid copy in a matter of months, with only, say, an hour of regular training every day. 20 wpm isn't considered particularly fast amongst morse code operator: the EHSC [dutch.nl] for example requires its members to copy 60 wpm for 30 minutes. While this is at the extreme end of the spectrum, 20 wpm is attainable by anybody with a little patience and time.

Go here [easyconnect.fr] and try it out yourself, over the internet. You'll see 20 wpm is waaay faster than any SMS messaging.

Calculating it...

[thrill12 (711899)]

it seems that while SMS is shorter:
hey gf u can txt ur best pals 2 tel them wot u r doing, where ur going and wot u r wearing
SMS-TAP:443399#4333#222266#8998#88777#7223377778#2 #833555#844336#96668#88#777#3666444664#11#94433777 33#88777#4666444664#2663#96668#88#777#933277744466 41

Compared to:

Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing. [csgnetwork.com](translate that there - lameness filter ;)

Morsecode is simply much more simpler to enter - only 3 different possible entrypoints opposed to 10-11 for SMS...

Dit dit dit Dah dah Dit dit dit

[Guyle (79593)]

Has anyone else ever tried to tell someone that the beeping that their Nokia phone makes when they receive a text message is Morse code for SMS? I have yet to meet a single person who's known that. I swear, Morse code is a dying language that will soon go the way of languages such as Latin and Aramaic - famous, scholarly, the old guys like it, but no one else gives a crap.

Re:Dit dit dit Dah dah Dit dit dit

[RustNeverSleeps (846857)]

I haven't heard it for a while, but the Nokia phones used to also have a ringtone which sent morse code for "Connecting People." It amused me, because I knew that 99.99% of the people using that ring just thought it was a bunch of interesting sounding beeps.

Don't tell me....

[Mac Degger (576336)]

....and Gordon Hill dropped dead from exhaustion right after he was done :)

BTW, if you think that's a nasty comment, you really don't get the 'quote'

The story omitted the important fact that...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163)) (613870)]

...many mobile phones already come with Morse support. Just dial the person you want. Most phones already have the Morse protocol activated at this point so you can launch right into it. To send someone a dot say "DIT" into the microphone. To send a dash say "DAH". Remember to put short spaces between your words. For example if you're having an emergency you can say DIT-DIT-DIT DAH-DAH-DAH DIT-DIT-DIT. With a little practice you'll find that this is much faster than texting, something you'll appreciate if you are ever in a real emergency.

Re:ewww

[nxtw (866177)]

Every time there's an article related to cell phone technology, trolls like these get modded Insightful. Simple phones still exist, and cell phone companies will continue to try to find more ways to make money. However, that doesn't mean you have to give them more money; most plans are still voice-only. While you may not find some features useful, others will.

Also, text messaging is *extremely* convenient at certain times.

Re:Phone?

[twostar (675002)]

Absolutley, I know a Ham that is "down" to 60 wpm with morse code after peaking 100+ while serving with the Navy. I've seen this guy decode and he's faster and more accurate then the computers we had doing the same thing.

Now I just need to go get a slow 5 wpm to upgrade my license.