Fuel for the Morse interface fire

[Craig Rairdin]

I posted this last Friday when it was fresh but it got rejected due to size
and I just got the bounce message today. Here it is again for those who
care:

I spend a lot of time tapping out text on my cell phone using T9 or
"multitap" input methods (the latter being where you press 2 once to get A,
twice for B, three times for C, etc. for each key on the phone). And I write
software for cellphones and PDAs for a living.

The mention of Morse as a phone/PDA user interface (UI) got me thinking
about using the * # keys as dit and dah (or dah and dit if you prefer). The
question is, which input method requires fewer keystrokes?

A quick look at the key assignments shows that it takes no more than 3
keystrokes for most letters using multitap, except S and Z. Numbers take 4
strokes except 7 and 9 which take 5.

Morse requires 4 strokes for many letters and 5 for numbers. Only two
letters can be represented with one stroke (E and T) whereas multitap can do
8 letters with one  stroke (A, D, G, J, M, P, T, and W).

If we wire the Morse UI like a keyer so that the keys repeat if held down,
then seven letters and two numbers can be sent with one keystroke (E, I, S,
H, 5, T, M, O, and 0), most of the rest can be done with two or three, and
only the letter C requires 4.

The PDA software I work on is for Bible study. For fun I ran the text of the
Bible through a program that counted keystrokes using each of these methods.
The Bible text I used was the New International Version. The file was in
HTML so I ignored characters in tags.

Here are the results:

Total characters processed: 3,215,866
Multitap keystrokes: 6,939,643
Morse keystrokes: 8,349,063
Morse with autorepeat: 5,454,858

Then for even more fun I ran a 50MB collection of Bible reference books
through the process (less than 30 seconds... ain't computers grand?):

Total characters processed: 52,414,671
Multitap keystrokes: 114,462,190
Morse keystrokes: 136,308,478
Morse with autorepeat: 89,415,736

There are some other interesting advantages to a CW interface:

1. CW combines the use of two buttons and *time* as a third parameter (the
length of time you hold down the key changes the meaning of the keystroke).
So you're getting three pieces of info from two keys. Multitap reduces
keystrokes by increasing the number of keys. CW reduces keystrokes by using
the duration of the keystroke to supply additional information.

2. One of the frustrations of multitap comes when you need two characters in
a row from the same key. You either need to tap the right-arrow key to move
to the next character or wait for it to time out. With CW there's a natural
break between characters that is dependant on your sending speed.

There's some obvious disadvantages of coures. For one thing, nobody knows
Morse Code so it's not very practical for the general public. (Compare the
popularity of Esperanto as an international UI for example.)

Anyway it's an interesting thought. It doesn't seem like it would be that
hard for the right person (i.e. total nutcase with more time than brains) to
rig this up on a couple of popular phones so we can all play with it. Come
on, I know there are at least a couple of you on the list. :-)

Craig
NZ0R
K1 #1966

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[wayne burdick]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for the interesting statistics about Morse vs. text messaging.

Morse has three other ergonomic advantages you didn't mention:

1. You can send Morse with one hand (even medium-fast text messaging
requires two hands)

2. You can send Morse without looking at the actuation device (text
messaging would be very difficult to do without looking)

3. You can *receive* Morse without looking at the device, too (text
messaging with synthesized speech output would suffer from heavy use of
abbreviations, proper nouns, etc.)

These three factors would make Morse easier to use (for someone who
knows it and can do head-copy) when driving, at night, or in other
situations where only one hand is available. (Sending discrete messages
across a conference table or checking stock listings while in church
come to mind. And of course, 12-year-olds would just love it for
cheating on tests.)

An effective keychain PDA/communicator would be shaped such that when
it was held, the user's thumb and index finger would be ideally
positioned near the dot and dash switches, with the palm and the other
three fingers providing stability. You might add another switch near
the middle finger to serve as a mode control, "enter" function,
backspace, or virtual cursor control during list playback.

Another interesting twist would be to take advantage of the sense of
touch (haptics), not just the ability to actuate the switches. For
example, miniature solenoids in the switches could "push back" on your
fingers, creating force-feedback to emulate different levels of switch
resistance or even sending Morse back to you through your fingertips as
an alternative to an acoustic interface.

I'm not sure how fast one can copy CW this way  ;)

73,
Wayne
N6KR


On May 16, 2005, at 6:25 PM, Craig Rairdin wrote:

> For fun I ran the text of the
> Bible through a program that counted keystrokes using each of these
> methods....

> There are some other interesting advantages to a CW interface....


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[Cyberia]

Wayne Burdick wrote:
>
> Morse has three other ergonomic advantages you didn't mention:
>
> 1. You can send Morse with one hand (even medium-fast text messaging
> requires two hands)
>

Text messaging with my phone requires cradling the phone in one hand and
pressing the digits with the thumb of that hand. What does the other hand
need to do?

Maybe you have a really big cell phone?  :-)

de - N3WZ (Jim)


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[EricJ-2]

You can type on a typewriter with one hand also, but medium fast typing,
like medium fast texting takes two...two thumbs, that is. Watch the Leno
video and observe how the world champion text master did it.

Eric
KE6US

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces+eric_csuf=[hidden email]
[mailto:elecraft-bounces+eric_csuf=[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Cyberia
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 8:59 PM
To: 'wayne burdick'; 'Craig Rairdin'
Cc: 'Elecraft Reflector'
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Re: Fuel for the Morse interface fire

Wayne Burdick wrote:
>
> Morse has three other ergonomic advantages you didn't mention:
>
> 1. You can send Morse with one hand (even medium-fast text messaging
> requires two hands)
>

Text messaging with my phone requires cradling the phone in one hand and
pressing the digits with the thumb of that hand. What does the other hand
need to do?

Maybe you have a really big cell phone?  :-)

de - N3WZ (Jim)


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[roncasa]

It can be awkward for many people to use one thumb.
Many people find it awkward using your method. They cradle and use both
hands, (fingers) finding it easier to press.

Maybe you have a really large hand? :)
 
Ron wb1hga


Jim, N3WZ writes:
Text messaging with my phone requires cradling the phone in one hand and
pressing the digits with the thumb of that hand. What does the other hand
need to do?

Maybe you have a really big cell phone?  :-)

 

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[DYARNES]

Something occurred to me about this "race".  The text message folks  got to
punch their message in, which was then "printed" out on the receiving end  
right on the receiver's phone.  I'm not sure if they were also trying to  
transcribe by hand.  Seems to me the CW guys could have shown that  capability as
well, and to the audience, with a code reader. That could have  been hooked up to
a big screen viewable by the audience.  Might have  been a bit "risky" though,
since code readers don't always show exactly what has  been sent, or may
group some letters funny, if the sender isn't just about  perfect.  But, they
could also quickly demonstrate an ability to send that  message at an even faster
rate.  Oh well, the way it was done was certainly  effective, and at least we
are all getting a big bang out of it.  I know I  did!  
 
KNOW CODE!
 
Dave W7AQK
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[Eric Ward-3]

A Blackberry or Handspring Treo or similar has a full qwerty
mini-keyboard designed to be run with both thumbs. (Come to think of it,
a PSK31 rig in the same general size and format as one of these would be
incredibly cool, and arguably feasible (factory built and SMD, of course).

A running joke among those of us "entrepreneurs" who work for venture
capital-backed companies is how fast your VC board members can type on
these things.  I don't think they could seriously compete with top QRQ
CW ops, but for sure they exceed the 30 wpm barrier.  (Arguably, they
perform better when typing during some interpersonal interaction to
which they are supposed to be paying attention--e.g. a company
presentation or a Board mtg...)

See y'all in Dayton.
73
Eric
N0HHS
______________

Wayne Burdick wrote:

>>
>> Morse has three other ergonomic advantages you didn't mention:
>>
>> 1. You can send Morse with one hand (even medium-fast text messaging
>> requires two hands)
>>
>  
>

Text messaging with my phone requires cradling the phone in one hand and
pressing the digits with the thumb of that hand. What does the other hand
need to do?

Maybe you have a really big cell phone?   :-)

de - N3WZ (Jim)



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[Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU]

I have a Danger Hiptop and can type about 35wpm on it.  I wrote a PSK
app for it, ussing the TCP/IP interface and talks to gMFSK on Linux.  It
supports any mode that gMFSK supports.  I also have been working on a
native PSK implementation using the sound I/O but it may not be suitable
for QSOs because of the size of the sound buffer (capture then
process).  I also did a CW output routine for it, but ran into some MIDI
problems.
73,
Leigh.
On Tue, 17 May 2005 8:11 am, Eric Ward wrote:
> A Blackberry or Handspring Treo or similar has a full qwerty
> mini-keyboard designed to be run with both thumbs. (Come to think of
> it, a PSK31 rig in the same general size and format as one of these
> would be incredibly cool, and arguably feasible (factory built and SMD,
> of course).
>
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