Samuel Morse's birthday (Friday, April 27th); good excuse to break out your old hand keys

[Geoff Clark]

Thanks for the reminder Wayne, it's also the anniversary of the day I took
my CW test!

I got home from work and called CQ on 20m, lit up RBNs all over the USA but
only one caller -  K7KV, thanks for the CW QSO on Samuel's birthday!
Everyone else must be busy on FT8 :-(
73
Geoff ZL3GA
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[chrisrut]

Good Idea Wayne!

And I'll remind the assembled masses that the unsung hero in the story of
Morse code was a fellow named Alfred Vail - who played Wozniak to Morse's
"Steve Jobs." Vail pretty much invented the dash-dot code as we know it, as
well as the hand key. But it's Morse's name, as owner of the company that
paid for it, on the patents. Sic transit Gloria.

Searching archives, I found a note where Morse urged Vail to increase the
spacing between the characters he was sending because they were running
together. Imagine that! Morse was the first guy ever to complain about
somebody's fist!

73 Chris NW6V


------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2018 20:24:40 -0700
From: Wayne Burdick <[hidden email]>
Subject:
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

No matter how busy I am tomorrow, I aim to make at least one QSO on this
coming Friday in honor of Samuel Morse?s birth (227 years ago!). I?ll be
dusting off my oldest hand key for the occasion, one with a leg strap and
Levi?s-style button that was used by the South African army circa WW2.

If you have an even older hand key, and you manage to get its contacts
cleaned in time for this auspicious date, please send me a photo of it.
I?ll collect the photos and post them on the Elecraft website photo gallery.

73,
Wayne
N6KR
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[chrisrut]

Hilarious Fred!

That image of a woefully distraught Sam will never leave me :-)

73 Chris NW6V



Message: 10
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2018 21:49:25 -0700
From: Fred Jensen <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Samuel Morse's birthday (Friday, April 27th);
        good excuse to break out your old hand keys
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

So where and when might we find you?? Can I still use my keyer?? My hand
key looks like a work of art but is so clunky even Alfred would have
rejected it.? Sam is reported to have been so distraught that his
numerical dictionary was being rejected in favor of "copying by ear"
that he took to bed for several months.? Sadly, it wasn't his bed, he
was a guest at a friends house.? We do have a guest room, but need
advance notice should you plan to become equally distraught.? More than
a day or two and we'll have to schedule a trip to Costco.
Granddaughter's track meet is canceled on Fri, I will have time.

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County
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[k6dgw]

Ahh yes, if life were fair, it would be the American Vail Code.  Unlike
Sam, Alfred had access to the family machine shop, was an accomplished
machinist, and could build just about anything.  He even crafted his
code so the most prevalent letters in English have the shortest codes.

In the mid 19th century, a wagon train was formed [in St Joseph MO, I
think] for the trip to California led by a fellow named Donner.  It was
a hugely dysfunctional group from the start, a homicide before they left
and several more on the way.  Unlike the others, they managed to tee off
the Paiute Chief near Pyramid Lake in NV, split up amid huge arguments,
and, without guides [pissed off Chief, remember] were wiped out in the
winter snows crossing the Sierra Nevada.

Conversely, the Stephens group, formed up, made good time, followed the
advice of the Paiute guides provided by the Chief, and arrived in
Sacramento with more people than when they left [several babies born on
the way].  They spread out over northern and central California, were
instrumental in founding several towns which became cities today, were
active in government, and began some of the agricultural industry that
marks the Central Valley today.  Legend has it that Stevens Creek in San
Jose is named for their leader, misspelling his name in the process,
although that may be urban legend too.

So what is the pass over the Sierra Nevada [originally the Lincoln Hwy,
then US40, and now I-80] named for?  If life were fair, it would be
Stephens Pass with Stephens Lake at it's eastern base, after a truly
successful example of the western migration.  But life is rarely fair
and it's Donner Pass and Donner Lake, named after the dysfunctional
party racked by homicides, dumb decisions and, it is alleged,
cannibalism, in a futile attempt to survive the winter.  Alfred Vail is
not alone.

73,

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 4/27/2018 4:55 AM, Chris R. NW6V wrote:

> Good Idea Wayne!
>
> And I'll remind the assembled masses that the unsung hero in the story of
> Morse code was a fellow named Alfred Vail - who played Wozniak to Morse's
> "Steve Jobs." Vail pretty much invented the dash-dot code as we know it, as
> well as the hand key. But it's Morse's name, as owner of the company that
> paid for it, on the patents. Sic transit Gloria.
>
> Searching archives, I found a note where Morse urged Vail to increase the
> spacing between the characters he was sending because they were running
> together. Imagine that! Morse was the first guy ever to complain about
> somebody's fist!
>
> 73 Chris NW6V
>

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[Phil Kane-2]

On 4/27/2018 10:50 AM, Fred Jensen wrote:

> Ahh yes, if life were fair, it would be the American Vail Code.  Unlike
> Sam, Alfred had access to the family machine shop, was an accomplished
> machinist, and could build just about anything.  He even crafted his
> code so the most prevalent letters in English have the shortest codes.

Not to be confused with his cousin Theodore Vail who was the first
president of AT&T.

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
Elecraft K2/100   s/n 5402

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon
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[EricJ]

True, but without the promotion and entrepreneurship of Morse, Vail
would likely not have developed the machines and code, and would have
just been another guy puttering in the family machine shop. Both made it
happen, but Morse was the face that people saw when the invention was
demonstrated.

Eric KE6US


On 4/27/2018 10:50 AM, Fred Jensen wrote:
> Ahh yes, if life were fair, it would be the American Vail Code. Unlike
> Sam, Alfred had access to the family machine shop, was an accomplished
> machinist, and could build just about anything.  He even crafted his
> code so the most prevalent letters in English have the shortest codes.

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[k6dgw]

Not unlike today, I guess.

73,

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 4/27/2018 8:59 PM, EricJ wrote:
> True, but without the promotion and entrepreneurship of Morse, Vail
> would likely not have developed the machines and code, and would have
> just been another guy puttering in the family machine shop. Both made
> it happen, but Morse was the face that people saw when the invention
> was demonstrated.
>
> Eric KE6US

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[John Oppenheimer]

I was inspired by Wayne's announcement to setup outside on my back
porch.  I decided that Morse code is Morse code independent of the key
and used a memory keyer and Vibroplex Iambic key.

The weather in Texas was wonderful!

Calling CQ resulted with several QSOs. It was a fun day.

The setup:
http://www.kn5l.net/SBM/

John KN5L
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[Carl-N8VZ]

Historians, apparently, still argue over this issue.  There exists at
least two letters in which Vail attributes the new code (replacing the
original all number code with corresponding dictionary) to Morse and not
himself.  So, some historians put a lot of weigh on those references and
still give credit to Morse for the code with combinations of dits and
das for various letters and numbers.  Others look at other evidence and
think Vail was the key guy in this code system.  So, the truth is we
still don't know for sure.  -- 73 de Carl N8VZ

> Fred Jensen <mailto:[hidden email]>
> Friday, April 27, 2018 1:50 PM
> Ahh yes, if life were fair, it would be the American Vail Code.  
> Unlike Sam, Alfred had access to the family machine shop, was an
> accomplished machinist, and could build just about anything.  He even
> crafted his code so the most prevalent letters in English have the
> shortest codes.
>
> In the mid 19th century, a wagon train was formed [in St Joseph MO, I
> think] for the trip to California led by a fellow named Donner.  It
> was a hugely dysfunctional group from the start, a homicide before
> they left and several more on the way.  Unlike the others, they
> managed to tee off the Paiute Chief near Pyramid Lake in NV, split up
> amid huge arguments, and, without guides [pissed off Chief, remember]
> were wiped out in the winter snows crossing the Sierra Nevada.
>
> Conversely, the Stephens group, formed up, made good time, followed
> the advice of the Paiute guides provided by the Chief, and arrived in
> Sacramento with more people than when they left [several babies born
> on the way].  They spread out over northern and central California,
> were instrumental in founding several towns which became cities today,
> were active in government, and began some of the agricultural industry
> that marks the Central Valley today.  Legend has it that Stevens Creek
> in San Jose is named for their leader, misspelling his name in the
> process, although that may be urban legend too.
>
> So what is the pass over the Sierra Nevada [originally the Lincoln
> Hwy, then US40, and now I-80] named for?  If life were fair, it would
> be Stephens Pass with Stephens Lake at it's eastern base, after a
> truly successful example of the western migration.  But life is rarely
> fair and it's Donner Pass and Donner Lake, named after the
> dysfunctional party racked by homicides, dumb decisions and, it is
> alleged, cannibalism, in a futile attempt to survive the winter.  
> Alfred Vail is not alone.
>
> 73,
>
> Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
> Sparks NV DM09dn
> Washoe County
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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> Chris R. NW6V <mailto:[hidden email]>
> Friday, April 27, 2018 7:55 AM
> Good Idea Wayne!
>
> And I'll remind the assembled masses that the unsung hero in the story of
> Morse code was a fellow named Alfred Vail - who played Wozniak to Morse's
> "Steve Jobs." Vail pretty much invented the dash-dot code as we know
> it, as
> well as the hand key. But it's Morse's name, as owner of the company that
> paid for it, on the patents. Sic transit Gloria.
>
> Searching archives, I found a note where Morse urged Vail to increase the
> spacing between the characters he was sending because they were running
> together. Imagine that! Morse was the first guy ever to complain about
> somebody's fist!
>
> 73 Chris NW6V
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2018 20:24:40 -0700
> From: Wayne Burdick <[hidden email]>
> Subject:
> Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> No matter how busy I am tomorrow, I aim to make at least one QSO on this
> coming Friday in honor of Samuel Morse?s birth (227 years ago!). I?ll be
> dusting off my oldest hand key for the occasion, one with a leg strap and
> Levi?s-style button that was used by the South African army circa WW2.
>
> If you have an even older hand key, and you manage to get its contacts
> cleaned in time for this auspicious date, please send me a photo of it.
> I?ll collect the photos and post them on the Elecraft website photo
> gallery.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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=================================================
Carl Jón Denbow, N8VZ
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[hidden email]
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EM89wh

IRLP 4533   Echolink 116070

PSK and JT65 Forever!
=================================================

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