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Is Morse code a digital, binary mode?
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At first glance Morse code looks like a digital mode - there are dits and dahs, two values which contain the information of the transmission. Alternatively, at any point in time there either is a signal, or there isn't.
Morse code follows the following pattern:
- dit: tone for one unit (1)
- dah: tone for three units (111)
- separation between elements: silence for one unit (0)
- separation between letters: silence for three units (000)
- separation between words: silence for seven units (0000000)
As mentioned in a Vsauce video, however, Morse code doesn't actually require only two different values, but actually three: dits, dahs and spaces. He goes on to explain that any Morse transmission can be broken up into three components: a dit with one unit space (10 in his notation), dah with a space (1110) and a separator character (00, two dits in length). From this he argues that it is actually a trinary, rather than a binary code.
But is it?
After all, any transmission can be represented as either a high or low signal voltage at the receiver, sent in a pattern of one bit per dit. The information is encoded entirely in two separate, discrete values. How this information is afterwards decoded is a matter of choice I would argue.
It seems similar to the ASCII scheme - the information to what letter corresponds to what bit sequence is just a matter of definition, but the information is still binary. Analogous to that, Morse code is nothing more than an encoding with variable-length 'bytes'.
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode? Or is it trinary, or something else entirely?
digital cw
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
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up vote
3
down vote
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At first glance Morse code looks like a digital mode - there are dits and dahs, two values which contain the information of the transmission. Alternatively, at any point in time there either is a signal, or there isn't.
Morse code follows the following pattern:
- dit: tone for one unit (1)
- dah: tone for three units (111)
- separation between elements: silence for one unit (0)
- separation between letters: silence for three units (000)
- separation between words: silence for seven units (0000000)
As mentioned in a Vsauce video, however, Morse code doesn't actually require only two different values, but actually three: dits, dahs and spaces. He goes on to explain that any Morse transmission can be broken up into three components: a dit with one unit space (10 in his notation), dah with a space (1110) and a separator character (00, two dits in length). From this he argues that it is actually a trinary, rather than a binary code.
But is it?
After all, any transmission can be represented as either a high or low signal voltage at the receiver, sent in a pattern of one bit per dit. The information is encoded entirely in two separate, discrete values. How this information is afterwards decoded is a matter of choice I would argue.
It seems similar to the ASCII scheme - the information to what letter corresponds to what bit sequence is just a matter of definition, but the information is still binary. Analogous to that, Morse code is nothing more than an encoding with variable-length 'bytes'.
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode? Or is it trinary, or something else entirely?
digital cw
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
New contributor
ahemmetter is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
At first glance Morse code looks like a digital mode - there are dits and dahs, two values which contain the information of the transmission. Alternatively, at any point in time there either is a signal, or there isn't.
Morse code follows the following pattern:
- dit: tone for one unit (1)
- dah: tone for three units (111)
- separation between elements: silence for one unit (0)
- separation between letters: silence for three units (000)
- separation between words: silence for seven units (0000000)
As mentioned in a Vsauce video, however, Morse code doesn't actually require only two different values, but actually three: dits, dahs and spaces. He goes on to explain that any Morse transmission can be broken up into three components: a dit with one unit space (10 in his notation), dah with a space (1110) and a separator character (00, two dits in length). From this he argues that it is actually a trinary, rather than a binary code.
But is it?
After all, any transmission can be represented as either a high or low signal voltage at the receiver, sent in a pattern of one bit per dit. The information is encoded entirely in two separate, discrete values. How this information is afterwards decoded is a matter of choice I would argue.
It seems similar to the ASCII scheme - the information to what letter corresponds to what bit sequence is just a matter of definition, but the information is still binary. Analogous to that, Morse code is nothing more than an encoding with variable-length 'bytes'.
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode? Or is it trinary, or something else entirely?
digital cw
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
New contributor
ahemmetter is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
At first glance Morse code looks like a digital mode - there are dits and dahs, two values which contain the information of the transmission. Alternatively, at any point in time there either is a signal, or there isn't.
Morse code follows the following pattern:
- dit: tone for one unit (1)
- dah: tone for three units (111)
- separation between elements: silence for one unit (0)
- separation between letters: silence for three units (000)
- separation between words: silence for seven units (0000000)
As mentioned in a Vsauce video, however, Morse code doesn't actually require only two different values, but actually three: dits, dahs and spaces. He goes on to explain that any Morse transmission can be broken up into three components: a dit with one unit space (10 in his notation), dah with a space (1110) and a separator character (00, two dits in length). From this he argues that it is actually a trinary, rather than a binary code.
But is it?
After all, any transmission can be represented as either a high or low signal voltage at the receiver, sent in a pattern of one bit per dit. The information is encoded entirely in two separate, discrete values. How this information is afterwards decoded is a matter of choice I would argue.
It seems similar to the ASCII scheme - the information to what letter corresponds to what bit sequence is just a matter of definition, but the information is still binary. Analogous to that, Morse code is nothing more than an encoding with variable-length 'bytes'.
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode? Or is it trinary, or something else entirely?
digital cw
digital cw
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
New contributor
ahemmetter is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
New contributor
ahemmetter is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 1 hour ago
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
New contributor
ahemmetter is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
asked 1 hour ago
ahemmetter
18218
18218
New contributor
ahemmetter is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
ahemmetter is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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Check out our Code of Conduct.
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
The mode hams call "CW" is also called "on-off keying" (OOK) - a hint to the fact that it is a binary code. Dots, dashes and spaces are usually sized in multiples of the "dot time": one dot time on for a "dot," one dot time off for the "space" between dots and dashes within a given character, three dot times on for a "dash". Spaces between letters and words comprise other dot time multiples. These multiples can be adjusted for purposes of readability or "personality."
An earlier Ham Stack Exchange answer described how these properties are exploited to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of CW signals.
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
Agreed. No matter how you time the dits and dahs, the carrier still only has two possible states: on and off. The separations are simply a component of the information being conveyed.
– mrog
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Fully agreeing with Brian!
Just to answer your formal question:
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode?
and, from your title,
Is Morse code a digital, binary mode?
Digital is easy: A digital signal is a signal
- that only takes discrete values,
- is only defined at a discrete axis (e.g. time, position, angle, impulse…)
The question is: What are the values of your signal, and what's the axis?
I'd not understand Morse as an OOK (though I'd certainly start decoding it as such), but as a "long-short keying". In that understanding, we get as the axis along the signal changes not time, but just "index" (first symbol, second symbol, third…), and as values just "short on", "short off", "long on", "long off", and "very long off".
With that, the dots, dash, inter-dot/dash spacing, inter-letter and inter-word spacing are representable.
So, in that understanding, Morse would be a digital, quinternary code.
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
The mode hams call "CW" is also called "on-off keying" (OOK) - a hint to the fact that it is a binary code. Dots, dashes and spaces are usually sized in multiples of the "dot time": one dot time on for a "dot," one dot time off for the "space" between dots and dashes within a given character, three dot times on for a "dash". Spaces between letters and words comprise other dot time multiples. These multiples can be adjusted for purposes of readability or "personality."
An earlier Ham Stack Exchange answer described how these properties are exploited to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of CW signals.
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
Agreed. No matter how you time the dits and dahs, the carrier still only has two possible states: on and off. The separations are simply a component of the information being conveyed.
– mrog
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
The mode hams call "CW" is also called "on-off keying" (OOK) - a hint to the fact that it is a binary code. Dots, dashes and spaces are usually sized in multiples of the "dot time": one dot time on for a "dot," one dot time off for the "space" between dots and dashes within a given character, three dot times on for a "dash". Spaces between letters and words comprise other dot time multiples. These multiples can be adjusted for purposes of readability or "personality."
An earlier Ham Stack Exchange answer described how these properties are exploited to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of CW signals.
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
Agreed. No matter how you time the dits and dahs, the carrier still only has two possible states: on and off. The separations are simply a component of the information being conveyed.
– mrog
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
The mode hams call "CW" is also called "on-off keying" (OOK) - a hint to the fact that it is a binary code. Dots, dashes and spaces are usually sized in multiples of the "dot time": one dot time on for a "dot," one dot time off for the "space" between dots and dashes within a given character, three dot times on for a "dash". Spaces between letters and words comprise other dot time multiples. These multiples can be adjusted for purposes of readability or "personality."
An earlier Ham Stack Exchange answer described how these properties are exploited to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of CW signals.
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
The mode hams call "CW" is also called "on-off keying" (OOK) - a hint to the fact that it is a binary code. Dots, dashes and spaces are usually sized in multiples of the "dot time": one dot time on for a "dot," one dot time off for the "space" between dots and dashes within a given character, three dot times on for a "dash". Spaces between letters and words comprise other dot time multiples. These multiples can be adjusted for purposes of readability or "personality."
An earlier Ham Stack Exchange answer described how these properties are exploited to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of CW signals.
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
answered 1 hour ago
Brian K1LI
91619
91619
Agreed. No matter how you time the dits and dahs, the carrier still only has two possible states: on and off. The separations are simply a component of the information being conveyed.
– mrog
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
Agreed. No matter how you time the dits and dahs, the carrier still only has two possible states: on and off. The separations are simply a component of the information being conveyed.
– mrog
6 mins ago
Agreed. No matter how you time the dits and dahs, the carrier still only has two possible states: on and off. The separations are simply a component of the information being conveyed.
– mrog
6 mins ago
Agreed. No matter how you time the dits and dahs, the carrier still only has two possible states: on and off. The separations are simply a component of the information being conveyed.
– mrog
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Fully agreeing with Brian!
Just to answer your formal question:
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode?
and, from your title,
Is Morse code a digital, binary mode?
Digital is easy: A digital signal is a signal
- that only takes discrete values,
- is only defined at a discrete axis (e.g. time, position, angle, impulse…)
The question is: What are the values of your signal, and what's the axis?
I'd not understand Morse as an OOK (though I'd certainly start decoding it as such), but as a "long-short keying". In that understanding, we get as the axis along the signal changes not time, but just "index" (first symbol, second symbol, third…), and as values just "short on", "short off", "long on", "long off", and "very long off".
With that, the dots, dash, inter-dot/dash spacing, inter-letter and inter-word spacing are representable.
So, in that understanding, Morse would be a digital, quinternary code.
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Fully agreeing with Brian!
Just to answer your formal question:
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode?
and, from your title,
Is Morse code a digital, binary mode?
Digital is easy: A digital signal is a signal
- that only takes discrete values,
- is only defined at a discrete axis (e.g. time, position, angle, impulse…)
The question is: What are the values of your signal, and what's the axis?
I'd not understand Morse as an OOK (though I'd certainly start decoding it as such), but as a "long-short keying". In that understanding, we get as the axis along the signal changes not time, but just "index" (first symbol, second symbol, third…), and as values just "short on", "short off", "long on", "long off", and "very long off".
With that, the dots, dash, inter-dot/dash spacing, inter-letter and inter-word spacing are representable.
So, in that understanding, Morse would be a digital, quinternary code.
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Fully agreeing with Brian!
Just to answer your formal question:
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode?
and, from your title,
Is Morse code a digital, binary mode?
Digital is easy: A digital signal is a signal
- that only takes discrete values,
- is only defined at a discrete axis (e.g. time, position, angle, impulse…)
The question is: What are the values of your signal, and what's the axis?
I'd not understand Morse as an OOK (though I'd certainly start decoding it as such), but as a "long-short keying". In that understanding, we get as the axis along the signal changes not time, but just "index" (first symbol, second symbol, third…), and as values just "short on", "short off", "long on", "long off", and "very long off".
With that, the dots, dash, inter-dot/dash spacing, inter-letter and inter-word spacing are representable.
So, in that understanding, Morse would be a digital, quinternary code.
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
Fully agreeing with Brian!
Just to answer your formal question:
From a strict definition (what is it?), is Morse code (CW) a binary mode?
and, from your title,
Is Morse code a digital, binary mode?
Digital is easy: A digital signal is a signal
- that only takes discrete values,
- is only defined at a discrete axis (e.g. time, position, angle, impulse…)
The question is: What are the values of your signal, and what's the axis?
I'd not understand Morse as an OOK (though I'd certainly start decoding it as such), but as a "long-short keying". In that understanding, we get as the axis along the signal changes not time, but just "index" (first symbol, second symbol, third…), and as values just "short on", "short off", "long on", "long off", and "very long off".
With that, the dots, dash, inter-dot/dash spacing, inter-letter and inter-word spacing are representable.
So, in that understanding, Morse would be a digital, quinternary code.
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
answered 15 mins ago
Marcus Müller
6,725828
6,725828
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
ahemmetter is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
ahemmetter is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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