My older brother had one of those when I was a little kid! I could.be mistaken, but I think his was an "Official Boy Scouts of America Approved" version. A decade later, about 1962, he was in the U.S. Army, listening to coded Russian radio traffic. He didn't understand it, he just wrote (typed?) down what the Morse code sounded like. Others would try to decode it. It may have been very important work, but it sure sounds really boring. Thanks for jogging my memory.
Clarification - my brother understood Morse code, but he didn't understand Russian, nor their codes. His work was classified, and he never spoke much about it.
It would take a certain mind set to sit and transcribe endlessly. To decode that kind of stuff takes a brain I can't even comprehend ( I'm not a puzzle or crossword guy)
I bet Morse is still taught in the armed forces, at least to folks assigned to certain duties.
ReplyDeleteRemember the code-blinking American POW trotted out by the North Vietnamese?
I had forgotten that story. I wonder who caught it first!
ReplyDeleteMy older brother had one of those when I was a little kid! I could.be mistaken, but I think his was an "Official Boy Scouts of America Approved" version. A decade later, about 1962, he was in the U.S. Army, listening to coded Russian radio traffic. He didn't understand it, he just wrote (typed?) down what the Morse code sounded like. Others would try to decode it. It may have been very important work, but it sure sounds really boring. Thanks for jogging my memory.
ReplyDeleteJack from Illinois
Clarification - my brother understood Morse code, but he didn't understand Russian, nor their codes. His work was classified, and he never spoke much about it.
ReplyDeleteJack from Illinois
It would take a certain mind set to sit and transcribe endlessly. To decode that kind of stuff takes a brain I can't even comprehend ( I'm not a puzzle or crossword guy)
ReplyDelete