WW2 Secret Code Breaker.


Recommended Posts

I had the pleasure of meeting this lady in 1988 while on a Ham Radio course at the Arnold & Carlton college on Digby Avenue.

A very pleasant & talented lady who was on the course with us. Funnily enough, she did the Morse Test before sitting the technical exam., usually it was done after you had your class B ticket. We later found out why !

The PO morse test consisted of a candidate sending & recieving morse at 12 WPM, quite a slow speed really but to us newbies it seemed an impossible task at first.

Amelia would send & recieve morse at speeds of 25 - 30 WPM with ease.

A local girl who did well !

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Amelia-s-secret-work-helped-Britain-win-war/story-24550543-detail/story.html

  • Like 3
  • Upvote 3
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 years later...

I passed the exam at Derby in 1975. But I couldn't get the hang of Morse. Never bothered after that, 2 metre band didn't interest me. Some pals of mine used a paddle, that might have been helpful. A workmate at the time helped with  the technical stuff but he emigrated to a place where the 28m band was very good. Also a man I worked with at the time was an ex w/op from a commercial cargo shipping line, I asked him to demonstrate on a key and buzzer and he could rattle it off no probs. He gave me his personal Eddystone S/W receiver for doing a transport errand for him. He still had a set of commercial code books, big hard back things. Interesting subject.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

As a private pilot I had to be able to interpret Morse code to be able to identify radio direction finding beacons. NDB’s on medium wave and VOR’s on VHF. However it was not a requirement of holding a VHF radio operator’s licence to have a knowledge of Morse. The radio licence was the same for all operators of an aircraft radio, both commercial and private and although I took my test with a licensed examiner at Tollerton, others took theirs at East Midlands with the ‘big boys’. I picked up Morse as I went along. Just writing down the dots and dashes and listening out for the transmissions from the radio beacons. I rather learnt it by the back door! I only had to listen though, I did not have to transmit.

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

While I was studying radio theory for my ham license, a friend, VK2BAG, sadly a SK now, gave me some "secrets" on Morse Code, learn to receive before practicing sending and learn to where you understand words not characters.

Like all, I found it hard at first to get to 5wpm, but using a computer sending me random characters, I got over the 5wpm barrier. I kept at it even though I would pass the license test.

I took three classes of license and 5wpm in one sitting, Novice, Tech and General, the General was the easiest to me, scored 100%, code I had one character wrong, right in the middle, which game me an adequate pass. Couple of months later after working my butt off, I got up to around 15wpm copy speed, so took my Advanced class test and 13wpm test on my 3rd attempt. Just wished now I'd carried on and got my Extra class and 20wpm CW .

One day I might take the Extra, no CW anymore, BUT, I'll keep my two by two call to show I did it the hard way...KM6MB... I worked my butt off for that call.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Willow wilson said:

I passed the exam at Derby in 1975. But I couldn't get the hang of Morse. Never bothered after that, 2 metre band didn't interest me. Some pals of mine used a paddle, that might have been helpful. A workmate at the time helped with  the technical stuff but he emigrated to a place where the 28m band was very good. Also a man I worked with at the time was an ex w/op from a commercial cargo shipping line, I asked him to demonstrate on a key and buzzer and he could rattle it off no probs. He gave me his personal Eddystone S/W receiver for doing a transport errand for him. He still had a set of commercial code books, big hard back things. Interesting subject.

Bencher twin paddle everytime !

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 2:57 AM, catfan said:

Certainly is Ian.

Why? and what for? Do aircraft radio navigation aids still transmit ID's with morse

Many of the 50's and 60's wartime films often started with a burst of morse code as part or the introduction or during the film e.g. Dambusters.

Apparently "The Man in Black" Johnny Cash was atop notch morse operator.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Late last year we went to a talk by a very lovely old lady called Joe (Josephine) Dunn. She was at Bletchley early on and took the new girls under her wings. Lots of interesting stories, she remembered Tommy Flowers, he was the telephone engineer who got the whole plot working. She would surely have known Margaret Wilson. Having visited Bletchley, she put it all into the real world for us - as she experienced it, a privelige to meet one of  those backroom wizards.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

Why? and what for? Do aircraft radio navigation aids still transmit ID's with morse

Many of the 50's and 60's wartime films often started with a burst of morse code as part or the introduction or during the film e.g. Dambusters.

Apparently "The Man in Black" Johnny Cash was atop notch morse operator.

Many more too.

https://www.qsl.net/w5www/famous.html

 

https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/Famous_hams

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, catfan said:

Many more too.

I can understand pilots and astronauts being involved. There were heck of a lot of musicians and singers in those lists. Is keying in morse about an rhythm that it is more natural for those with a musical bent?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

I can understand pilots and astronauts being involved. There were heck of a lot of musicians and singers in those lists. Is keying in morse about an rhythm that it is more natural for those with a musical bent?

OZ, I have no musical bent at all ! But we were taught to listen for the  "tunes" each letter or number has a unique tune & is just a matter of hearing those tunes.

Once you get the hang of it it's becomes second nature, it really is easier than you realise.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...