Comments on: Morse Code Influences on Ham Radio Lingo

By: T R Mortimer

T R Mortimer — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:50:25 +0000

Grief !
Sorry about the delay in replying ! I spend six months on Lipsi as SV5/G2JL & six at home, and it’s easy to lose track. The original Morse/Vail code, used on landlines in USA was rather different from the international code we have today. It’s easy to look up on the Internet, and it used to be in the ARRL handbook, though I haven’t bought one for many years, now.

73 – Mort

By: hanif

hanif — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:45:06 +0000

good web side plse tellme the future of morse code iam a retired morse operator can i get job any where thanks to reply

By: lrobison

lrobison — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:36:13 +0000

Mortimer,

I couldn’t find many references of using “HO HO” to describe laughing in Morse. Even if the spelling of “hi hi” sounds odd to say, it still shows up even in forum posts if you do a search for “hi hi morse”. I couldn’t find any reliable sources on this right now, but a quick search brings up a few individually written pages that seem to reflect this: http://www.k0rv.org/Ham%20Lingo.htm for instance. I’d be curious if you could point me in the direction of some research for the O->I translation. During my research I didn’t manage to find a full description of early morse alphabets.

By: T R Mortimer

T R Mortimer — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:10:06 +0000

There is an error in “HI”; it’s not HI but HO. In original (Vail) Morse, letter O was two dits with a short space. This has been corrupted, as with “ES”, to HI. Only a ninny laughs “HI HI HI”. The authority on bonhomie, $anta Clau$, says “HO HO HO”.

73 – G2JL

By: LindaMc

LindaMc — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:41:01 +0000

As a recently licensed amateur radio operator I’ve been trying to figure out what and why of some of the codes I’m hearing. Thanks for posting this easy-to-understand information. I trust you got an A+.

Uh 73 ?

By: My Buffalo River Home

My Buffalo River Home — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:43:17 +0000

[...] … _._ SK [...]

By: lrobison

lrobison — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:09:43 +0000

Oh, thanks for the catch on CW, I must have missed that proof-reading. I’ve corrected it above. I couldn’t find many references to HI in person, so thanks for the first-hand account.
73, luke

By: Tom Noll

Tom Noll — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:55:42 +0000

Nice essay. A few notes of interest:
CW stands for Continuous Wave.
Many hams use HI on phone, and even in person to express humor or to emphasize the friendly nature of a remark. Not so much in person anymore, though. See the story in Harpers about 6 months ago called “The antenna of the world” about legendary DXer Don Wallace, W6AM. Google him for some great information.
Historian Kristen Haring recently published an interesting book: Ham Radio’s Technical Culture.
73, Tom