One of our favorite pursuits at OnAllBands is discovering ham radio and Morse code references that have found their way into television, movies, books, and music—everything from Paul McCartney’s inspiration for the song “Morse Moose and the Grey Goose” to the plaintive transmission at the end of Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” broadcast. We’re pleased to report, despite multiple posts on the subject, that the tank isn’t dry when it comes to our favorite hobby and popular culture. Here’s the latest we’ve found:
Also known as Zero Defex, this Akron, Ohio, hardcore punk band used the very first Morse code transmission, “What hath God wrought?” in their song “Target Earth.”
The message—sent May 24, 1844 by Samuel F. B. Morse in Washington, D.C. to Alfred Vail forty miles away in Baltimore—can be heard at the beginning and ending of the 58-second scorcher. The biblical quote (Numbers 23:23) was handed to Morse by Annie Ellsworth, the daughter of a close friend, who had written down the line as suggested by her mother.
John M. Harris wrote on the Tippecanoe County Historical Association blog, “Quickly Morse sent the words using the dot and dash code which bears his name. It was received in Baltimore and repeated back. As the words were decoded in Washington, the room erupted with cheers.”
We reached out to 0DFX drummer Mickey Hurray about why the band chose this seminal moment in communications history for their song:
“We included the first telegraph message in our song ‘Target Earth’ because Morse code was essentially the seed to the advent of whole Earth mass communication. As the seed blossoms the answer to that question (What hath God wrought?) is revealing itself globally every day. Stand by for the exciting conclusion.”
Erik Larson, master of page-turning nonfiction, followed up his gruesomely captivating 2003 book “The Devil in the White City” with the story of Guglielmo Marconi’s development of wireless juxtaposed against the saga of one of Britain’s most infamous criminals—Hawley Harvey Crippen.
Marconi’s and Crippen’s stories run parallel in the book, finally merging to reveal how Marconi’s work played a role in the chase to apprehend the unlikely villain, who had done away with his wife and fled. In interviews, Larson has called the two stories “an amazing confluence of invention and murder.” Amateurs will certainly enjoy the technical details in the Marconi chapters.
“Thunderstruck” comes highly recommended by my lovely YL, who, like Scotland Yard from the story, is in hot pursuit of something that takes dogged effort to achieve—in her case, a Technician license.
Premiering September 2003, “NCIS” is still going strong. In April, the military police procedural and CBS high-ratings staple was renewed for its 22nd season. With more than 460 episodes under its well-armored belt, you would think that Morse code and ham radio may have been written into a script or two. And you would be correct!
However, as we’ve mentioned in this column before, sometimes ham radio and Hollywood can offer up a mixed bag.
In the “NCIS” episode 6 “Trapped” from Season 15, an investigation into a murder on a golf course leads senior field agent Timothy McGee and special agent Nicholas Torres to discover a ham radio setup in the victim’s home. On the good end of the spectrum, the episode includes mentions of the value of ham radio in emergencies—the “if all else fails, ham radio is there” scenario that has saved countless lives. For some viewers—many of them longtime fans of “NCIS”—that’s where the “good” ended.
While ham radio is used to solve the murder, many operators were not pleased at all the things the show got wrong.
The general sentiment: If you’re going to focus an entire episode on a service that’s been around since the early 1900s, take a few hours and do your research. Objections included the stereotyped portrayal of hams as socially awkward loners, display of a “data only” band on the Yaesu rig used in the episode, the operator’s powerful HF setup being only able to reach “80 square miles,” and, most egregious to many, a not-even-close-to-correct callsign that included a “handle.”
You can find the episode on YouTube and judge for yourself. Next time we’ll look at “NCIS” and how the show handled Morse code.
The post Amateur Radio and Morse Code in Popular Culture: From Hardcore Punk to Wireless History appeared first on OnAllBands.
Do you know Morse code already? Or are you maybe trying to learn so you... |
| W3HCW 1957 Photo: Courtesy https://www.twocommunications.com/ |
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| M0KVI Owen |
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| W0ABE "Fin" |
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| KH6WI Eric |
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| VE5REV Jason |
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| KH6RF John |
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| VA7USD Matthew |
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| KO4TJP Jake |
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| W3IPA Tim |
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| K9BCM Thomas |
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| VA3VGR Richard |
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| EA2CW / AE2CW - Mikel |
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| K8ZRY Zach |
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| WD9EWK Patrick |
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KE5NJ Chris
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| SP3RNZ Greg |
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| NC0Q Tim |
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| KB5FHK Thomas |
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| AE4JC Matthew |
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| K1STG Fred |
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| KC9BKA Dan |
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| KM6HJC Ben |
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| KN4YZY Corey |
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| N9OHW Michael |
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| KA3DRR Scot |
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| AI5DD Joe |
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| K4WSD / Allen |
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| KB6NU Dan |
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| KO6BTM Di |
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| EC7ZT Manu |
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| JL1SDA Tetsuya |
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| MM0EFI Fraser |
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| WA7JNJ James |
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| JR8MHA Katsu |
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| N2SRK Dan NA0MT Scott |
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| N6ARA Ara |
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| K4KFO Yusef You don't have to travel far from the Backroom to the Open Air. A few weeks ago I began a Sunday morning routine of "A Cup of Joe Patio Amateur Radio". It's my quiet time to relax, commune with nature and do some sort of ham radio operating. For me its natural boost to reset for another week. We've come a long way baby from the days of operating portable in the photo below. Why not grab your gear now at head out for some Ham Radio Portable operating. |
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WN5BRS circa 1963 Vehicle:1958 Plymouth Wagon
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Well according to their QRZ page the CY9C DXPedition to St Paul Island is now underway. The operation started on August 26th and will finish on September 5th 2024.
Here is a link to their website for those of you who want more info…
I saw them spotted on the cluster (20m CW working split) and decided to give it a try. Carefully set up the split wanted (I went up 4) and then confirmed that my trusty decoder could easily decode their CW (sent at 35wpm???)
I set my contest keyer in my Yaesu FT991a at 30wpm and then hit memory 1 on the keyer. NO Luck…. after about 3 minutes of sending my call out I finally heard back VA3QV 5nn.
I glanced at the screen to confirm what I had heard and also quickly hit memory 2 and 5nn ON was sent out. Right after that I heard TU and the screen again confirmed what I had heard…
Just for giggles I checked the Club Log for CY9C and to my surprise I found the following:
Gotta love it when a DXPedition promptly uploads their logs….
Now to be honest St Pauls Island is not exactly “rare DX” at a distance of just over 800 miles I know that I will get them on one of the bands…
Todays attempt was just quicker than I expected and in a different mode.
This afternoon (1500 utc) CY9C was spotted on 15m CW and I thought I would try again as I needed CY9 on 15m for my feeble attempts at 5 band DXCC.
It was a ZOO between the lids who can’t understand what “UP” means and the DX Cops who insist on explaining to the lid what UP means there was no chance of me hearing the reply if they actually heard me (I was up 4-8) …
Well I got a few days but at least I got them once.
73bob
Well according to their QRZ page the CY9C DXPedition to St Paul Island is now underway. The operation started on August 26th and will finish on September 5th 2024.
Here is a link to their website for those of you who want more info…
I saw them spotted on the cluster (20m CW working split) and decided to give it a try. Carefully set up the split wanted (I went up 4) and then confirmed that my trusty decoder could easily decode their CW (sent at 35wpm???)
I set my contest keyer in my Yaesu FT991a at 30wpm and then hit memory 1 on the keyer. NO Luck…. after about 3 minutes of sending my call out I finally heard back VA3QV 5nn.
I glanced at the screen to confirm what I had heard and also quickly hit memory 2 and 5nn ON was sent out. Right after that I heard TU and the screen again confirmed what I had heard…
Just for giggles I checked the Club Log for CY9C and to my surprise I found the following:
Gotta love it when a DXPedition promptly uploads their logs….
Now to be honest St Pauls Island is not exactly “rare DX” at a distance of just over 800 miles I know that I will get them on one of the bands…
Todays attempt was just quicker than I expected and in a different mode.
This afternoon (1500 utc) CY9C was spotted on 15m CW and I thought I would try again as I needed CY9 on 15m for my feeble attempts at 5 band DXCC.
It was a ZOO between the lids who can’t understand what “UP” means and the DX Cops who insist on explaining to the lid what UP means there was no chance of me hearing the reply if they actually heard me (I was up 4-8) …
Well I got a few days but at least I got them once.
73bob
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