interesting info on short wave radio code i heard last night

[troyboy162]

warning this is a bit dorky but HAM has opened up lots of dorky things to me latly.
http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=269638
so i either heard some government talking to a spy, or boat traffic. im inclined to think there would be very few boats using Morse code these das i think about it. first that would mean the boat had ancient radios and also personnel trained in code. that seems kinda far fetched with modern big money shipping routes. i think im siding with the spy theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station

[4x4mike]

HAM has totally made me geek out although I don't have any SW stuff :nerd:
This would be a good reason to learn some CW. Even scanning on 144 I never hear any CW.

[troyboy162]

haha its a little hand crank/solar/battery survival type radio. ive had it for a long time but never understood what "SW" ment. its weird stuff on there...i picked up some asian news station interviewing english speaking people this morning. this afternoon there is some nostalgic broadcast that sounds out of the 50's

[Crinale]

i get that sw is short wave, what does CW stand for? its all over the qrz thread u posted..

[troyboy162]

CW= morse code. where it got named CW is geekier then ive gone yet haha

[4x4mike]

CW= morse code. where it got named CW is geekier then ive gone yet haha

CW means continuous wave (I think it's Chapter 2 of the ARRL license manual). Continuous wave is the most simple radio wave as it is constant and the strength does not change for a given frequency. Morse code is a continuous wave that is turned on and off in coded patterns (dash-dash-dot-dot, etc). Morse code takes up little band width as it's frequency is not modulated (continuous). Radio waves that carry speech and data are modulated (altered amplitude and wavelength) so your end result, clarity and transmit/receive distance, varies (non-continuous).