Multi-function Morse code translation and learning aid; standalone plus optional PC interface.

Morse is not dead! With modern communications systems abounding, it may seem so to the uninitiated, but in fact it is “alive and keying”. Whilst a cursory scan through the wavebands on a modern “normal” domestic radio receiver may reveal little in the way of Morse code transmission, this communications technique is still very much in use.

Tuning in via a “communications receiver” or an older domestic receiver on the short wave (SW) bands will reveal Morse activity. Furthermore, if you have Internet access and do a search through www.google.com on such words as “Morse”, “Morse code” and “Morse transmission”, you will find literally thousands of sites devoted to the subject and its continuation in the modern world. It is, after all, an historically well-proven communications system, depending purely on switching electrical, audio or visual signals on and off at regular intervals.

Several printed publications that encourage the continued use of Morse as an “art form” also exist, of which Morsum Magnificat is one such in the UK.

Although the author once could claim that he knew Morse code, having been taught it (and qualified!) in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) at school, he too had let his knowledge decline and become one of the “uninitiated”. Until, that is, Editor Mike showed him an American radio publication, Worldradio, in which there was an advert for a small handheld Morse Code Reader, undoubtedly microcontrolled.

“Can you design one?” asked Mike. “Of course”, replied the author, keen to sustain the myth that he can do anything with PIC microcontrollers! The design presented here is physically (relatively) simple, although the software is quite complex (that's not your problem, though, it was merely the author's! But where's the fun in designing if it's not a challenge?).