On 12/15/2016 1:33 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
Indeed, our use of the words "continuous wave" to describe Morse
transmitted by keying a radio transmitter is another one of those
wrong words used to describe things that cause us to misunderstand
how things work.
Our use of "continuous wave" is based on the description of the
*carrier*, not the composite modulation. "Continuous wave" was
used in the very first days to distinguish signals generated by an
oscillator/power amplifier from the "damped wave" signals generated
by a spark transmitter.
That amateurs (and the entire commercial radio industry) called
on/off keyed telegraphy "continuous wave" is nothing more than a
reflection that telegraphy was the *only* "radio" at the time the
terms established themselves as the common language. It was as
much as 20 years before "phone" became more than laboratory toy
and radiotelegraphy was a given.
I learned a great deal of the history from my grandfather-in-law;
a Western Union Station Chief in the early 1900's, early amateur
(licensed before the FCC), early TV experimenter and correspondent
of John Logie Baird.
73,
... Joe, W4TV
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