Zack, W9SZ wrote:
"The original Morse telegraph (and others) worked by imprinting the dots and
dashes on a paper tape and then decoded by reading it. Imagine doing a
contest that way! Then someone figured out that it was faster to learn to
decode the messages by ear."
I have no horse in the WSJT race, but just a little historical comment:
The original telegraph using paper tape used an undulator. (This is a moving
ink nozzle that will move up and down in response to the received signal. So
there is a continuous print.) Having had to learn to read undulator tape (both
Morse and cable code) at the end of an era, I can confidently say that it was
possible to easily read either at 100 wpm. I think that audio reading (tone or
clicks) came about because of (1) the cost and maintenance levels required for
undulators at small stations and (2) undulators did not work at all well on
early radio receivers.
73 Roger
VE3ZI
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