Mark: If I am not mistaken, morse code is still in use, commercially, in the
eastern hemisphere. It was dropped in the western hemisphere because the labor
unions forced the cost of a cw radio operator so high that other technology
took over. In the eastern hemisphere, where there are no labor unions, there
are ships that still use a cw radio operator and will continue to do so. The
last cost figures I heard to keep one cw radio operator on a ship at union
rates were about $300,000 per year. This was for two people, each working six
months shifts. Each person being paid $150,000 per year. It took the legal
resourses of Exxon Company and a few others and the advances in satellite
technology to get the law changed to eliminate the clout of the cw radio
operator unions! - sherrill k4own.
>>> "Mark Erbaugh" <mark@microenh.com> 10/19/00 08:56AM >>>
In this week's episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Morse code was used to send a
brief message when all other com systems were unavailable. We only get to
hear about 4 characters, the rest are translated for us.
73,
Mark
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