• CW Beats SMS

    From Daryl Stout@1:2320/33 to All on Tue Apr 25 00:06:01 2023
    CW OPS WHIP WHIPPERSNAPPER TEXT MESSENGERS ON NATIONAL TV

    It may have been Friday the Thirteenth, but it was a lucky day for Morse code--and particularly for veteran CW contest ops Chip Margelli, K7JA,
    and Ken Miller, K6CTW.

    During a May 13 appearance on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the
    pair was able to pass a message using good old fashioned Morse code more rapidly than a pair of teenaged text messengers equipped with modern cellphones.

    The victory, which replicated a similar challenge that took place
    recently in Australia, has provided immense encouragement to Amateur
    Radio's community of CW operators, who been ballyhooed the achievement
    all over the Internet. The text messaging team consisted of world text-messaging champ Ben Cook of Utah and his friend Jason. Miller
    said afterward in a reflector posting that "the CW team won fairly
    handily".

    "Ben was just getting ready to start entering the last two words when
    I was done," he said on the Elecraft reflector in response to various
    questions he's received following the TV appearance. "I already knew
    that 28-30 WPM would easily keep us in front of even the current world
    [text messaging] record holder, and also it is the fastest speed that
    I can make nice readable copy on paper with a 'stick' [pencil]."

    Miller said it was decided he'd be on the receiving end, because he
    wasn't distracted by the noise in the studio.

    Margelli recalls that he was sending at 29 WPM. "I believe the goods
    were suitably delivered," he told ARRL. "CW and old guys rule!"

    What the viewing public didn't know was that Margelli and Miller had,
    in Miller's words, "smoked 'em every time" during three pre-program
    rehearsals. Even so, during the real thing, when Miller raised his
    hand to signal he'd copied the CW message successfully, Jason's jaw
    dropped.

    None of the players had any idea of the text they'd be sending, Miller
    noted. The message? "I just saved a bunch of money on my car
    insurance."

    As with many Tonight Show bits, this one involved a member of the
    audience, a young woman named Jennifer who predicted -- incorrectly
    as it turned out -- that text messaging definitely would top
    170-year-old Morse code. She walked away with a gift of restaurant
    tickets anyway.

    Margelli says the CW team used Yaesu FT-817 transceivers -- one of his
    own, and another owned by Dan Dankert, N6PEQ. Backup units -- not
    needed -- were provided by HRO; Margelli's wife Janet, KL7MF, manages
    an HRO store. They ended up using 432.200 MHz as an operating frequency
    in order to avoid RFI from the plethora of TV equipment in the studio,
    and to avoid interfering with NBC's gear. They ran the little
    transceivers at their lowest power level and with the antennas
    disconnected -- although they were mounted on the back of each unit
    -- no problem given the close proximity involved. Margelli sent with
    a Bencher paddle.

    To add a little atmosphere to the affair, NBC producers attired Margelli
    and Miller to look like 19th-century-era Western Union or railroad Morse telegraphers. The costumes came complete with green visors, white shirts, sleeve garters, vests and bow ties. The teenaged SMSers wore T-shirts
    and jeans.

    Cook told Leno that he'd managed to send a 160-letter message to his
    friend using his cell phone's short message system (SMS) -- the formal
    term for text messaging -- in 57 seconds.

    A member of the Morse Telegraph Club and a QRP enthusiast, Miller said
    he'd been using CW for 38 years. Margelli told Leno he'd been using
    Morse "for 43 years in ham radio," a phrase Leno echoed. That was the
    only plug Amateur Radio got during the appearance on the show's "Dinner
    for 4" segment. Miller says that during rehearsal, the pair had come up
    with a few lines to promote ham radio and telegraphy, but they were cut
    during the final dress rehearsal, in the interest of making the segment
    fit its allotted time slot.

    During the Australian competition in April, a Morse team consisting of 93-year-old former post office telegrapher Gordon Hill -- the sender --
    and 82-year-old Jack Gibson -- the receiver -- topped 13-year-old SMSer Brittany Devlin. In that event, Hill spelled out the message in full,
    while Devlin used text-messaging shorthand. In that competition, held
    at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Hill took 90 seconds to send the
    message, 18 seconds faster than Devlin's message took to reach her
    friend's cell phone.

    Miller encouraged all who enjoyed the CW-vs-text messaging segment on
    NBC to contact The Tonight Show, to let the producers know about it --
    with an eye toward having the network schedule a more elaborate segment
    "next time."

    "Thanks for the kind comments from all," Miller concluded, advising
    "let's keep on having fun!--It is a hobby after all."

    Commented Margelli to ARRL: "I completely agree with my fantastic
    teammate, Ken Miller. It was a lot of fun, just like ham radio, and
    the show also delivered an important, if subtle, message about the
    benefits of the 'basic' communication infrastructure that Amateur
    Radio provides."
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)