Teacher Resources: Morse Code CQD-SOS

This is the first of a series of activities exploring Titanic and the Marconigraph.
They relate to the Wreck of the Titanic CD Rom> CQD-SOS>Sections 1-7

cqd

If it hadn't for the distress messages sent by Titanic's two radio officers, received and acted upon by the Carpathia, even more lives might have been lost.

When considering the part wireless played in the Titanic story, several issues should be considered. These might include:


  • How effectively messages received by the Titanic were acted upon

  • The state of wireless communication in 1912, and distress calls in use at the time

  • Conflicting demands on the radio operators

  • How messages about the Titanic became confused, and the consequences of this



Wireless messages were sent using the Morse system of dots and dashes. In Morse code, the dots are transmitted as short sounds and the dashes as long sounds. A short gap separates letters; a longer gap separates words.

Open the virtual morse transmitter to see the letters of the alphabet displayed as morse code. Dashes can be vocalised, or 'spoken', as 'dah', dots as 'dit'.

To begin with, trainee radio operators learned morse by 'speaking' and remembering code representations for each letter. When confident, they practised tapping out groups of letters and short messages.

'S' in morse code is represented by three dots, 'O' by three dashes.
The distress signal 'SOS' ... _ _ _ ... can therefore be vocalised as 'dit dit dit, dah dah dah, dit dit dit'


Activities for the Classroom
NOTE: The subsequent activities explore Morse Code. To follow these, you need to refer to the CQD-SOS section of the Wreck of the Titanic CD Rom, opening the virtual morse transmitter ('Sending Messages'). NB: Ensure Compose Junior is installed on your computer.

Open the virtual morse transmitter. Children should spot that each letter is associated with a pattern of dots/dashes.

morse

The dot and dash representing letter A is spoken as 'dit dah'.

  • Encourage children to vocalise other letters of the alphabet
  • Once they are confident with this, get them to string together groups of letters to make three - or four-letter words.

Numbers are also represented in morse code. Here are numbers one to five. Can children think why numbers are important? (recording ship's position, speed, etc).

  • Can children make up simple morse messages including words and numbers? 0 dah-dah-dah-dah-dah
    1 dit-dah-dah-dah-dah
    2 dit-dit-dah-dah-dah
    3 dit-dit-dit-dah-dah
    4 dit-dit-dit-dit-dah
    5 dit-dit-dit-dit-dit


Posted By admins| September 24, 2010 2:14 PM | | Categories: Resources | Comments (0)



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