Dot, Dash, Dot, Dash: Morse Code for Emergencies
by Joseph Parish

Survivalists and various survival groups are always interested in ways to communicate with each other in the event of an emergency. This poses a particular problem in the case of EMP pulse issues.

Survivalists and various survival groups are always interested in ways to communicate with each other in the event of an emergency. This poses a particular problem in the case of EMP pulse issues. For those who do not know EMP is electrical pulse generated by nuclear explosions. They tend to destroy and communications gear which is not protected. The only means other then long distances between the explosion and the equipment is through the use of what is known as Faraday cages. Faraday cages are grids of wire which is grounded and thus sends the waves right to ground.

Now assuming that you have a faraday cage and your communications is still functioning the problem you will encounter is others may not be so protected. We could effectively end up experiencing a propagation breakdown with no power, no satellites and no working circuitry in our radios.

I personally do not feel that EMP will be the most likely cause for communications break down. There are many people particularly ham operators who will have enough equipment functioning that communications will survive. The biggest problem that I feel we will encounter is going to be electrical power.

Radio communications in a normal emergency situation prove to be a useful and necessary piece of equipment. In the event that we are hit with massive EMP assuming that even if your circuitry is protected with a homemade faraday cage your only hope is that others have the same advantages otherwise you will quickly find that you are the only person for which you may actually be able to communicate with.

I would like to present an alternate method of communications which would be very useful in such situations and that is using Morse code. This method can be employed even if you have lost all power. As a survivalist it is important that you understand how to effectively communicate using this method as it may help to save and protect your life and that of your family.

You can easily use intermittent electrical power or lights to communicate with others by connecting or disconnecting your power supply. With the use of a properly understood code total communications can occur.

Morse code or CW as it is often known is a great way to communicate although it is considered to be a bit difficult to master. Generally when people hear the word CW they get scared and figure that they can never learn this means of communicating. On the internet is a program using the method of CW training which was developed by a German psychologist known as Ludwig Koch. With this program a person can quickly learn Morse code in a short time. The Koch method requires a personal computer in order to learn it properly.

Generally people attempt to learn the various letters of the code first and then they would try to increase their speed to about 5 WPM. With Koch you will start off by learning the sounds of each letter with only using two characters at a time. Next you would move up to 3 and so forth. This method will work much better and your speed will increase quickly.

Copyright @2008 Joseph Parish