Stoney Creek International Weekend Morse Code Event
This is a quick and easy way to show your boys and learn Morse Code.
Original idea by Max Sernoffsky, from Buffalo, NY.
Some adaptations, explainations, and ideas added by Chris Rankin,
from Hermitage, PA.
- An easy way to remember which side is dot and which side is dash for
signalling with flags:
Your council strip is shaped like a dash, and is on your left sleeve.
The patrol medallion is shaped like a dot, and is on the right.
- Remember, both hands in front of your body indicate a new word.
- There are never more than 4 dots or dashes in a row (in the alphabet).
This works a whole lot better after you copy this over to a sheet of paper
a couple of times. It seems to stick in your mind better, too (text drawings
like these usually tend to be rather crude; recopy this freehand onto paper
before distributing).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
O's denote where the heavy dots in the drawing should be.
X's denote where the heavy lines in the drawing should be.
These are there to help give a visual picture of the letter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ONE DOT: O--- Think of the dot in the upper left hand corner
(letter E) | of the E.
|---
|
|---
TWO DOTS: /-----\ /-----\ Think of two human eyes (hence, the letter
(letter I) | O | | O | I). the pupils are the dots.
\-----/ \-----/
THREE DOTS: /--O--- Three dots running down the middle of the letter
(letter S) | help you remember the letter S.
\--O--\
|
---O--/
FOUR DOTS: O O The four dots in the four corners of the letter help
(letter H) |---| you remember the letter H.
O O
............................................................................
ONE DASH: XXXXXXXXX The heavy bar across the top of the letter T
(letter T) | helps you associate the one dash with it.
|
|
|
TWO DASHES: X\ /X The two heavy bars on the sides help you remember
(letter M) X \ / X the two dashes for the letter M.
X \ / X
X \/ X
X X
X X
THREE DASHES: /--------\ The three bars for the letter O form a triangle
(letter O) XXXXXXXXXX within the O itself.
|X X|
| X X |
| X X |
\---XX---/
.............................................................................
ONE DOT, ONE DASH: O The dot and dash that represent the letter
(letter A) / \ A make it easy to remember when displayed
/ \ this way.
XXXXXXX
/ \
TWO DOTS, ONE DASH: O O Two dots at the ends, a heavy bar across
(letter U) | | the middle.
| |
XXXXXX
THREE DOTS, ONE DASH: O O It looks similar to the U, but has three
(letter V) \ / dots on the letter and a bar underneath it.
\ /
O
XXXXXXX
**** Note: Another way to remember these two letters is to think of the
alphabet itself: U comes before V. Present them together and with this
idea, the Scouts will be able to associate the two of them. (U before V,
TWO DOTS & ONE DASH before THREE)
.............................................................................
DASH-DOT-DASH-DOT: XX Kind of a "caveman style" writing C using
(letter C) XX just straight lines (like it were being
XX carved into something). Make sure they
O also remember the dots after the lines.
XX
XX
XX
O
DASH-DASH-DOT-DASH: The easiest way to remember this is through the phrase
(letter Q) "PAY DAY TO DAY", where the "-ay" words (the longer words)
are dashes, and the "TO" (the shorter word) is the dot.
DASH-DOT: |XX | /-----\ Use the word "NO", with the dash in the
(letter N) | XX | | O | N and the dot in the middle of the O.
| XX | | |
| XX| \-----/
DASH-DASH-DOT: /----- XXXXXXX XXXXXXX |----\ Use the word GOOD, with the
(letter G) | | | | | | \ dashes on top of the O's and
| --\ | | | | | O | the dot in the middle of the
| | | | | | | / D, to represent G.
\----/ \-----/ \-----/ |----/
............................................................................
DOT-DASH-DOT: Remember this picture of a ROADSTER:
(letter R)
/---\______/---\ The dots are the wheels and the dash
/ O XXXXXX O \ is the body.
DOT-DASH-DASH-DOT: Remember this picture of a PORSCHE:
(letter P)
/---\______________/---\ A simple way to keep R and P
/ O XXXXXX XXXXXX O \ from getting confused is to
remember that a Porsche is
bigger because it costs more.
...............................................................................
DOT-DASH-DOT-DOT: ___________ Think of a picture of a truck GOING
(letter L) ___| | LEFT.....Remember, it is GOING LEFT.
| O XXXXXX O O |
DOT-DOT-DASH-DOT: ___________ The same truck that was going left
(letter F) | |___ before is NOW GOING FORWARD.
| O O XXXXXX O | Remember, this one's GOING FORWARD.
..............................................................................
DOT-DASH-DASH: XXXXXX|-------\ Think of a two-handled WHEELBARROW
(letter W) | \ (this isn't too good of a picture of it,
XXXXXX|---------O but I'm sure you can improvise....)
DOT-DASH-DASH-DASH: XXXXXX|-------\ This is a THREE-HANDLED WHEELBARROW,
(letter J) XXXXXX| \ and represents "J" because this was
XXXXXX|---------O made by a JERK who didn't know what
he was doing!
.............................................................................
DASH-DOT-DOT-DOT: X------O A picture of the letter B, with the dash being
(letter B) X | the straight line at the left, and each of the
X /| dots being at the right end of the letter.
X----O
X \|
X |
X------O
DASH-DOT-DOT: X-----O The same idea as the B above, only with two dots
(letter D) X \ instead of the three.
X |
X |
X /
X-----O
DASH-DOT-DOT-DASH: XXX XXX Think of this as the picture of the
(letter X) XXX XXX face of an OX. The two horns are the
XXX----XXX dashes, and his two eyes are the dots.
| |
| O O |
\ /
\_~~_/
~~
DASH-DOT-DASH-DASH: XXX XXX The letter Y is composed entirely of
(letter Y) XXX XXX the dots and dashes. Think of it as
XXX XXX building up the letter Y from the
O bottom to the top. You start with the
X first dash, then add the dot, then
X finally add the other two dashes.
X
X
DASH-DOT-DASH: ------|------ This of this as the SKALE (not scale)
(letter K) /| | |\ of Justice. The misspelling will help
/ | | | \ it stick in your mind. The first dash
/ | | | \ is the plate on the left side, the dot
/ | | | \ on the base at the bottom, and the
XXXXXX | XXXXXX second dash the plate on the right
| side.
O
DASH-DASH-DOT-DOT: XXXXXXXX XX All the dots and dashes put together
(letter Z) XX crudely represent the letter Z.
XX Also, think of Zorro taking his
XX sword out and slashing the letter
XX O O in the dirt on the ground. He
starts at the top, does the second
dash, and decides to get fancy
with the two dots.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that's it folks. Hope you enjoyed reading it, and hope it was of some
use to you.
I've found it rather useful in teaching Morse Code to the Scouts in my
troop; I've been doing it now for about 3 years. It works best if you teach
it at 2 different meetings; the kids seem to get a bit antsy when you go over
the whole thing at once, and get tired of it after about 15 or so letters
anyway. Breaking it up into two meetings allows them to go home and study
what they've learned (for an interpatrol game on it next week, of course ;-) )
and keeps them looking forward to finishing it up the week following. I also
usually have a message in Morse Code written to them on one of the chalkboards
before they come to the second meeting (using the letters they learned the
first time around); it works pretty well as a pre-opening game for early
arrivals, plus it gets them to look at the Morse Code again (as a refresher and
quick review of application) before the competition later in the meeting.
All in all, you could stretch it out to cover a month (for monthly theme), or
it could be combined with a basic review of other Scout skills (knots, lashings,
compass, etc.) during the couple of months before we start our camping season
in the spring. It also works well on campouts after dark (you know how
some of those kids just love to play with flashlights ;-) ), using flashlights
and modulating the duration and frequency of the flashes (seems to be adequate
motivation for about 1/3 to 1/2 of the kids to take a "quick look" at Morse
Code on the way out to campouts, or during the week before one).
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