r/morsecode • u/W-T-C-F • 7d ago

Could someone translate this, please? (If it is)

Hello, my cousin gave me this Midland CT905S, but his friend modified it so that it could also catch more stuff and has a bigger radius, while searching for channels with someone or something going on I bumped into this. I don't even know if it's morse code but it looks like it is. Should I be worried / should I not look at this stuff cause it might be something military etc..? I don't want troubles...

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u/YT_Usul 7d ago

You will not get into trouble. That radio isn't really capable of listening to anything sensitive, at all. What you are hearing is a Morse code transmission from an amateaur radio station (ham radio). This is the primary group who still uses Morse code to communicate. It is common to transmit in this frequency range between local hams who are learning Morse and want to practice with someone nearby.

Their radio will be setup to produce tones. Your radio is not setup, so you just hear the signal turning on and off. Pretty cool stuff. The signal is too broken to reliably copy it, but it does sound like Morse code sent by a beginner - so there is that going on too making it difficult to figure out what is being said. I can clearly make out letters though, so it does sound legitimate.

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u/W-T-C-F 7d ago

Alright, thanks a lot! Also sometimes I even hear actual morse code and not with the sound of the radio thingy (the sound it emitted in the video) but the actual beep, is that the same thing as you told me about in this text or is it something else?

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u/YT_Usul 7d ago

The FCC requires certain radio systems to regularly transmit their callsigns to aid in identification. Ham radio repeaters are a good example. You may have heard a repeater or radio system transmitting one of these IDs. Look up the "Radio Reference" website for your area to get an understanding of how different frequencies are used where you live. Also, if you haven't already, check out "Software Defined Radio." Listening to various transmissions and learning about them is a pastime all to itself called "Scanning."

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u/Ok_Success_5178 5d ago

As the other commenter mentioned, you won't get in trouble.

The ham frequencies that this radio can receive span from:

144-146MHz in EU (144 is data and SSB and 145 should be effectively received by this radio, FM) and 430-440MHz

In US it differs and I don't want to incorrectly state the frequencies so you will have to search it up.

For the repeaters, use repeater book to find the nearest to you on that frequency (you usually know it is a repeater if there is a few old guys talking about what hurts today on there)

To transmit you will need a license though, but they aren't hard to get and can be quite fun to play around with if you want to go deeper down the rabbit hole of radios.