By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

I’ve taken up a new hobby recently and that’s learning Morse code.   I’ve been wanting to learn this lost art for a long time, and was finally inspired to get started by this Art Of Manliness article, which supplied a printable card of all the Morse code characters for the alphabet along with various handy weblinks.

You might be wondering the practical use of Morse in this day and age when we have things like mobile phones, SMS and the internet.    Well for one, it’s interesting.  Secondly, it’s a very useful survival skill to know.   I often travel down to the Bavarian Alps and mobile phone reception can be spotty down there.   If I’m up a mountain and I break a leg and I suddenly can’t get mobile phone reception, wouldn’t Morse code be a good skill to have if I find myself in a position to use it?

I find it a shame that something like Morse code is gradually dying a slow death due to SMS, mobile phones and the net.   This is something that should be kept alive and that everyone should learn.

Do you know Morse code?   If so, where did you learn?

Oh and to show you that Morse code is indeed better than a SMS message, don’t take my word for it.  Here’s Jay Leno to show you :