CW in movies - Just watched "Midway" again....

[KE5KZX]

In the scene where a Japanese admiral tells his radio op to order a scout plane to send info on the makeup of the US fleet, "identify ships" is clearly heard in Morse code. RST 599, abt 17 wpm.

This is the first time I have heard actual Morse code in the movies. Usually, it is a bunch of idiots hammering on a straight key.

There is another scene in the movie where a sailor on a PBY is told to send a contact report, and his technique is rough at best.

Are there any other movies that have an accurate representation of Morse code?

Thanks and 73

Dennis - KE5KZX

[kb9rqz]

and in Destination Tokoyo the american send out the weatherdata and postion of gun and such in voice likely AM phone guesing 40 form the size of the RDF tracking

they use Japenese to disuise themselves

and the question become so what Codes had a higher value 60 years ago than it has today



nothing more and nothing yet

[AG3Y]

My favorite is the new King Kong, where the words "big monkey" are heard on the ship's radio !

An old favorite of mine is "A Wing and a Prayer" where Morse Code is being received aboard a larger Navy vessel. The receivers, and/or transmitters are so unstable that you can hear the notes going up and down, and up again! It's a wonder those old ship operators could copy anything !

There was another war time movie, I believe it was "The Enemy Below" in which the Captain of the ship kept hearing Morse Code in his mind. It was about driving him nuts, because he couldn't figure out what it was, but he KNEW it was important!

There are a slew of them out there, and I am sure that others will remember some more.

73, Jim

[AE6IP]

The television series Morse had Morse code in the theme song and incidental music.

In some episodes the incidental music had clues to the case.

[KI4PEQ]

There was another war time movie, I believe it was "The Enemy Below" in which the Captain of the ship kept hearing Morse Code in his mind. It was about driving him nuts, because he couldn't figure out what it was, but he KNEW it was important!

There are a slew of them out there, and I am sure that others will remember some more.

73, Jim

I think you may be referring to "Run Silent, Run Deep" where the captain hears the Morse code. Run Silent, Run Deep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Silent,_Run_Deep)

[kb9rqz]

I think you may be referring to "Run Silent, Run Deep" where the captain hears the Morse code. Run Silent, Run Deep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Silent,_Run_Deep)well run selent run deep has a cw like signal under water that was being to and from the destoryer on the surface don't recall if it was established to be morse the ship radio op could not read it after all

[N8CPA]

To qoute the scene from Destiantion Tokyo: "Denki hokuku. Denki hokuku,"
which, if I remember my tiny smattering of Japanese, means "Good weather. Good weather."

In the 1956 version of Titanic, "CQD DE MGY" is sent.

In "Night to Remember" of that same movie era, fairly accurate depictions of the sound of spark are used. You can hear various Morse streams, callsigns of ships responding to T's CQD, etc. Clickety clack is tapped in the Cameron version of the same incident.

In Run Silent Run Deep, I think the code is Japanese Morse by the length of some characters. There are some that are six and seven elements long.

There are some Morse streams in Hindenberg, but I've never interpretted it.

In Hunt for Red October, a clip of a WLO beacon is used as the order
to the other Russian sub to sink Red October. It actually says, "DE WLO RTTY."

I have interpretted the Morse in ID-4. In the scene where all the different military groups are receiving the counter attack plan, it's practically buried under the music, but it says, "AT 9Z JULY 4." The scene where they show all the guys using keyes is just clickety clack.

A couple of minutes into Alien vs. Predator, there is a scene in a satellite earth station. A Morse stream plays a 'cutesiefied' version of the movie's tag line, "Whoever wins we lose." It sends it as, "Whoever wins we woose." (sic). The cute part is the substitution of W for L in the word "Lose." The doubling of the O's indicates to me that the sound technician confuses the spelling of 'lose' and 'loose.'

And, I heard yesterday, that Morse is involved in the new thriller, "Untraceable."

[KB3IFK]

Enemy of the state, Gene Hackmen and Will Smith. When the satilite made its pass it was sending CQ CQ CQ.

[KE6SHJ]

TV show Jericho has CW in the opening of the new season. Independence Day has CW in it as well.

[K9STH]

In the original On the Beach movie when the sailor goes ashore and finds what is sending the erratic CW signal he sends the reason in perfect code using a straight key "coke bottle tugging on a window shade".

In the John Wayne movie Island in the Sky there are quite a few scenes with CW and generally it was properly sent. The use of the Gibson Girl emergency transmitter on 500 KHz was also correct.

The old RKO movies used to start with "RKO Radio Pictures" being sent in CW and the code was also "spelled out" on the screen.

In The Night to Remember not only was the callsign of the Titanic (MGY) sent properly but things like CQ, CQD, SOS, and the text of the distress messages were also sent correctly. Of course the old rotary spark transmitter made for some really hard to understand signals, but they were correctly sent.

In a number of the Warner Brothers cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, etc.) there were a number of actual messages sent in CW.

Glen, K9STH

[AC4BB]

There was an Episode of the TV show MASH that had a CW receiving segment The CW was just pure Gibberish.

[AG3Y]

Slightly different, but my ears perk up every time I hear it, anyway. On a lot of the Science Channel, and Learning Channel space programs, they will discuss some satellite telemetry. Almost every time, what comes across is some 45 baudot code being received at a rather low ( incorrect, that is ) pitch. It consists of a few "idle" characters, and then some actual letters. The same sound bite, every time ! ! !

73, Jim

[NN3W]

One movie with memorable CW was IIRC "on the beach"

A submarine was transmitting a random signal coming from San Diego. When a team went a shore and found what was the matter, they radioed back in perfect CW at about 18 WPM "Coke bottle on key".

[wa8rti]

I'm glad that some movies actually have CW messages that are real. All too often, they will send a few dozen characters and it is supposed to be this long involve message. Not hardly!!

[wa9cwx]

The new contracts after the writers strike will no doubt reflect the changing times....something like "Not required to put real Morse characters in the scene, to difficult to look up, and / or find fill in actor to send"...or some such phrase....:p

Frank

[AG3Y]

"In the original On the Beach movie when the sailor goes ashore and finds what is sending the erratic CW signal he sends the reason in perfect code using a straight key "coke bottle tugging on a window shade". "

I don't know why, but I am thinking of an old Paul McCartney song, "Blackbird Singin' In the Dead of Night" ! I guess, just because it has the same pentameter ! And, because it is the dead of night here, as I write this! Gotta get to sleep!

73, Jim

[k0cmh]

I am told that each episode of Jericho starts with a small message about that episode, in CW.

[KD6NIG]

Hot Shots part Deux.

Don't know what it said, if anything. The guy has great copy though. He writes on the notepad: DIT DAH DAH DAH DIT DIT DIT DIT DAH DIT or something like that.

The Three Stooges get in on the act too-about the same way as above, but when Moe asks "What did it say?" Curly replies with "DIT DAH DIT DIT DIT DAH..." out loud instead of writing it down.

[W4CBJ]

Thanks guys for these reports. I was always interested in the 'goofs' made in the movies. Especially goofy CW and errors in military uniforms and insignia. 73 Joe W4CBJ

[N8CPA]

I just remembered another one. Thank you Glenn for mentioning WB cartoons.

In the WB cartoon, Porky's Railroad, Porky played a steam engineer about to get laid off in the era of the streamliner train. The scene where he gets his layoff notice begins with a hand tapping a telegraph key. Then it shows the text of his layoff notice. But the code is actually a message from producer Leon Schlesinger. It says:

Nope! Not gonna do it. Watch the cartoon!:D

Tee hee hee! Aren't I a stinker?

Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

M-M-M-M-MORE!

You can Google Porky's Railroad and find a couple of sites that show it online, free of charge. The message is 3:57 minutes into the toon, if you're that impatient. The rest of the film however is worth watching for Porky fans.

[KI4DSO]

In the Japanese animated movie "Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta" (released as "Castle in the Sky" in the English-speaking market) there's a short scene with a giant airship where Morse code can be heard in the background. I sat down and decoded it once; I don't remember what it said except that it was actual English words, and they didn't seem to relate to the plot of the movie.