| rdfs:comment
| - The usual communication devices are unsuitable, unavailable, broken or under surveillance. What can a smart hero do? Morse code, of course! Make a noise, flash a light, or grab something convenient and start maniacally flipping it on and off. Naturally, the message's recipient knows Morse code, too, but any villains in the vicinity will fail to penetrate this cleverness. Not only that, but sometimes the recipient will figure out the missing bits they lost while figuring it was actually Morse.
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| abstract
| - The usual communication devices are unsuitable, unavailable, broken or under surveillance. What can a smart hero do? Morse code, of course! Make a noise, flash a light, or grab something convenient and start maniacally flipping it on and off. Naturally, the message's recipient knows Morse code, too, but any villains in the vicinity will fail to penetrate this cleverness. Not only that, but sometimes the recipient will figure out the missing bits they lost while figuring it was actually Morse. If the viewer happens to know Morse Code, it would be noticed that almost always the actor is just tapping randomly. If the recipient is rattling off the message almost as fast as one can read, it's fake Morse code. The fastest straight-key operators can send at 35 words per minute, and decode in their head at up to 40 words per minute. It's unlikely that someone with just basic training in Morse code can even send at more than 10 words per minute. In another example of Did Not Do the Research or maybe Acceptable Breaks From Reality, movies and TV usually show the Morse operators visibly tapping the key. Even a basic Morse class teaches you to grasp the sides of the key button with thumb and middle finger and index finger on top, and work the key from your wrist. But that's much less visual. Incidentally, Morse Code is, for official purposes, obsolete: In 1999, it was retired as the international standard, and in 2007, the FCC dropped requirements for Morse proficiency for amateur radio operators. Unofficially, it's still used by Navies frequently, and Morse proficiency is necessary for communication-based rates. By the way, if you're in trouble, you can always send the most commonly-known message in Morse Code: 3 Dots, 3 Dashes, 3 Dots (S.O.S.). Though SOS works differently from most Morse transmissions. There should be no spaces between letters, and it should be repeated in a continuous SOSOSO pattern. By the way, it doesn't mean "Save Our Souls," rather the 3 dots and 3 dashes pattern was chosen because its an easy message for even an amateur to send and/or recognize even with heavy static. A similarly recognisable one is SMS (3 dots, 2 dashes, 3 dots), which at one point was commonly used on mobile phones to indicate an incoming text.
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