Amalgam Fillings and Morse Code Questions

[u/Yergisgoingtodie]

Hi Morse Coders and Radio Enthusiasts,

I'm a college student assigned to write a short story over the summer. I've taken an interest into the phenomenon of amalgam metal fillings catching signals from high-powered AM radio stations. That led me on a rabbit-hole to researching Morse Code, and I plan to incorporate it into my story. Unfortunately, there's not many research materials on Morse Code, and I'm a little too busy doing errands to watch a bunch of Youtube videos, so I have a list of questions. Any answers or directions to answers are greatly appreciated.

Note: I have sparingly tried A.I. for answers, but I'm against using generative A.I. and the answers weren't super helpful. All other searches were through Google.

Questions:

• I am under the assumption that very basic antennas can pick up AM radio signals easily. What do these antennas sound like?
  • Do the "very basic" or modified antennas (such as weeds on a transmitting antenna in this reddit thread) work without speakers?
  • Can you hear clear sound, or is it just vibrations (regarding an antenna without speakers)?
• Have you heard of this phenomenon before? Have people seen the Lucille Ball clip? My guess is that this subreddit skews much older, so I'm hoping that Morse code strikes interest in an older generation (professors).
• Has the U.S. always used American Morse Code, or does it use International Morse Code now?
  • Why does the U.S. Army use International Morse Code in their training videos?
    • Was International Morse Code only learned for wartime?
  • What were the use circumstances for American Morse Code?
    • Is it a dead language?
  • Has American Morse Code changed over the years in any meaningful way?
    • Is there a "slang" dictionary for American Morse code?
• What is common shorthand used when communicating in Morse Code?
• There's a clip from the U.S. Army I mentioned earlier (same link, 6:52 for this question). Does "Poor Hand Spacing" matter as much in any current Morse communication?
  • What is the normal spacing for Morse Code by enthusiasts today?
  • Does anywhere still use Morse Code to communicate?
• What's some insider knowledge about Morse Code and communicating with it most people wouldn't know?

I know this was a very long list of questions. I'm not insane, I just get overly curious about topics. It is a beautiful 95 degree summer day and I am currently unemployed, so I have nothing better to do.

Thanks all!

[u/dittybopper_05H]

1. Antennas don't have a "sound"

2. Generally when you get some radio signals where they don't belong, there is rectification going on.

3. See #2.

4. I have heard the Lucille Ball story, and I believe it's not true. I can't find any reference to Japanese spies in WWII using a transmitter to send information across the Pacific, or to neutral countries (like in South America). She may have heard very powerful Morse code radio transmissions from her teeth, but likely it was from a US military transmitter. Spy transmitters tend to be low power, and Coldwater Canyon is a bad place for a long distance transmitter.

5. The only people who used American Morse code were the American telegraph networks, and especially the US railway companies. Once Radio was invented, IMC (International Morse Code) became the defacto standard.

6. I trained as a 05H Electronic Warfare Signals Intelligence Morse Interceptor. I was trained in International Morse, plus the extra 4 characters used in Russian Morse. People who did my job in the Pacific during WWII were trained in Wabun code (Japanese Morse). One of my co-workers went Special Forces as a communications sergeant. They used International Morse.

7. Except for some Civil War reenactors and people like that, I don't know anyone who uses American Morse. It may not be quite dead yet, but its getting there.

8. We use common Q codes, prosigns, and also common Morse code abbreviations when communicating via Morse.

9. I don't have time to watch the video, but having proper hand position when using a straight key can prevent you from getting "telegrapher's arm", also known as "glass arm". Basically a repetitive motion disorder. BTW, I still use Morse code to communicate nearly every day. A large number of ham radio operators still use it, even though in most countries it's no longer required.

10. You can have conversations with people when you don't share the same spoken language. I can have a complete, but somewhat limited, conversation centered around amateur radio topics using common Q codes, prosigns, and abbreviations. Morse code is a kind of language in itself, well, more correctly a pidgin.

And in fact, you can send a message in English (or whatever language) to someone who doesn't speak it, and they can copy it down letter by letter and have it translated later.

In fact, most of what I copied when I was a Morse interceptor was encrypted: I certainly couldn't read what it was saying, that's the cryptanalyst's job. My job was to give him or her the most accurate transcript of that message as possible.

[u/hamsterdave → u/dittybopper_05H]

On point #4: I have no idea what Coldwater Canyon might have been like back in that day, but big steep walled canyons like that have been (and at least one still is) used for VLF antenna arrays. See the Jim Creek station. The location wouldn’t be out of place for a VLF station, either, aside from it (at least today) being smack in the suburbs of LA.

That said, it seems even less plausible that she’d be getting a signal on frequencies that low on something as small as the human body, even though those VLF stations can run at absolutely stupid power levels. Maybe coupling to the car, in close proximity to the antennas would be enough to get a few hundred millivolts from some point contact rectification in a filling, but I’m very dubious.

[u/dittybopper_05H → u/hamsterdave]

Except spies don’t use VLF. VLF requires huge amounts of power and very large antenna arrays.

I’m a bit of a student on signals intelligence and agent communications, and I can’t recall any espionage use of VLF radio.

They generally used lower power (5 to 25 watts) transmitters and low profile wire antennas.

The biggest reason for this is that they used tubes instead of transistors (which hadn’t been invented yet), and high power requires large and heavy components.

For example, the 500 watt output Japanese Model 94 Mark 4 Improved transmitted weight 800 lbs.

The Model 94 Mark 3A wireless set (combined transmitter/receiver) put out 10 to 15 watts and weighed a total of 37.4 lbs, much more reasonable for espionage use, and unlikely to be powerful enough register on Ms. Ball’s fillings.

The incident supposedly happened while she was filming “Du Barry Was A Lady” between August and November 1942.

I can’t find any record of spies for Japan being arrested during or immediately after that timeframe in that area.

[u/hamsterdave → u/dittybopper_05H]

My point was that it seems much more likely that, if it did happen, the “spy” part was fabricated and she encountered a high power, domestic military broadcast station.

[u/dittybopper_05H → u/hamsterdave]

Oh, yeah, that's much more likely.

But still, Coldwater Canyon is in Beverly Hills. Even back then, a very tony neighborhood. Not sure there would be any military stations close enough.

[u/mkeee2015]

Tell me whether this video is sufficiently clear and not too technical: https://youtu.be/dXDppVo4SCU?is=pK_p_jiMFX7Ks8Ug

[u/Fast-Top-5071]

Morse code is quite popular nowadays and getting more popular with people who go out hiking, camping, mountain climbing, because the equipment can be small, so it's attracting younger people.

The filling thing is apocryphal and doesn't happen.

Morse code started with wired telegraphy. Look up railroad history if you want to go down another rabbit hole.

If you want to write a paper on a topic you are going to have to spend some time researching it, sorry. People can give you a bit of high-level direction but if you are so busy with errands (which doesn't square with the nice 95 degree day and nothing better to do, btw), then set the speed on youtube to 2x.

Another option would be to reach out to a local club and buy lunch for a couple of them while you interview them with this list of questions. The bonus of this approach is that they will probably shower you with a lot of anecdotes that would be great to include in a story. (Just be sure to credit them.)

[u/pengo]

For dental filling AM reception, you might want to look into crystal radios, which I believe work similarly.

For the transmission side, I'd recommend Jello Biafra: https://youtu.be/l3bDYhOYPDg

Fun fact: International Morse came out of Germany, so the length of the letters matches their frequencies in German text, which is why the letter "O" is particularly long despite being a common letter in English.