Railfan Technology > Railroad Morse Code Translator-Need Help

I own an audio recording of railroad telegraph communications recorded in the mid-1950s in a SOO Line station in Hawkins Wisconsin. I would like to translate the messages as I'm sure it would be interesting to know what was being said in them. I have looked at several online Morse code translators but none allow me to upload the sound file and have it converted to text. I tried to convert the sounds to "." and "-" and type them into a translator myself, but I honestly cannot differentiate between a dot and a dash-they sound exactly alike to me.
Can someone suggest an online translator that will convert sound to text, or perhaps a Morse code enthusiast group that would do this for me?
I've attached 5 minutes of the telegraph calls in case anyone wants to take a creak at decoding it.
Thanks,
Ken Gear

 

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Maye a dumb post as really no experince but
I played around a little -  converted to MP3 audio file type.  Then there was a program claimed to convert MP3and there was "output" ?  Not up on this at all but sounds like incoming code in background also  so maybe this is where they "playback message or each station sends back message, didn't each sstation have to send back..  Anyway output was "E  EE T EI" so guess is it is output of shorts and longs not words as such.  I guess each operator had their own "style" also.

Interested to "hear" from someone who actually knows.

Bob

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/20 13:39 by robj.

The software converters are looking for radio code beeps, not clicks, and they decode international Morse code, not American Morse.  I would open the file in an audio editor to see it visually, and write it out.  It won't be a fast process.  There are online American Morse translators that will convert from dots and dashes.

I can copy the International Morse Code but the sample you have is American Morse Code.  There are two main differences.  First, the actual code is different.  Some of the letters are the same, IE, A is .- (dot dash) in both codes.  B is -... (dash dot dot dot)  but when we get to C, in international it's -.-.  (dash dot dash dot) but in American Morse it's .. . (dot dot space dot).  American Morse has short spaces in some characters where international has no such thing.  The other difference is that international uses a series of long and short tones.  American Morse uses a series of clicks, or maybe better described as ticks and tocks.  The sounders usually had a slightly different tone for the beginning of an element and the end of that element.  That is a slightly different sound when the key was depressed and another sound when the key was released.  It would take a trained ear to tell the differences.  When Samuel F.B. Morse invented his telegraph system, it was never intended for people to copy it by ear.  The original receiving machine had a stylus that put marks on a paper tape and the operator would look at it and decode the message.  Eventually, operators learned the sounds of different letters and would copy the messages as they came into the receiver.  Eventually, the printing machine was eliminated and operators all copied the messages by ear.  

There are some people that still use American Morse as a hobby.  They have devices to convert the code sent by key to a signal that can operate a sounder at the other end.  They can use the telephone, radio, or internet to connect to each other.  I did a quick Google but I couldn't find them.  You might want to try to find their group.  I bet they would enjoy the challenge.  

BTW, when we voice International Morse, we use the short "Dit" for the dot sound and the longer "Da or Dah" for the dash sound.  It allows the sound to sound more like an actual morse code character.  "Dit-dah" , the short and long sound resembles the actual sound of the letter "A" in Morse.  Saying "dot dash" does not have that rhythm.  Hams around the world still use Morse to communicate.  Some of them communicating at 35, 40 or even 50 words per minute daily and it is as natural as talking to their XYL (ex-young lady, or "Wife.").  Just how fast can it be today compared to text messaging?  Go to Youtube and search "CW vs SMS."  CW is what hams refer to Morse as because the FCC refers to it as Continuous Wave transmission.  SMS is the technical term for texting, Short Message Service.  The longest contact I ever made was from my room on Okinawa to South America and I was using CW for that contact.  Besides the letters and numbers, Morse had code for virtually all punctuations also.-.-.- (period)

I hope this explains a few things.  Probably more than you wanted to know.

Dit-da-da-dah   da-da-dah   dit-dit-dit-dit   da-dit   (John)
Dit-da-dah   dit-dah   dit-dit-dit-dit-dah   dit-dit-dah   da-dah   dit-dah-dit   (WA4UMR)

Wow! Thanks so much for all this great information!

If my Mom was still alive, she could read it.   She was a telegrapher for Postal Telegraph back in the '20s in St. Louis.

I passed this on to a retired operator friend of mine.   Here's what he came up with:

HR FM SNAMA?? 7
TO IJ
RECEIVED ONE GOND ON 32 THIS AM NEED TWO MORE BEFORE TOMORROW NOON PLEASE.
SG AM
OK W
DO DO DO DO DO DE (DE OFFICE CALLING DO OFFICE)

** SOME STUFF I CAN'T DECIPHER
** SOUNDS LIKE:
***C OW 26 APR 1 OIL.  THEN AN OK AND A QUESTION AND A
*** REPLY OF NO.  

HR MSG FM RHINELANDER 7
TO CONDR 16
PICK UP AT ONEIDA SPUR UTLX 67561 AND 62664 X TANKS FOR MINNTFRE SG
TEJ
D (OK BY RECEIVING OPERATOR WHO SIGNED 'D')

68969 GN SPOREHAM, WFEX 66755 AND FGEX 51904, 51537 ST POINT. SG IJ
D

He said there was a lot of breaking and repeating going, making it more difficult to decipher.
Paul

Is there any way to get a link to the full recording?
Thanks,
Paul
 

Hi Paul,
Thank you so much! Also please convey my thanks to your friend the former railroad operator.
Here is the complete 15 minute audio.
If your friend is willing to have another go at the whole clip, I would be VERY appreciative!
Thanks again! 
Ken Gear



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/20 21:49 by sig292.

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Here is a link to more American Morse code, and some tower information.   
Morse