Morse Code is the ancient method of telecommunication which is still a required skill for some types of ham radio licenses. It is diminishing as a legal requirement in the U.S., and probably will disappear in the coming years. Still, many radio amateurs have a strong attachment to using Morse, because of the tradition, because of the special skills required, and because of the efficiency of communications. Morse is generally sent as CW, continuous wave, on-off carrrier modulation. CW will "get through" when most other modes fail, because of its spectral efficiency. CW concentrates transmitted power in a very narrow bandwidth allowing it to overcome noise and poor radio propagation. CW transmitters and receivers can be very simple and inexpensive.
I am member #11607 of the FISTS CW Club.
Below is a little photo tribute to my Bencher Paddle, which is a classic but low-cost design for the "iambic" design -- two independent paddle switches for dashes (left) and dots (right). The paddle must be connected to an electronic keyer which actually generates the dots and dashes. Click on images for full resolution.
