Charlie whiskey ie cw(continuous wave) ie morse code was very difficult for me to learn. Struggled age thirteen to sixteen then again age forty two - when at last it sunk in, walking the dog was a good time to run thro it in my mind.
Experienced operators can get thro a lot of data very fast, quicker than speaking. Abbreviations are used, it actually becomes enjoyable. I miss it. A one valve transmitter can reach thousands of miles if the conditions, eleven year sunspot cycle is right.
I met an old lady on the estate here, very bright, a bit above what you'ed meet around here. Lo and behold she had been a cw operator during the war, she was delighted i knew her language and she told me she still thought in cw. She moved, mybe she's dead now. She said she valued our conversations. Another man, I gardened for, he was at Bletchley an ultra secret establishment that originally in the war allowed us Brits to crack the codes of the Germans. Then later they were lisrening to the Russians. He died in May and i cried my eyes out.