If you are a ham radio operator of a certain age, you probably remember ads for “The Instructograph,” a mechanical device for learning Morse code. [Our Own Devices] has an ancient specimen of the ...

As the Titanic gulped sea water on that awful night in April 1912, radio operator Jack Phillips was at his station, pounding out an SOS on the ship’s radiotelegraph key in Morse code. Eighty-three ...