a few years back a guy i used to work with who was in his forties i think, told me about when he was growing up as a kid in eastern NC his dad had a set up for CW in his car and as they would go tootling along down the country roads, there his dad would be just tippitty tapping and reacting to the same sounds he heard back as if he was talking to someone in a foreign language that my buddy couldnt understand. must have been fairly common cause his dad wasn't a cop or anything other than a ham if i remember right. crazy to imagine. simpler than trying to text message someone with a touch screen if you think about it tho.