In honor of Peter Narin's retirement: Frogs and morse code operators

Abstract

Acoustic communication between animals runs the gamut of simple to complex in its dynamic time and frequency structure. Narrow bandwidth codes are often used in noisy environments wherein simple filters can be used to recover the signal under poor signal to noise ratios. Tree frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus use essentially single and double tones to attract mates in very noisy environments with many males calling mostly silent females. Over the last 40 years, Peter Narins has been studying these simple frog codes. He has shown that these frogs have evolved behaviors to avoid acoustic interference with their neighbors, both in time (by call suppression) and by changing their dominant frequencies across species. Radio amateurs using Morse code mimic frog behavior when trying to communicate with highly desired, weak-signal DX (distant) stations, where many strong signals are calling simultaneously. In this scenario, termed a “DX Pileup,” the calling operators use strategies similar to those of frogs to successfully contact the DX station. Peter (K2IXQ) has been an avid radio amateur for most of his life, using Morse code to chase DX around the world. Clearly, there is an overlap between his scientific research and his personal hobby.