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Famous Pittsburgh Morse code landmark actually spells Pitetsbkrrh
Since March 1929, the 33 story Grant building in downtown Pittsburgh has been home to a huge flashing beacon, using Morse code to spell the word "Pittsburgh". The beacon was installed so aviators could avoid the 500 foot structure, even though commercial air travel was not well established upon completion of the tower.
When Tom Stepleton was waiting for the local Fourth of July fireworks show to begin, he started decoding the Morse code message, but to his amazement, he noticed the flashing blink of the letter "K". Since there is no K in Pittsburgh, he decoded the rest of the message, and discovered that the landmark was actually spelling "Pitetsbkrrh".
It isn't clear how long the beacon had been relaying the incorrect message, but the building's current owners are aware of the mistake.
Mr. Stepleton is a recreational pilot, and even though the FAA no longer requires pilots to master Morse code, it isn't too hard to learn. The correct beacon flash pattern should be ".--. .. - - ... -... ..- .-. --. .... ". If you want to learn more about Morse code, or if you'd just like to mess around with it, and see your own name in Morse, check out this fun online Morse code decoder/encoder.
UPDATE: Now the building is flashing "TPEBTSAURGH"
Gallery: 10 tourist destinations with a funny name
Filed under: North America, United States, Video
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
carol conley Jul 15th 2009 10:42PM
No matter how it is spelled, its the best little city in this good old USA. Friendly, down to earth people. I should know. I moved from there 40 years ago, through no fault of my own and have found no other city as great. Pittsburghers are fantastic and I miss you all even after all this time. Cant say enough good things about my home town no matter how they spell it. Once a Pittsburgh person, always a Pittsburgh person..
Norene Jul 17th 2009 1:23AM
No excuse for misspelled words....anywhere.
Taylor Jul 15th 2009 11:59PM
BTW:
Last time I checked It's PA not Pa, AOL has no room to talk about spelling....
violet Jul 16th 2009 12:43AM
Iron City beer, and nude beer are made in pittsburg with city water they suck as beer goes
REVEREND X Jul 16th 2009 1:19AM
evrything about pennsylvania is mispelled! even the steas....i mean "commonwealth's" name it's correct spelling is "N-E-W- N-A-Z-I- G-E-M-A-N-Y! the salem witch trials have nothing on what the courts do here in PA. 5th ammendment doesn't exist here.
Gort, g'day,eh? Jul 16th 2009 1:33AM
Whadda expect from a bunch of yinsers?
Sam Jul 16th 2009 4:11AM
I grew up in the county north of Pittsburgh, and have lived most of my adult life elsewhere. It is interesting to read these comments. People are much the same in many places.
bill m Jul 16th 2009 5:56AM
Pennsylvania was named after William Penn. Quit trying to change the english lanq with all the texting shortcut words.
Norene Jul 17th 2009 1:34PM
There are no excuses for a misspelled word.
Noreen Rachuba Sep 22nd 2009 6:31PM
As of July 27, 2009 the machinery that spelled out Pittsburgh in Morse Code was fixed and it is finally spelling Pittsburgh correctly. Apparently this machine was built in the 1920s and needed refabricated. It is a pretty cool building and has some interesting history.