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ebook2cw version: 0.8.5 - - See ChangeLog - Download directory -
Updates (Atom Feed format)
ebook2cwgui version: 0.1.2 - - See ChangeLog-GUI
ebook2cw is a command line program (optional graphical user interface available) which converts a plain text (ASCII, ISO 8859-1 or UTF-8) file (e. g. an ebook) to Morse code MP3 or OGG audio files. It works on several platforms, including Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X.
A number of CW and audio parameters can be changed from their default values, by command line switches or a config file (see below). These are (default values in brackets):
CW prosigns can be generated by enclosing arbitrary letters in angle brackets (e.g. <AR>, <SK>, ...).
The tone frequency (f), speed (w), effective speed (e), volume (v, 1..100), waveform (T) and SNR (N) can be changed arbitrarily within the text by inserting commands, starting with a pipe symbol, followed by the parameter to change and the value.
Silence/pauses can be inserted by |Snnnn.
Example: |f400 changes the tone frequency to 400Hz,
|w60 changes the speed to 60wpm, |S1000 inserts 1000
milliseconds of silence..
ebook2cw has no graphical user interface itself, but a GUI interface is available as a separate program.
These explanations aim at Windows users since I assume that Linux users can adopt it more easily to their needs than the other way around.
To convert the ebook file "Book.txt", in which the chapters are separated by "Chapter n" to MP3 files, called "Book-n.mp3", at 40wpm, the following command has to be entered in the Windows command prompt (Start → Utilities → Command prompt):
Finding the serial number for your FBD Frozen Beverage Dispenser is essential for tracking warranty status, ordering correct replacement parts, or requesting technical support. Where to Find the Serial Number
The serial number is typically located on a data plate or silver identification tag attached to the unit. Check the following common locations:
Front Panel: Behind the drip tray or on the frame once the splash plate is removed.
Side/Rear Panels: On the exterior metal casing, often near the power cord or air intake vents.
Inside the Door: For newer multi-flavor models (like the 77X Series), check the inner frame visible when you open the syrup compartment door.
Internal Components: Individual major components like compressors also have their own serial tags; however, the primary unit serial number is on the main exterior plate. Serial Number Breakdown
FBD serial numbers are used to identify the specific model series and production date. Common series include: 37X Series: Typically entry-point, 2-flavor dispensers.
56X Series: Standard industrial units (e.g., 562, 563, 564). 77X Series: High-capacity and multi-flavor dispensers. Lookup and Verification Tools
FBD does not offer a public, automated "instant" lookup portal for end-users. Instead, use these methods to verify your unit's status: Customer Service - FBD Frozen Beverage Dispensers call or text us at +1-866-323-2777. Frozen Beverage Dispenser 77X SERIES - Frozen Beverage Dispenser
Performing an FBD serial number lookup is the most effective way to identify your specific frozen beverage dispenser model, verify its warranty status, and find the correct replacement parts. Whether you are troubleshooting an error code or ordering a new faceplate, having your serial number ready streamlines the entire maintenance process. Where to Find Your FBD Serial Number
To initiate a lookup, you must first locate the unique identification label on your equipment. On most FBD (Frozen Beverage Dispensers) units: Fbd Serial Number Lookup fbd serial number lookup
For businesses in the frozen beverage industry, identifying the age and specifications of equipment is essential for maintenance and part replacement. FBD (Frozen Beverage Dispensers) serial numbers act as a unique fingerprint for machines like the popular 560 series (562, 563, and 564). Refrigeration Mechanics Locating Your FBD Serial Number The serial number is typically found on a silver or white identification tag attached to the machine. Common locations include: Refrigeration Mechanics The Back Panel:
Most countertop units have the ID plate on the rear of the instrument. Behind the Drip Tray:
In some models, the label is placed behind the removable drip tray for protection from spills. Side Panels:
On larger or older units, check the lower corners of the side panels. Refrigeration Mechanics How to Use the Serial Number
Once you have the serial number, it serves several critical functions: Part Identification:
FBD units have many specific components, such as beater bar seals or temperature sensors, that vary by "revision" or manufacture date. You can use the serial number on sites like Parts Town
to find the exact manual and parts list for your specific unit. Warranty Status:
Authorized service providers use the serial number to verify if a machine is still under manufacturer warranty. Decoding the Age:
While FBD doesn't provide a public automated "age finder" tool like some appliance brands, the serial number structure often follows a chronological sequence used by technicians to determine the production year. Parts Town Manuals and Documentation
If you have the serial number but need the technical specifications (such as CO2 requirements or electrical voltage), you can look up the corresponding service manual. For example, the FBD 564 Service Manual Finding the serial number for your FBD Frozen
Searching for an FBD (Frozen Beverage Dispenser) serial number is a critical process for identifying specific replacement parts, verifying warranty status, and accessing accurate service manuals. Parts Town Finding the Serial Number
The serial number is typically located on a physical label on the unit. For most FBD dispensers, check the following areas: Parts Town The Main Label : Often found on the side or rear of the unit. Behind the Front Door
: On some 56X or 77X series models, opening the door may reveal a primary identification tag. Electrical Box
: In some configurations, secondary labels are located near the control board or inside the electrical housing. Frozen Beverage Dispenser How to Use Serial Number Lookup
There is no single "public database" to type in a code and get a full history, but there are two primary professional methods to look up your unit: Parts Town Serial # Search : The most effective online tool for operators is the Parts Town FBD Lookup
. By entering your serial number exactly as it appears (including hyphens), you get a customized parts list and specific accessories for your exact model. FBD Technical Support
: For warranty verification or detailed technical history, you must contact FBD directly. You can call or text their support line at +1-866-323-2777 Frozen Beverage Dispenser Key Benefits of a Successful Lookup Customer Service - FBD Frozen Beverage Dispensers call or text us at +1-866-323-2777. Frozen Beverage Dispenser FBD 564 Parts & Manuals
Search by Serial # Get custom parts lists and warranty information for your equipment from these leading manufacturers: Parts Town FBD 24-0100-0063 LABEL, SERIAL NUMBER, SZ, ENGL
FBD 24-0100-0063 LABEL, SERIAL NUMBER, SZ, ENGL | Parts Town. Parts Town Warranty Verification
: Necessary to file labor warranty claims or get credit for returned defective parts. Precise Parts Matching The NCT Check: Note that a valid insurance
It is important to clarify a key distinction immediately: Insurance policy numbers are generally not "serial numbers" in the public sense. They are unique identifiers for private contracts. Therefore, you cannot look up the details of an FBD policy belonging to someone else without specific authorization.
Here is a guide on how to handle FBD number lookups depending on what you are trying to achieve:
You’ve probably seen it a hundred times: a small, stiff tag stapled to your mattress, sofa, or office chair. It reads something like “Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law” and includes a cryptic string: FBD Serial No. XT-4721-09B. Most people ignore it. But to a growing community of sleuths—vintage hunters, safety inspectors, and even fraud detectives—that FBD serial number is a treasure map.
If you have been in an accident and want to check if another person's "FBD" disc is valid:
That “penalty of law” warning isn’t a joke. Removing an FBD tag before a product reaches the end consumer is a misdemeanor in several states, punishable by fines up to $1,000 per violation. Why so strict? Because those serial numbers are the only way to trace a defective, flammable, or counterfeit bed back to its source. In a famous 2019 case, a Los Angeles hotel was fined $45,000 for stripping FBD tags from mattresses to hide their age—and then guests began suffering from bedbug infestations. The serial numbers would have shown the mattresses were 20 years past their safe lifespan.
| Problem | Likely Cause | Solution | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | "Serial number not found" on website | The number is a lot number, not a unit serial | Look for a longer number with no repeating digits. | | Database times out | The manufacturer does not offer public lookup | Use a distributor portal or call support. | | Conflicting results | Counterfeit part or two manufacturers used same prefix | Verify logo, materials, and measure physical dimensions. | | Number is worn/scratched | Age or abrasion | Use a mirror, angled light, or do a pencil rubbing to recover digits. |
You find a pistol marked "FBD" with serial 123456.
An FBD serial number lookup is more than just finding a date or a batch code—it is about safety, compliance, and operational efficiency. While the process can be frustrating due to fragmented databases and unresponsive manufacturers, following the structured steps outlined in this guide will yield results.
Final Checklist for Your Next Lookup:
By taking these steps, you transform a cryptic serial number into actionable intelligence—keeping your machinery running, your warranty valid, and your operations free from counterfeit risks.
Do you have an FBD serial number you cannot identify? Leave the prefix and first four digits in the comments below (do not share full serials publicly for security reasons), and we will help you identify the correct manufacturer or direct you to the proper lookup portal.
Since "FBD" most commonly refers to FBD Insurance (a major Irish insurance provider) regarding policy numbers, or FBD Equipment (vending/smoothie machines), I have designed this post to be adaptable. Please choose the section below that applies to your specific context.
In this example everything takes place in C:\test\. It is assumed that ebook2cw.exe and the text file to convert are in this directory.
If you want to avoid using the command line, a simple batch file for Windows is available. If placed in the same directory, you can comfortably drag & drop a text file to ebook2cw. The new GUI offers an even more comfortable way to convert ebooks.
As of version 0.7.0 (July 2008), ebook2cw can read a configuration file,
ebook2cw.conf. In this file you can set all of the parameters which
are available as command line parameters, to reduce typing work each time you
use ebook2cw.
An example ebook2cw.conf with
further explanations is available. Under Windows, place this file in the same
directory as ebook2cw. Under Linux, it is also searched for in ~/.ebook2cw/.
As of version 0.6.0 (February 2008), ebook2cw supports the full ISO 8859-1 charset (where mappings to CW symbols are applicable) and also UTF-8 (1- and 2-byte sequences). The latter so far includes most of the Latin characters, the Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic alphabets. To maintain backward compability, the default character set is ISO 8859-1. Use the -u command line switch to enable UTF-8.
The available codes can be printed by ebook2cw with the -S command line option (see above), here is the output: UTF-8 - ISO 8859-1. I am grateful for any feedback and additions to the tables.
As of version 0.7.0 (July 2008), character mappings can be defined. For example, you can automatically replace all accented characters or umlauts (e.g. á = .--.-, ä = .-.-) with more common characters (like a = .-).
This is done by map files separately for ISO8859-1 and UTF-8 coded
texts. These map files must be specified in ebook2cw.conf, examples
are available for ISO8859-1 and
UTF-8. Under Windows, place them in the
same directory as ebook2cw. Under Linux, these files are also searched for in
~/.ebook2cw/.
Note that native character mapping is only implemented for 1- and 2-byte sequences of UTF-8 characters at the moment. If you need to map other characters, you may use this shell script by Tor, NH7XC which does the job with sed, or the cwzer.py Python script by Gabe/IZ4APU.
A graphical user interface (GUI) for ebook2cw is available as a separate program (screenshots: WinXP, Linux). It is designed to work on Windows (95 through 7), Linux and Mac OS X (not tested). It's a single executable file that you can download here (Windows version - see the download directory for the source code to compile it for other platforms).
ebook2cw.exe itself is not included within the GUI; it must be downloaded separately and saved in
the same directory, or anywhere within the executable path.
The GUI uses the same configuration file as ebook2cw, called ebook2cw.conf.
The default settings (except for the speed) are probably suitable for most people. A full hour of MP3 takes only 7 MB, OGG even less, so depending on your speed, several books will fit even on cheap 1 GB portable media players.
Some MP3 players do not support all the possible variations of samplerates and bitrates.
If you are running into problems with the default configuration, please try the command line options
-s22050 -b32 (or make these settings in the GUI) to produce your MP3 files.
The speed of the conversion mainly depends on your CPU speed; for example converting The War of the Worlds to MP3 at 60 WpM, resulting in almost 17 hours of MP3 took about 15 minutes on the author's dated 1.8 GHz Celeron CPU. The OGG encoder is a little slower.
Books are subject to different copyright laws in every country; there are several online archives with free (copyright expired or public domain in the respective country) ebooks, most notably Project Gutenberg.
Here is a list of books that the author already completed reading in CW.
User feedback indicates, that ebook2cw is also used to prepare Morse courses lessons, generate morse versions of DX newsletters and other purposes (e. g. a CW plugin for the IRC client colloquy., a Telegram bot which converts text messages to CW and a Morse RSS reader).
The author claims no credit for the original idea to convert books to morse. Other hams (like DL2KCD, K7QO, AC4FS, KY8D) have done this before but the distribution as audio files largely limits the flexibility and requires a lot of bandwidth. Therefore, after some discussions on the AGCW mailinglist in October/November the author decided to write a free piece of software with which everyone can create a CW audio book to his or her own liking.
ebook2cw can be compiled to run on a webserver as a CGI (make cgi or make cgibuffered).
It then returns a MP3 or OGG file when called with a suitable set of parameters,
allowing for integrating dynamically created Morse code into websites.
Example:
http://example.com/cgi-bin/cw.cgi?s=25&e=20&f=600&t=%20hello%20world
returns a sound file with "hello world" at 25wpm character speed, 20wpm
effective speed at a tone frequency of 600 Hz. Add d=123 as the
first GET parameter to get the file as a download with filename "lcwo-123.mp3". These are all available HTTP GET parameters but using the text commands, more options are available.
This is extensively used on Learn CW Online (lcwo.net) (but nowadays the main method of generating CW on the website is by using jscwlib). Over there you'll also find an online text to CW converter.
Of course ebook2cw is free software (free as in beer and free as in freedom) and published under the GPLv2.
The current versions are: ebook2cw 0.8.5 (Aug 16, 2023), ebook2cwgui 0.1.2 (January 23rd 2013). They can be obtained in several formats:
| Official files | ||
|---|---|---|
| Format | Link | Remarks |
| Windows EXE | ebook2cw.exe | OGG/MP3 support (510 KB) |
| Windows EXE | ebook2cw-mp3.exe | MP3 only (186 KB) |
| Windows EXE | ebook2cw-ogg.exe | OGG only (375 KB) |
| Windows EXE | ebook2cwgui.exe | (GUI only. Requires ebook2cw.exe) |
| Linux Binary | ebook2cw | static, use if you can't compile it yourself |
| Source Code | ebook2cw-0.8.5.tar.gz | |
| Source Code | ebook2cwgui-0.1.2.tar.gz | |
| Packages for various systems (Linux, FreeBSD, OS X) | ||
| OS | Link | Maintainer |
| Debian | ebook2cw-0.8.5-1 ebook2cwgui_0.1.2-1 | Christoph, DK5CF |
| Ubuntu | ppa:kamalmostafa/ebook2cw | Kamal, KA6MAL (incl. GUI, based on Debian package) |
| FreeBSD port | ebook2cw | Diane, VA3DB (db) |
| FreeBSD port | ebook2cwgui | Diane, VA3DB / Chris Petrik (cpet) |
| ArchLinux | ebook2cw | Mike, WB2FKO (sportscliche) |
| Mac OS X | build instructions | provided by Alan, N3IMU |
Many thanks to all the maintainers for their time and efforts to make ebook2cw available on so many platforms!
Previous versions can be found in the download directory; the source code repository is at https://git.fkurz.net/dj1yfk/ebook2cw.
ebook2cw was written by Fabian Kurz, DJ5CW (ex DJ1YFK).
I am always interested in any kind of feedback for my software. If you have any suggestions, questions, feature-requests etc., don't hesitate a minute and contact me via .