I don't think that's the case Lefty.
Having an arduino clone drive LEDs, that's easy.
Writing a sketch to read from progmem and output morse code, that's pretty straightforward. There's been examples of character to morse code creation sketches posted. Having a sketch that can accept serial data and store to EEPROM for reading out, also not too hard, that's what I was doing with my scrolling message board.
Downloading a new sketch which contains a morse code message to be flashed, can be done via simple TTL serial interface from a master board, an FTDI type interface that is plugged in as needed (low card cost), or RF module can be added for Fio type downloading with a higher card cost.
I'd opt for plug in & download serially to EEPROM personally,with wireless as an option, and maybe a switch to ensure RF is turned off when not being programmed.
315/434 MHz receiver/virtualwire, or a nrfl2401+ transceiver (SPI interface), both add about $5 in extra hardware modules.