Paul:
Here is the colorful (perhaps more myth than fact) version.
Back in the pre-radio days of the old railroad telegraph, the receiver was
a mechanical clicker that clicked in response to both the key closure and
the key opening. The operator distinguished the dots and dashes by counting
the length of the space between clicks.
To make matters worse, the old telegraph stations were located on a big
room with many clickers each connected to a different line. Each operator
was responsible for one clicker, but all the others were audible in the
background.
(Kind'a makes working 40 meter CW look like a breeze, doesn't it?)
As it happens, the precise sound made by each clicker was unique, and a
veteran operator could tell the difference between his and all the others.
However, the less seasoned operators could not tell them apart. The
solution to the problem was to take the lid from a metal tobacco can and
mount it on the clicker. It turns out that bending the lid at different
angles produces different sounds that are easy to distinguish. That way the
inexperienced operator could distinguish his clicker from all the others.
Not surprisingly, this technique brought hoots of derision from the
seasoned operators, who could easily recognize their own clicker without
such a device. The old salts dismissed the the young pups as "can lid
operators," later shortened to "lid operators," and finally shortened to
simply "lids." Thus, the term originally referred to an operator whose
technique revealed inexperience. As with many railroad telegraph
traditions, it was inherited by radiotelegraphers.
73,
Steve Kercel
AA4AK
At 09:23 AM 4/7/2005 +1200, you wrote:
> That wasn't a bad fist, it is caused by bat wet-ware. What a lid.
What exactly is a "lid"? A derogatory term for someone who asks silly
questions I suppose. Anyone know the origin of the term?
73 Paul ZL3IN
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