Folks, I think we are all getting mixed mesages here - when to use a letter space, and when not to is the question.
I checked the table in my 1994 ARRL Handbook for CW abbreviations and prosigns (the new handbooks have eliminated this info for some reason!). Earlier handbooks just listed the dots and dashes as though they were extra morse characters. And I know that other groups of radiotelegraphy have special symbols that have meaning to those within that group. The 'prosigns' listed in 1994 are: QRL?, CQ, AR, K, KN, BK, R, AS, SK, and CL - but the only ones indicated to be sent without a space (as one character) are AR, KN, AS, and SK - all others are indicated as being sent as 2 or more letters (indicated with a bar). The same page also has a long list of abbreviations which are obviously sent as separate letters - ES for 'and or &' is in that list of abbreviations (the 'R' and 'CL' also appear in the abbreviations list) So for my part, this is how I learned them and how I use them (I hope no-one is confused by such use) - the prosigns that are indicated with a bar to me are just another morse character (like the new character for @ which can be visualized as 'AC' with a bar over it). 73, Don W3FPR > -----Original Message----- > > > Stephanie, VA3UXB wrote: > > I don't think I ever got the hang of the prosigns... I got the AR. > To me, BT is a dash (-) but I don't know if that's correct or not. I > sometimes get the ',' and '?' confused. The / character I know well, > because I always hear it on our local repeater ident, and it it's in > my beacon's ident (va3grr/b). > > But.... how can you tell an ES from the letter H? The other ones, > the AR, BT, the / character, all have 'unique' sounds when you hear > them, right? Isn't ES the same as 'h'? Or am I completely lost? > > ---------------------------------------- > > Excellent point, Stephanie! > > All prosigns are sent as a single character and indicated, for the sake of > simplicity, as letters that, if sent without the normal space, > will produce > the prosign. All prosigns are chosen so they won't have the problems you > mention. This is a list of the prosigns I'm familiar with: > > AR ----- End of message > AS ----- Stand by > BK ----- Invite receiving station to transmit > BT ----- Pause; Break For Text > KA ----- Beginning of message > KN ----- end of transmission > CL ----- Going off the air (clear) > CQ ----- Calling any amateur radio station > K ------ Go, invite any station to transmit > KN ----- Go only, invite a specific station to transmit > R ------ All received OK > SK ----- End of contact (sent before call) > VE ----- Understood (VE) > AV ----- Warning > SOS ---- Distress > > Although it can't be shown here in ASCII, a prosign is identified > by a line > or bar above the letters. You'll hear most of these on the Ham bands > although some, like VE or AV and especially SOS will be very rarely heard. > > In addition to prosigns we have actual Morse characters for the arcane > characters on our keyboards. These are NOT "prosigns" but simply > combinations of dots and dashes like any letter of the English alphabet or > number. (My apologies for getting careless with terminology and > calling the > ampersand a "prosign". That's not right. Hang on. I'll get back > to that). I > say English because, of course, there are many other languages that have > corresponding Morse codes such as the 70-odd characters used for > Japanese or > the various odd characters used to represent diacritical marks and special > letter combinations in other European languages including Hebrew. I won't > even get into Arabic and Cyrillic. In many countries, Hams have > to learn and > be proficient in two or three "Morse Codes" to get a license! > > Here in the USA, commercial operators recognized a group of characters for > the various symbols found on a common keyboard. These were codified by the > ITU for use in commercial communications by Morse. We Hams use > some of them > almost daily, such as the period, question mark, comma and > solidus (slash). > A few more are: > > + (plus sign) di-dah-di-dit-dah > > = (equal sign) dah-di-di-dit-dah (We Hams use that for a dash a lot but as > dash is really) > > - (dash) dah-di-di-di-di-dah > > " (quotation mark) di-dah-di-di-dah-dit > > ' (single quote) di-dah-dah-dah-dah-dit > > _ (underscore) di-di-dah-dah-di-dah > > $ (dollar sign) di-di-di-dah-di-di-dah > > There are more. There's probably one for the Euro by now <G>. > > Now THOSE you won't fine in common use on the Ham bands, at least > not in any > QSO I've heard! That is except for our "pause" when we often use > the = sign. > > As Kevin Rock, KD5ONS, mentioned that some characters we use commonly came > from the old American Morse that used variations on spacing and element > lengths that don't occur in Continental or International Morse code. Dit, > di-di-dit is one of those. Sent as E S it is the ampersand. Another very > common one that is fading from use because of the popularity of keyers is > the American Morse zero - the long dash. > > I'm sure others with far more background in the American Morse, > Continental > Morse, and various international codes will have more to say. > > Ron AC7AC > > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
