Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
Open Roads Radio forum for Ham, Amateur Radio and RV camping


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 10-17-2014, 10:45 AM   #1
NN5I
Carl, nn5i
 
NN5I's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 1,441
Default One-question quiz #2

You have no doubt become aware that many hams abbreviate a lot on CW. Most of the abbreviations, like CUAGN for See you again, seem to be intuitive and sensible. One that doesn't seem either sensible or intuitive is ES for and. Question: WHY do hams use ES for and? Where'd it come from?

24 hour rule.
__________________
-- Carl
NN5I is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-17-2014, 08:05 PM   #2
electricflyer
Senior Member
 
electricflyer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Douglasville, GA
Posts: 417
Default

Again, I know the answer so I will wait the 24 hours and then I will ask a question that relates to that. I will be doing a planned Mesh Net test about 9:00am in a local park but I hope to be back by 11:46, after the 24 hour answer ban. Now because of old timers disease I hope I can remember.

By the way Carl, did you retire from Lockheed at Dobbins?
electricflyer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-17-2014, 08:56 PM   #3
NN5I
Carl, nn5i
 
NN5I's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 1,441
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by electricflyer View Post
Again, I know the answer so I will wait the 24 hours and then I will ask a question that relates to that. I will be doing a planned Mesh Net test about 9:00am in a local park but I hope to be back by 11:46, after the 24 hour answer ban. Now because of old timers disease I hope I can remember.

By the way Carl, did you retire from Lockheed at Dobbins?
Nope, never worked for Lockheed. I'm retired from Cap Gemini Consulting, mostly.

I've played with Mesh-Net when it was HSMM-MESH, and may play with it again some day. I have about ten or so WRT54GSv1 routers sitting idle.
__________________
-- Carl
NN5I is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2014, 11:11 AM   #4
electricflyer
Senior Member
 
electricflyer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Douglasville, GA
Posts: 417
Default

OK, the answer is--- ES is CW for the Ampersand (and) symbol that was used with early CW in the form of American Morse or also known as Railroad Morse.
The CW for the symbol was dit dididit which can be interpreted as e (did) and s (dididt). E and S sounds the same as the CW for the Ampersand but depending on which Morse you are using will be different meaning. What we use now is International Morse code that was developed in Germany and was known as Continental Morse and later became International Morse. Recently added to CW is the @ symbol. Do you know the code for that?

My question for all is what was the first message sent by the newly developed American Morse and when was that message sent?
electricflyer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2014, 01:37 PM   #5
NN5I
Carl, nn5i
 
NN5I's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 1,441
Default

Right on, Flyer.

The code that we use nowadays, called Morse Code, is not the original telegrapher’s code. The code we use, more properly called Continental Code or sometimes Continental Morse, is composed of characters made up of combinations of two sound elements which are of disparate lengths. Dits and dahs are how they’re usually referred to, with a dit equaling one time unit and a dah equaling three units. The spacing between each element is a single unit while inter-character pauses consist of three -– and so on.

There was, and is still is in some places, an earlier code, similar in many ways to what we use now, called American Morse or Railroad Morse or sometimes Landline Morse because it was used in wire telegraphy. In American Morse, aside from the fact that clicking noises were used instead of tones, the spacing between sound elements was not always the same; some characters had longer spaces (equal to two dit-lengths) within them; and some even had extra-long dahs. Nor was the character set the same as in modern Morse.

One character that was represented in American Morse but is not included in our modern Continental Code is the character called ampersand, or &, which of course means and.

The American Morse for the ampersand was a dit followed by a two-dit-length space followed by three dits spaced one dit-length apart. It sounds a lot like ES sent in modern Continental Code with not quite enough space between the E and the S.

When you use ES as a ham radio abbreviation for and, you hearken back to the earliest origins of the hobby. Use it, and enjoy the historical perspective it gives you.

Incidentally, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, who is usually credited with having invented the Morse Code, invented only the concept of signaling by interrupting a current in a wire. The actual code was invented by one of Morse's assistants, Alfred Vail. Morse stole the credit!

The part Morse did invent, of course, was the greater of the two inventions.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg American Morse.jpg (116.2 KB, 28 views)
__________________
-- Carl
NN5I is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-2014, 08:34 PM   #6
Radio
Administrator
 
Radio's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Fayetteville, GA, USA
Posts: 3,017
Default

I have been lead to understand/believe that Morse intended his code to be marked out on a moving strip of paper, dots and dashes, then visually transcribed by the operator at the receiving station. This would also allow for unattended reception of a message.

The operators soon began to figure out the could copy in real time by the sounds of the clicks of the scribe against the paper, and so the paper spools and the required clockwork to move it were no longer needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

Vail's "research" as to which characters were used most often (or not) was quite clever, and led to what was arguably the first "data compression" scheme.
__________________

KU4OJ "Wade" Ships Captain, CFO, Chief Engineer
KG4DQQ "Kathy" 1st Officer, Navigator, Best Friend
2007 F-150 SuperCab - 2009 Rockwood 8280SS
Lot's of mostly Kenwood stuff

Radio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-19-2014, 12:41 PM   #7
NN5I
Carl, nn5i
 
NN5I's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 1,441
Default

"A patient waiter is no loser" probably wasn't the first thing they ever sent in Morse, but it was what they sent in the first public test of a telegraph over three miles of wire at the Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown, NJ. Later, in a more famous demonstration, they sent the text "What hath God wrought" in a public test between Washington DC and Baltimore MD on 24 May 1844. Earlier (01 May 1844) they had sent election news (nomination of Henry Clay) over the same circuit.
__________________
-- Carl
NN5I is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-19-2014, 05:17 PM   #8
Radio
Administrator
 
Radio's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Fayetteville, GA, USA
Posts: 3,017
Default

And Alexander Graham Bell never meant to invent a voice-over-wire telephone.

What he wanted was a multiplexed telegraph, where many signals of diverse frequencies could be sent over one circuit at the same time. This would increase message throughput, offer some (but not much) privacy, and greatly improve return on investment of the most expensive part of the network, namely the wire between the stations.

What he got, as we know, was an electromagnetic device that could reproduce what ever sound was put into it at the other end of a set of wires.

His paradigm for a telephone service was modeled after the telegraph. You would go to an office and use the phone on a per call basis. This idea was immediately panned, since Grandma (or whomever) was NEVER at the other Bell office to receive the call.

The first paying customers of the Bell System were a doctor and a pharmacist who had a direct line (no switchboard) so that prescriptions could be called in and ready when the customer arrived in the store.

The government quickly put a tax on the new technology to pay for a war. 100 years after the war was over, the tax was removed.
__________________

KU4OJ "Wade" Ships Captain, CFO, Chief Engineer
KG4DQQ "Kathy" 1st Officer, Navigator, Best Friend
2007 F-150 SuperCab - 2009 Rockwood 8280SS
Lot's of mostly Kenwood stuff

Radio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-19-2014, 08:19 PM   #9
electricflyer
Senior Member
 
electricflyer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Douglasville, GA
Posts: 417
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by NN5I View Post
"A patient waiter is no loser" probably wasn't the first thing they ever sent in Morse, but it was what they sent in the first public test of a telegraph over three miles of wire at the Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown, NJ. Later, in a more famous demonstration, they sent the text "What hath God wrought" in a public test between Washington DC and Baltimore MD on 24 May 1844. Earlier (01 May 1844) they had sent election news (nomination of Henry Clay) over the same circuit.
Carl, you nailed it "What hath God wrought" is what I was looking for, sent May 24, 1844 between Baltimore and DC.
electricflyer is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:17 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
×