Wireless Work in Wartime 



IV. — The complete forms for sending official messages 

 By John L. Hogan, Jr. 



THE complete international Morse 

 code, including numerals and the 

 more important punctuation marks, 

 was given in preceding articles of this 

 series. The second article, appearing in the 

 September issue, explained the simpler 

 methods of calling and answering by radio, 

 as well as the plan usually followed in 

 acknowledging the receipt of radiograms 

 and in securing repetition of words or por- 

 tions of messages not correctly received. 

 The complete forms for sending official 

 messages have not been discussed, however. 

 Radio telegraphic transmission is for the 

 most part carried on according to a series 

 of regulations agreed upon at the London 

 International Radiotelegraphic Convention 

 of 1912. This convention and the set of 

 rules there formulated are given in full in a 

 pamphlet entitled "Radio Communication 

 Laws of the United States," which may be 

 secured for fifteen cents from the Superin- 



it is perhaps best for the student to give 

 his attention to the methods approved by 

 the Director of Naval Communications. 

 These are given very fully in a "Handbook 

 of Regulations" of the U. S. Naval Radio 

 Service which was issued about four years 

 ago and which is brought up to date by 

 means of supplements issued from time to 

 time. Additional information may be 

 found in the Navy's "Commercial Traffic 

 Regulations" of 19 15. The scheme used 

 is an elaboration of the London Convention 

 and agrees with its rulings. 



In the first place, a station wishing to 

 communicate with another, first sends out 

 a radio call by making the attention signal 

 (dash-dot-dash-dot-dash), the call letters 

 of the desired station three times (KUR 

 KUR KUR, for example), the word "de" 

 (meaning "from"), and then its own call 

 letters three times (for example: KSW 

 KSW KSW). This is usually followed by 



u hhhhh m mm 1 1 1 1 mm m mm 1 1 



MM IHHIHI 1 IB I I 



ATTENTION 

 □ 



E3 fSk 



U R D E 



M I II I I I I II I I I I H I III I II I I I I I I I III II H I I I I I I H I IT 



FIG. 13 

 A station wishing to communicate with another first sends out a radio call by making the atten- 

 tion signal, call letters of the desired station three times, then its own letters three times and a cross 



tendent of Documents at Washington, D. C. 

 Every student of radio should get a copy 

 of this booklet, since it contains, in addition 

 to the report of the convention, much 

 valuable information with regard to the 

 licensing of radio stations, radio operators, 

 the Department of Commerce Districts 

 for the supervision of radiotelegraphy, etc. 



Although the London Convention is very 

 specific as to certain of its rulings, it does 

 not give in detail the methods to be fol- 

 lowed in transmitting messages of various 

 types. Each radio organization has certain 

 peculiarities in this respect. One company 

 will habitually use a system of . symbols 

 which are not entirely adopted by other 

 radio administrations; but, fortunately, 

 these variations are usually not serious 

 enough to cause much difficulty. 



Inasmuch as the Navy Department is in 

 entire charge of radio work during wartime, 



the finish signal (dot-dash-dot-dash-dot), 

 although such procedure is not strictly 

 official in the call. The station called, on 

 hearing the signals, replies by giving the 

 attention signal, the call letters of the call- 

 ing station three times, the word "de", 

 its own call letters three times, and, if 

 ready to receive, the "Go ahead" signal 

 ("K"). If the station is not ready to re- 

 ceive, instead of sending "Go ahead," the 

 operator signals "Wait" (dot-dash-dot-dot- 

 dot) or some one of the official abbrevia- 

 tions such as QRX (which means "Stand 

 by; I will call you when required") or 

 QRW (which means "I am busy; please 

 do not interfere"). The list of abbrevia- 

 tions is given in full on page 46 of the 

 "Radio Communication Laws of the U. S." 

 above referred to, and forms a very im- 

 portant supplement to Article XXII of 

 the Convention regulations. 



793 



