Read the orgin of 73 (several versions) and the most probable version at
URL:
http://ac6v.com/73.htm#73

Lots more origins and Ham speak there as well as URL:
http://ac6v.com/jargon.htm

--
Incognito By Necessity (:-(

If you can't convince them, confuse them.
- - -Harry S Truman




"Dennis" Howdy wrote in message
...
Serious question. What does "73" mean?

I have a stack of "73"mags. I'm not a ham however.
If I was, I of course would know.

Anybody? I know it's a stupid question, but I don't know.

TIA,

Dennis

In article , Dennis Howdy
writes:

Serious question. What does "73" mean?

I have a stack of "73"mags. I'm not a ham however.
If I was, I of course would know.

Anybody? I know it's a stupid question, but I don't know.

After 1844 (the year of the first commercial telegraph service in the
USA, Baltimore, MD to Washington, DC), the blazing speed of the
early electromechanical sounders made it necessary for
commercial telegraphers to to use abbreviations for standard
phrases in telegrams. It gave telegraphers a chance to send more
telegrams during a workday, increase their profits, etc., etc.

A whole bunch of different two-number sub-codes were invented
and used. Few survive to today since morse codes have survived
only in amateur radio.

One of the enduring sub-codes is "73" meaning "Best regards."
Hams use it on voice, as well. It has become traditional jargon.

Morse code did NOT begin as the character = dot-dash group
but was originally ALL numbers! Morse got a financial and lab
mentor in railroad heir Alfred Vail who is reported to have suggested
a change from the all-number code to one where each letter,
number, and common punctuation mark has a unique dot-dash
group. This latter improvement, along with a way to increase the
distance of a landline by using a "relay" of an electromagnet whose
magnetically-coupled switch substituted for a telegrapher's key in
an unmanned telegraph line relay station. Up to three such
"relays" could be used on a wired telegraph circuit. That may or
may not be the etymological origin of the word "relay" as the
component we know today.

The final version of morse code coding still doesn't allow much real
speed in communication so a number of abbreviations were used as
well as telegraphers' own jargon. One of those latter was the "R"
sent as or after simple queries, meaning "okay?" or "okay"
respectively. The dit-dah-dit of "R" has a nice little pattern to it and
is intuitive for that. It continued on into radio after 1896..."R" meaning
"okay" or "all right." With WW2's widespread use of radio of all kinds,
operators on voice followed suit with the phonetic alphabet "R" or
"Roger." "Roger" as an affirmative caught on and became common
jargon on voice. In spoken language it has found its own niche in
military use exemplified by "roger that!" meaning very affirmative. :-)

"Q codes" are an example of three-letter sub-codes to mean whole
phrases, either as queries (followed by a question mark) or as
responses (followed by answer information). Those came about in
radio since the letter "Q" was seldom used in English words...and
the transistor hadn't been invented yet. :-) "QSY" was a query as
to the exact frequency of a station (with spark transmitters that was
more of a guess) but stayed around until WW2 when it was used on
voice and teleprinter as a command to change frequency. "QSY
Frisco George to 6885" would be an abbreviated command on either
a telephone or teleprinter military radio order wire in the 1950s.
"QTH" is another that stuck around in other radio services referring
to a location.

Of course there are the "10 codes" used by the various police in
the USA during the late 1940s and 1950s. Dirty, Evil CBers
picked up on those and used them as short-form jargon, much to
the outrage of licensed amateurs, most of whom where not born in
1958 when CB on 11 meters was created. :-)

Component values are even given jargon. Back before International
Scientific terms were standardized, small-value capacitors were
rated in micro-micro-Farads, written "uuFd." Electronics industry
folks spoke of those values in "mickey-mikes." It didn't help when
the SI powers of a 1000 names were used...now those "uuFd" caps
are rated in "picoFarads" written "pFd," are now referred to as "puffs."
:-)

After the first transistorized portable radios appeared, common folk
started calling them using only one word, "transistor." That term has
been used long after vacuum tube portable radios disappeared and
the "transistorized" radios were now using integrated circuits. Human
beans will use any kind of name and jargon in some activity they
consider very exclusive. :-)

So, Best Regards all around but no 88s (wife frowns on that...),
Len Anderson
retired (from regular hours) electronic engineer person

Avery Fineman wrote:
The dit-dah-dit of "R" has a nice little pattern to it and
is intuitive for that. It continued on into radio after 1896..."R"
meaning
"okay" or "all right."

"R" takes on extra significance in meteor-scatter and moonbounce
communication. Meteor-pings can be so fleeting, and moonbounce is
generally so weak, there have to be specialist QSO procedures.

These procedures strip the QSO down to its bare essentials. They involve
lots of repetition, but they are very strict about requiring full
confirmation both ways. Both stations must copy both callsigns, a signal
report and the confirming "R" - if any of that is missing, it doesn't
count as a QSO.

You and the other station might each have to sink a half-hour or more of
concentrated effort into a single MS or moonbounce QSO... and in spite
of the tenuous communication, there's a lot of satisfaction in knowing
that the other guy is trying just as hard as you are. But in the end,
the whole effort hangs on copying that final "R". There may be only one,
and it may be only just above the noise level... but you *must* hear it.

So when it finally comes, that "di-dah-dit" pattern means a lot more
than a casual "OK": it says "We-nailed-it!"


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

In article , "Ian White, G3SEK"
writes:

Avery Fineman wrote:
The dit-dah-dit of "R" has a nice little pattern to it and
is intuitive for that. It continued on into radio after 1896..."R"
meaning
"okay" or "all right."

"R" takes on extra significance in meteor-scatter and moonbounce
communication. Meteor-pings can be so fleeting, and moonbounce is
generally so weak, there have to be specialist QSO procedures.

Roger that, Ian. :-)

I meant no disrespect for moonbouncers or scattered scatterers, was
just ruminating on the mass of jargon and phrases that have become
commonplace in radio communications in many radio services, both
civilian and government. "Roger" as an affirmation word has been
with us for six decades and seems entrenched as an equal to "okay"
over radio.

Using "roger" instead of the word "okay" (common in several
languages, not quite as common as "hamburger") seems a sort of
tribal speak kind of exclusive jargon. The same with vocalized "73"
instead of saying just "best regards." Same number of syllables
and takes about the same time to pronounce. :-)

Len Anderson
retired (from regular hours) electronic engineer person

Len wrote:

Roger that, Ian. :-)

I meant no disrespect for moonbouncers or scattered scatterers

Don't worry, Len, I never imagined that for even a moment.

, was
just ruminating on the mass of jargon and phrases

Likewise... although this really isn't a topic for r.r.a.homebrew.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK

On 09 Mar 2004 22:37:12 GMT, (Avery Fineman)
wrote:

Using "roger" instead of the word "okay" (common in several
languages, not quite as common as "hamburger") seems a sort of
tribal speak kind of exclusive jargon. The same with vocalized "73"
instead of saying just "best regards." Same number of syllables
and takes about the same time to pronounce. :-)


An old G3 chum of mine goes *nuts* if anyone uses these CW
abreviations on phone.
--

The BBC: Licensed at public expense to spread lies.

Len wrote:

Roger that, Ian. :-)

I meant no disrespect for moonbouncers or scattered scatterers

Don't worry, Len, I never imagined that for even a moment.

, was
just ruminating on the mass of jargon and phrases

Likewise... although this really isn't a topic for r.r.a.homebrew.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK

On 09 Mar 2004 22:37:12 GMT, (Avery Fineman)
wrote:

Using "roger" instead of the word "okay" (common in several
languages, not quite as common as "hamburger") seems a sort of
tribal speak kind of exclusive jargon. The same with vocalized "73"
instead of saying just "best regards." Same number of syllables
and takes about the same time to pronounce. :-)


An old G3 chum of mine goes *nuts* if anyone uses these CW
abreviations on phone.
--

The BBC: Licensed at public expense to spread lies.

In article , "Ian White, G3SEK"
writes:

Avery Fineman wrote:
The dit-dah-dit of "R" has a nice little pattern to it and
is intuitive for that. It continued on into radio after 1896..."R"
meaning
"okay" or "all right."

"R" takes on extra significance in meteor-scatter and moonbounce
communication. Meteor-pings can be so fleeting, and moonbounce is
generally so weak, there have to be specialist QSO procedures.

Roger that, Ian. :-)

I meant no disrespect for moonbouncers or scattered scatterers, was
just ruminating on the mass of jargon and phrases that have become
commonplace in radio communications in many radio services, both
civilian and government. "Roger" as an affirmation word has been
with us for six decades and seems entrenched as an equal to "okay"
over radio.

Using "roger" instead of the word "okay" (common in several
languages, not quite as common as "hamburger") seems a sort of
tribal speak kind of exclusive jargon. The same with vocalized "73"
instead of saying just "best regards." Same number of syllables
and takes about the same time to pronounce. :-)

Len Anderson
retired (from regular hours) electronic engineer person

Avery Fineman wrote:
The dit-dah-dit of "R" has a nice little pattern to it and
is intuitive for that. It continued on into radio after 1896..."R"
meaning
"okay" or "all right."

"R" takes on extra significance in meteor-scatter and moonbounce
communication. Meteor-pings can be so fleeting, and moonbounce is
generally so weak, there have to be specialist QSO procedures.

These procedures strip the QSO down to its bare essentials. They involve
lots of repetition, but they are very strict about requiring full
confirmation both ways. Both stations must copy both callsigns, a signal
report and the confirming "R" - if any of that is missing, it doesn't
count as a QSO.

You and the other station might each have to sink a half-hour or more of
concentrated effort into a single MS or moonbounce QSO... and in spite
of the tenuous communication, there's a lot of satisfaction in knowing
that the other guy is trying just as hard as you are. But in the end,
the whole effort hangs on copying that final "R". There may be only one,
and it may be only just above the noise level... but you *must* hear it.

So when it finally comes, that "di-dah-dit" pattern means a lot more
than a casual "OK": it says "We-nailed-it!"


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek