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