[Boatanchors] Why The Letter "Q" And Who Invented The Code?

[Harold Smith]

This is so boring ! ! ! ! ! !
A 99% CW OP.

W0RI
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mikea" <mikea at mikea.ath.cx>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Why The Letter "Q" And Who Invented The Code?


> On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 07:33:25PM -0500, Sandy wrote:
>
>> The "Q" signals were NOT meant to be used on radiotelephone.  This was
>> frowned upon at one time and looked at as incorrect procedure.
>
> Still is, if you want to be absolutely pedantic about it. The "Q" sigs
> were intended as brevity codes for CW operation.
>
>> There is a Hydrographic Office puiblication (H.O. 103 I think?) called 
>> the
>> "International Code of Signals"  which uses letter groups for all sorts 
>> of
>> questions and associated answers being exchanged between ships whose 
>> crews
>> did not speak the same language.  It was very comprehensive and more
>> complicated than the "Q code".  Seems like I remember it having 4-5 
>> letter
>> groups.  The book has an "encode" and "Decode" section to make it easier 
>> to
>> use.  It's been 20+ years since I saw one and I don't remember much more.
>> This publication could still be sued by ships exchanging telex messages 
>> or
>> even voice communication, but it is rather slow.
>
> It's H. O. 88. I think H. O. 103 is the 3-volume set of Bowditch's
> _Navigation_, which I also have. I scored a copy of both volumes of H.
> O. 88 about 5 years back, and treasure those books. It's a complete
> codebook, of the sort that the cryptologic types call "one-part": the
> mapping from plaintext to code groups isn't randomized. The plaintext
> words and phrases are chosen with great care to maximize their utility
> in maritime situations. The code groups are constructed so that they
> can be understood correctly in spite of a one-character error in
> transmission or reception.
>
> H.O. 88, Volume II (Radio) has a lot of codegroups in it for disasters
> down through mere unpleasantness, but some of the codegroups are just
> fascinating in a "multum in parvo" sense.
>
> As a modest example, the following four group message
>
> KILGU KILIN UDGEM IJHOR
>
> expands as
>
> I HAVE NO WOMEN ON BOARD. HAVE YOU ANY WOMEN ON BOARD? ARE YOU WILLING
> TO SHARE?
>
> The groups
>
> AHRAZ   I AM, or VESSEL INDICATED IS, FAMILIAR WITH THE ANCHORAGE
> AHREM   I AM, or VESSEL INDICATED IS, NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE ANCHORAGE
> HAMUN   I AM PROCEEDING TO THE ANCHORAGE
> HAMXE   I AM PROCEEDING TO THE ANCHORAGE OR PLACE INDICATED WITH ALL SPEED
> AHRIB   THERE IS NO GOOD ANCHORAGE HERE, or AT PLACE INDICATED
> HAQUL   YOU SHOULD PROCEED TO THE ANCHORAGE AS SOON AS YOU CAN
> IZLEQ   YOU SHOULD TOW ME TO THE ANCHORAGE
> HARUR   ARE YOU, or IS VESSEL INDICATED, FAMILIAR WITH THE ANCHORAGE?
> AHSEQ   IS IT A DIFFICULT ANCHORAGE TO GET AWAY FROM?
>
> are chosen from the list of all the things that can be said or asked
> about an anchorage. Lots of bad things can happen in, on the way to,
> or while trying to get out of, an anchorage, it appears.
>
> Some lists are bad in and of themselves:
>
> ETWEV, ETWGO, ETWLA, ETWOR, and ETWUZ all deal with the ship being
> somewhat (and progressively more) out of plumb to one side or the
> other, which usually is A Bad Thing.
>
> There are three-quarters of fine type talking about all the things
> that can go wrong with engines, from DAZAL through DECOO, plus IVLUQ
> and IDUTH.
>
> Some of the code groups are English words in their own right, and a
> one of those has a marvelous correlation of meaning:
>
> COZEN   DISTRUST
>
> I'll have to digitize and OCR the book to locate others.
>
> Then there are the lists of ways in which assistance can be required,
> requested, offered, or rendered. Not all of them are for vessels:
>
> ALIMK   LIGHTHOUSE, or LIGHTSHIP indicated if neccessary REQUIRES 
> ASSISTANCE.
>
> There are groups dealing with how much water is (or isn't) over the
> (sand|harbor) bar, and how much is required, with moving sandbars,
> safe or dangerous sandbars (E.g., the Columbia River Bar, notorious to
> shiphandlers and small boatmen alike), and what the leading marks are
> the bar.
>
> It mentions, in the geographic section, places I've been:
>
> SOJIG   STOCKHOLM
> SOJLY   STOCKHOLMS SKÄRGARD
> NUCBA   TURKU
> TIOCV   VISBY
> QYBSO   OSLO
> SYVUN   TOKYO
> OZIVM   SEOUL
> TABOM   TORONTO
> OVPNU   HOUSTON
> ORBYC   GALVESTON
> OQKIL   FORT WILLIAM
> SIJPA   SKYE, ISLE OF
> QODYN   NYNÄSHAMN
> QOFEL   OAKLAND
>
> and myriads of places I shall see only by proxy, if at all.
>
> It is, IOW, a way to communicate about dealing with the mariner's
> world, which isn't quite the same as ours, and I'm fascinated every
> time I open this book.
>
> And, of course, it was built at a time when radios were all glowbugs.
>
> Must scan, PDF, and put up on my website.
>
> -- 
> Mike Andrews, W5EGO
> mikea at mikea.ath.cx
> Tired old sysadmin
> _______________________________________________