[CW] AR

[N2EY@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/22/2003 10:43:07 AM Eastern Standard Time, Abqcooks writes:
 
> What happened to the usage of  AR  to indicate the
> end of a transmission ? 

Here's what I learned about the use of AR - 37 years ago:

AR has two and only two uses:

1) When a station is calling another station but contact has not been established. Example: 

CQ CQ CQ DE N2EY N2EY N2EY K

N2EY N2EY DE W2LYH W2LYH AR

W2LYH DE N2EY HELLO BOB......

This use is optional, and often K or KN will be used for brevity.

2) At the end of a formal message, after the signature, to indicate that the message is ended. Followed immediately by "N" if there are no more messages or "B" if there are more to follow. 

Example:

.....AND TELL DADDY TO BE SURE TO SEND MY CHECK ON TIME X LOVE AND SMOOCHES

BT

DAISY

AR N

Those are the only two uses, and the first isn't mandatory. 

> I recall it being commonly used 20+ years ago but
> now
> I seem to be among the very few using it.  
> I hear ops sending along a stream of info and then > without
> any hint that the exchange is over, there appear 
> the callsigns. 

You mean like:

RIG HR SOUTHGATE TYPE 7 100 WATTS TO DIPOLE BT WX CLR BT HW? W2LYH DE N2EY K

The "HW?" does the job. Some folks just use "BK" or even "K" without the callsigns unless they're getting close to the 10 minute rule.

With full break in it's even easier.

> Kinda takes you by surprise.

Guess I'm kinda used to it.

> Oh well....I'll keep using it... just to indicate 
> I'm a geezer I guess !!  

Does 37 years on CW make me one?

btw, the Ancient Ones used somewhat different techniques than today because their rigs were so different. For example, long calls were often used because most hams did not have much in the way of frequency control - either because of crystal control or the vagaries of self-controlled oscillators. So operating "split" was the rule rather than the exception, and often stations in a QSO were hundreds of kc. apart. After a CQ, the CQing station would often tune the whole band, or a big part of it, listening for answers. It was therefore necessary for a call to be long enough for the CQer to intercept. Even if the answering station was fairly close to the CQ'ers freq, a long call could be needed because there was usually no way to know which way the CQer was tuning. The abbreviations LM ("low-to-middle"), MH ("middle to high") etc., came into some use for this reason.

This is also why many old receivers have relatively fast tuning - they wanted to be able to cover the band fairly rapidly.

In similar fashion, many old-time stations had to throw several switches to change over from transmit to receive. Some folks even cut the tx filaments on the idea that it saved juice and tube life. So you had to give them a warning that you were turning it back.

Most of that is all gone now.

73 de Jim, N2EY