[CW] use of AR

[D.J.J. Ring, Jr.]

Amateur practice is a bit different than commercial usage, but amateur
practice derived itself from commercial usage, and commercial radio usage
derived itself from commercial telegraphy usage.

The plus sign + would be sent before any exchange of call signs.  It would
be totally out of place after the sending of call signs.

But Amateur usage is different ARRL adopted AR (plus sign) as an ending
signal which meant "end of my sending, answer me if you hear me'' and was
used like this:

But it is not alone in being used in two ways.  The letter K is used for GO
AHEAD

CQ (repeated) DE W1AW (repeated) K
W1AW DE W1CJD +

But after W1AW answers the calling station, W1CJD, the exchanges then end
thus:

BLAH BLAH WX HERE SAME AS URS AS YOU ARE NEAR ME + W1AW DE W1CJD K

Thus they end with a K for GO AHEAD.  But to show the receiving operator
(W1AW) that the transmission is over, the ending signal of + (AR) is sent.

The ''plus sign '' + is sent like AR sent as one group.  although it started
life as a prosign, it has developed a dual existance as it is character just
as alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation symbols are characters.  Procedure
signals are not written down, but when used as a character, it is.    A good
example of a starting signal is the STARTING SIGNAL which is sent like KA
sent together.  This signal is to alert the operator that a message is
starting with this signal.  This signal is similar in meaning to the Western
Union procedure of sending HR before a message was to be sent.  HR means ''
Hand Ready ''.  Another usage of a procedure signal (prosign) is the ''
double dash '' or '' equals sign '' = it can be used as both a procedure
sign and as a character = .

After the address in commercial telegraphy the ''double dash'' is used as a
separator.  It was BT which was ''Begin Text ''.

I believe at first - any historians here would know - it was not recorded as
not all typewriters had that symbol.  However when Western Union started
using paper strip printers for telegrams, I remember seeing the = mark
before the paper tear in the tape where it was then stuck to the message
blank.

So BT was at first not written down as it was a proceedure signal, but later
on became written down as the equals sign = or double dash.



On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 8:15 AM, Roy <royanjoy at ncn.net> wrote:

> All,
>
> I no longer have my ARRL Operating Manual since we moved to Iowa, but I
> remember that the prosign AR was listed under the category of  "End Codes."
> Now what is this new fad of using AR AHEAD of the call signs, as a
> transmission is about to be ended? Then, AFTER the same call signs, K or BK
> ( or horror of horrors, KN) is being used. Never in my 54 years of hamming
> have I observed this until recently. It seems that sending AR ahead of call
> signs is redundant in high order -- isn't it obvious enough that when you
> begin sending call signs, that is going to be the end of your transmission?
> >From whence did this new habit come? It's spreading like wild fire. Just
> about the same way that the illogical practice of using KN during general
> rag chews also spread. Are the blind once again leading the blind?
>
> 73,   Roy    AR  DE K6XK   KN
>
>
>
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