[CW] How Old is the Closing "Dit Dit" on closing ham radio contacts?
Chris R. NW6V
chrisrut7 at gmail.com
Sat Aug 14 15:55:12 EDT 2021
Didit-dit is the American Morse "C" ="clear"
On Sat, Aug 14, 2021, 12:03 PM BURNS MARTIN JR <w4foa at comcast.net> wrote:
> I don't really know but it was commonplace in 1954 when I got my Novice
> license. At that time also, instead of QRL? QRL? many ole timers simply
> uses ie ie I like that better than the longer QRL? But then, all of that
> is personal preferences, I guess.
> 73
> Tony W4FOA
> > On 08/14/2021 11:17 AM Steve WD8DAS via CW <cw at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Somewhere I recently read that some German government/military
> radiotelegraph operators during WWII did the dit-dit as well.
> >
> >
> > Steve WD8DAS
> >
> > sbjohnston at aol.com
> > http://www.wd8das.net/http://af4k-crystals.com
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Radio is your best entertainment value.
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: D.J.J. Ring, Jr. <n1ea at arrl.net>
> > To: CW Reflector <cw at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Fri, Aug 13, 2021 11:46 pm
> > Subject: [CW] How Old is the Closing "Dit Dit" on closing ham radio
> contacts?
> >
> > How old is the "dit dit" you hear on ham radio when stations sign with
> each other?
> > Some say the "dit dit" came from "shave and a hair cut" but it didn't
> the roots of this went way back in radio history.
> > The "dit dit" was in commercial radiotelegraphy usage in the 1930s
> according to my friend Bob Shrader, W6BNB who worked for "Dollar Lines"
> passenger liners in the 1930s and later taught radio at U.S. Merchant
> Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY. I had asked him when this started and
> he said it was common as a handing off when signaling for a frequency shift
> after calling on 600 meters.
> >
> > Such an exchange would be like this - going back to stations that were
> active in the 1940s.
> >
> > WSL WSL WSL DE WIEA WIEA WIEA K (Steamship "Manhattan/WIEA" is
> calling Amagansett, Long Island, NY Radio (Mackay Radio) on 500 kc/s (kHz)
> (600 meters).
> > WIEA DE WSL R UP 640/633 K (Mackay Radio Amagansett,
> Long Island answers telling Manhattan to shift UP in wave to 640 meters and
> listen for WSL on 633 meters.)
> > Then WIEA (SS MANHATTAN) would send:
> > R UP = (SS
> Manhattan says "Received, UP"
> > WSL (Amagansett Radio) would send:
> > =
> > WIEA would acknowledge WSL's sending (BT) by sending the two E's or 'dit
> dit'.
> > dit dit
> > WSL would acknowedge this with a simple singular dit.
> >
> > This was back when WSL was on 633 meters - or 474 kc/s (now kHz).
> > Coast Stations were assigned working frequencies.
> >
> > WSL was assigned 633 meters / 474 kc/s.
> >
> > Here are the assigned frequencies for the East Atlantic USA Coast.
> >
> > Callsign Frequency (Wavelength) Location Operating
> Company
> > =============================================================
> > WAG 418 (718) Thomaston, Maine Mackay
> Radio
> > WBF 436 (690) Hingham, Mass.
> Tropical Radio
> > WIM 406 (740) Chatham, Mass.
> R.M.C.A. (Radio Marine Corporation of America - RCA)
> > WSL 474 (633) Amagansett, L.I., NY
> Mackay Radio
> > WNY 442 (680) Brooklyn, NY
> R.M.C.A
> > WSC 462 (650) Tuckerton, NJ
> R.M.C.A
> > WMH 478 (628) Baltimore, Maryland
> R.M.C.A.
> > NAM 464 (647) Norfolk, Virginia
> U.S. Navy
> > WSV 408 (735) Savannah, Georgia R.M.C.A
> > WNW 438 (685) Phila, PA
> Tidewater Wireless Telegraph Company
> > WMR 418 (718) Jupiter, Fla
> Mackay Radio
> > WOE 394 (761) Lake Worth, Fla
> R.M.C.A
> > WAX 484 (620) Hialeah, Fla.
> Tropical Radio
> > NAR 464 (647) Key West, Fla.
> U.S. Navy
> > WPD 438 (685) Tampa, Fla.
> Privately Owned
> > WNU 448 (670) New Orleans, La.
> Tropical Radio
> >
> > In the 1980s to 1990s the situation would be much the same, but instead
> of giving wavelengths, we now used frequency, but with one interesting
> quirk.
> >
> > In the 1930s when Amagansett Radio / WSL told SS Manhattan to shift
> wavelength from 600 meters, he said to SS Manhattan/WIEA transmit on 640m
> and listen for WSL on 633m. - they sent UP because they shifted UP in
> wavelength.
> >
> > At some point, stations started using frequency in kilocycles per second
> instead of wavelength.
> >
> > So, let's give an example of one time I worked WSL Amagansett Long
> Island, NY radio from WILLIAMSBURGH;/WGOA - let's see how it was different
> and the same.
> >
> > The ship working frequencies (for sending message traffic) in 1920s were
> in kc/s (kHz) with meters in parenthesis.
> >
> > 400 (750), 410 (730), 425 (705), 454 (660), 468 (640), and ship and
> shore calling where both ships and shore stations kept a watch 500 kc/s
> (600m)
> >
> > So the calling frequency, 500 kc/s was the lowest wave that ships could
> use on that group of frequencies, so any other frequency was ALWAYS higher
> in wavelength, so it was always UP.
> >
> > Here's what happened in 1980:
> >
> > WSL WSL WSL DE WGOA WGOA WGOA K (Steamship "Williamsburgh/WGOA" is
> calling Amagansett, Long Island, NY Radio (Mackay Radio) on 500 kc/s (kHz)
> (600 meters).
> > WGOA DE WSL R UP 425/418 K (Mackay Radio Amagansett,
> Long Island answers telling Williamsburgh to shift UP to 425 kHz and listen
> for WSL on 418 kHz.) WSL's Frequency had changed over the years to 418 kHz.
> > Then WGOA (Williamsburgh) would send:
> > R UP =
> (Williamsburgh says "Received, UP"
> > WSL (Amagansett Radio) would send:
> > =
> > WGOA would acknowledge WSL's sending (BT) by sending the two E's or 'dit
> dit'.
> > dit dit
> >
> > WSL would acknowledge this with a simple singular dit.
> >
> > This Morse "dance" of <BT> which is = then acknowledged by - then by a
> dit dit then a single dit carried on for nearly 80 years when Morse finally
> ended in 1999.
> >
> > The funniest thing is that stations continued to send UP when they told
> the other station to shift to their working frequency!
> >
> > 73
> > DR
> > N1EA______________________________________________________________
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