[CW] Refuting Wikipedia Misinformation about CQ

Fri Sep 8 00:59:11 EDT 2023

The Mystery of the Origin of CQ becomes clearer. We now have a citation 
from 1884 stating that CQ is "All Stations"and NOT "Seek You" or any of 
the revisionist nonsense from Wikipedia. CQ was never a solicitation 
outside of it's use in amateur radio. In commercial telegraphy it was 
always an address - "All Stations". The other related signal was "CP" 
which is a Restricted call - to Certain Stations only.  RCA's Sam 
Francisco Radio/KPH famously used this correctly when they sent out 
their nightly PX (Press) for Subscribers - it wasn't addressed to you 
unless you paid for a subscription!

Excellent, excellent find. Bill Burns Atlantic Cable Historian comes to 
the rescue! https://atlantic-cable.com/ Absolutely brilliant research work.

I got the link in the the docx file you sent me to work and got this 
from that link in addition to what was in the docx file.  The link goes 
to The Telegraphist. Ed. by W. Lynd Volume I December 1883 to November 
1884. 
<https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5QadcZXDmHj4iHWo1ZdOWx4NjQxqz0q-EJyzM9lYmwjiFQPmA2X6f3zef2meJpIJ4h4VbmbthtoUcQdT6HXx9tiESnNmDOog9YQhcmkXMvwjiFxnDYprQTo2iLbZnABHxHTCNeMIjv1-CCHaI1AbBug1ksnw2TK6aWzyV7RHxOSzWRuO_35fN2BXisNVfRozsJYpULbXDqCdRsBQkJ0hQboUmPRBlM7w4uzPEDu_mhQ9EfSN0iP_pfV9MtDEMV_jBGVM9fpE_6WCddQTiE30UMZz1ofBpWQ>

The reference is on page 119.

The alphabet for Bain's printing was not like the one now in use for 
Morse. When the Electric Telegraph Company agreed to adopt the 
international alphabet, notice was given to CQ (all stations) to prepare 
for the change, and from a fixed date to abandon the one and adopt the 
other.

Bill Burns, your docx file converted to PDF is attached. What excellent 
work.

Those citations from the 19th Century clearly establish that CQ is a 
station call "To All Stations" even if they are mute on why "CQ" was 
chosen. Maybe it has something to do with Berne Switzerland.

This most certainly refutes the historical negationism, a form of 
historical revisionism. Taking a new story and applying it to years ago 
history as if it was true.

Wikipedia is now saying "CQ" came from "C'estqui" - French for "Who is 
it!" but of course this makes no sense if CQ is used as it is to mean 
"Calling All Stations" as it has been for over a  century. They also are 
saying that it means "Seek You!" which I blame the radio amateurs for 
because that's the way they use "CQ". As you can tell, I dislike 
historical revisionism.

Here's the misinformation from Wikipedia:  It's a mixture of true and 
falsehoods.  Just like those clever gremlins who propagate the Sovereign 
Citizen nonsense that the USA is a Corporation and that a gold fringed 
flag is an Admiralty Flag nonsense.

The CQ call was^[2] 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call)#cite_note-OL-2>  originally 
used by landline telegraphy operators in the United Kingdom 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom>. French was, and still 
is, the official language for international postal services,^[3] 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call)#cite_note-3>  and the word 
sécurité <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9curit%C3%A9> was used 
to mean "safety" or "pay attention". It is still used in this sense in 
international telecommunications.^[4] 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call)#cite_note-IMO-4> ^[5] 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call)#cite_note-MaltinAston2011-5> 
  The letters CQ, when pronounced in French, resemble the first two 
syllables of sécurité, and were therefore used as shorthand for the 
word. It sounds also like the French "c'est qui?", which means "who's 
there?". In English-speaking countries, the origin of the abbreviation 
was popularly changed to the phrase "seek you" or, later, when used in 
the CQD <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQD>distress call 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distress_signal>, "Calling all distress".

CQ was adopted by the Marconi Company 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marconi_Company> in 1904 for use in 
wireless telegraphy 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_telegraphy> by spark-gap 
transmitter <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark-gap_transmitter>, and 
was adopted internationally at the 1912 London International 
Radiotelegraph Convention 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Radiotelegraph_Convention_(1912)>, 
and is still used.^[6] 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call)#cite_note-6>

A variant of the CQ call, CQD <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQD>, was 
the first code used as a distress signal. It was proposed by the Marconi 
Company and adopted in 1904, but was replaced between 1906 and 1908 by 
the SOS <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS> code. When the Titanic 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic> sank in 1912, it initially 
transmitted the distress call "CQD DE MGY" (with "MGY" being the ship's 
call sign). Titanic's radio operator subsequently alternated between SOS 
and CQD calls afterwards.^[ 
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call)#cite_note-Campbell2008-7>

Bravo!

73
DR
N1EA

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