[Elecraft] Is CW a Language? OT

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/13/06 3:35:43 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
kk5f at earthlink.net writes:


> The use of CL, KN, BK, or the use of both AR and K at the end of the same 
> transmission is nonsense.


I disagree in part.

CL means "closing station, will not listen for any calls" Equivalent to the 
military use of "AR". How the amateur and military uses of "AR" got so 
different is a mystery to me.

KN has a definite use in amateur radio if someone is rare DX. 

BK is different from K in that it is used in rapid-fire exchanges rather than 
with full callsign exchanges.


I do agree about combining "AR" and "K". 


> >But "BK" is used in rapid-fire exchanges
> >*without* the formal callsign exchange:
> >".....FB MOJO OM BT IS UR RIG A K2 or K1? BK
> 
> Once again...a simple K serves even better.  There is no usage rule that 
> states that K must only be used following a call sign.

No, but it emphasizes the quick nature of the exchange.

----

Couple of other points:

Someone mentioned brevity.

In my Novice days it was common to hear things like:

"R R R TNX FER CALL BT UR SIGS RST 599 599 BT QTH IS WAYNE, PA WAYNE, PA BT 
NAME IS JIM JIM" 

pounded out at 5-7 wpm. 

But the same thing can be sent as:

"R R R TNX CL UR 599 599 IN WAYNE PA WAYNE PA  OP JIM JIM" 

which still includes the repeats of the important stuff but is a bit 
shorter....

                                              __        __
On "run together" prosigns like AR and SK:

I propose that since plaintext doesn't allow us to overline easily, we adopt 
the online convention of enclosing such signals in brackets. []

So AR would mean didah   didahdit

and  [AR] would mean didahdidahdit

Agreed?

--

On standardization:

It's interesting to see the variations in different military and commercial 
Morse operations vs. amateur, as well as ITU standards.

But I think it's pretty clear that nobody else is going to set standards for 
Morse 
much any more. Indeed, at least here in the USA, the FCC has backed down from 
many old standards. For example, it used to be required by law that hams give 
their own call last - that's gone. So is logkeeping as a legal requirement, 
indicating most portable or mobile operation, indicating the station called, 
and much more. 

IOW, the standards for Morse in the future are going to be mostly what we 
hams say they are.

73 de Jim, N2EY