[Elecraft] K3 CW to Data and "ES" for ampersand?

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

For half a century at least (the time I've been pounding brass) ES sent as a
word (not a prosign - it gets the inter-character space) has meant "and" on
the Amateur circuits and in informal communications on many commercial
circuits I've happened to use from time to time.

The challenge for those who want to develop decoders is that many of these
things are context-sensitive, like all human language. 

To work reliably with humans, the decoder has to analyze like a human when
reading language. We're a long way from that as far as I can see. I bet most
decoders don't know what to do when I say I'm running 10 watts, because I
send the zero as an extra long dash using my bug. Even many Hams who have
given control of their code to a keyer use a "T" for a zero in that context
and I never wonder what they mean when they say PWR HR 1TT WATTS but I bet a
decoder, in it's magnificent stupidity, will write it just like that: 1TT.

I'll talk "machine" when it's important for a stupid machine to understand
me, but the rest of the time they are on their own for better or worse as
they struggle to understand "human speak". So, using the CW/RTTY interface,
I'll send "and" to make up for the inadequate "intelligence" of the machine.
<G>. 

Ron AC7AC

 
-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bob Cunnings
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 11:02 PM
To: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 CW to Data and "ES" for ampersand?


Sure, but we're not using American Morse here - there's no "half step" in
International Morse. Whatever - I'm the communications protocol design guy
at work, and can't avoid a purist attitude about gateways (CW to ASCII in
this case). I can see prosigns used as link control characters since they
are distinct codes, but think that International Morse text, numeric, and
punctuation characters should pass through untouched - why second guess the
intention of the sender?

Bob NW8L