[Hallicrafters] History CW information requested.

[Jim Jones]

While I was in the Army in 1953-55 I was a CW operator in Germany.  We used 
a very nifty encoding machine, that was highly classified. It generated 
coded messages in 5 character groups. It was also used to decode by 
reversing the procedures.  We input messages as regular text and it created 
the 5 character output. I have no idea what the name of the little darling 
was.  It was a small, heavy bit of mystery that always had me wanting to 
take it apart.
Jim

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chuck McGregor" <cbmcg at comcast.net>
To: "Waldo Magnuson" <magnuson at mac.com>; <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: "Waldo Magnuson" <magnuson at mac.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 11:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] History CW information requested.


> At 05:37 PM 9/28/2007, Waldo Magnuson wrote:
>>In WW-II my understanding is that the CW sent and received was in 5 
>>character groups (at least that is what the books on the English code 
>>breaking effort indicate).  Does anyone know why 5 character groups were 
>>used?  Thanks.
>
> Skip -
> I found the following in a wikipedia article on "telegraph codes":
>
> "In 1931, the 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Code_of_Signals>International 
> Code of Signals, originally created for ship communication by signalling 
> using flags, was expanded by adding a collection of five-letter codes to 
> be used by radiotelegraph operators. "
>
> But I would suspect this was just the formal codification of a practice 
> that dated to the use of commercial codes in landline telegraphy.
>
> --Chuck
>
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