[KL7AA] Historical Trvia

[J D Delancy]

Found in and from the November 2006 SMITHSONIAN magazine, page 34:


"100 YEARS AGO SENDING OUT SIGNALS

The International Radiotelegraphic Convention adopts three dots, three dashes and three dots -- SOS in Morse Code -- as the standard wireless distress signal, on November 3, 1906. Chosen because it is easy to send and hard to misinterpret, the signal, which doesn't actually stand for anything -- not even Save Our Ship -- can't save the Titanic, which sends out  SOSs in 1912.  In 1999 a global satellite system replaces SOS on all large ships"