[Milsurplus] CW "de" ?

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 4 Jun 2016 at 19:52, Mike Morrow wrote:

> Hue asked:
> 
> > Why did ham radio adopt the C.W. signal  "de" instead of the "v" used
> > by the commercial services and the military?
> 
> That is an incorrect premise.  DE and V have no relationship and
> therefore no equivalence, nor were there significant differences in
> usage between services.

Thank you, Mike. 

Although I had, at one time, a 2nd Telegraph License, and although I have been active on 
CW for most of my amateur radio "life" (first licensed 1956), I have never, ever heard V 
used in place of DE by any service, including the various MARS services in which I was 
involved, Army or AirForce.

V either meant "test" or as you have presented it as a general call by commercial CW 
stations.

While studying for my 2nd Telegraph License, nothing in any of the reference works I used 
mentioned using "V" for anything like "DE", and correct operating procedure was a big part 
of the license exam. But that was close to 60 years ago, and I could have forgotten a lot in 
the meantime.

Ken W7EKB