SOS is 100 years old: ...---...---...---...---
Happy 100th birthday, SOS!
There was some early success for the new system a year later when the Cunard liner the SS Slavonia was stricken off the Azores. She sent out an SOS and not a single life was lost.Link (via Kottke)Even so, not everybody was convinced instantly, and it took the tragedy of the Titanic to reveal just how vital a universal system was. After the collision in April 1912, the ship’s radio operators sent out both the old CQD and the new SOS signals, but some ships in the area ignored both, thinking that they were having a party. They soon learnt otherwise, as international headlines told how Jack Phillips, the Titanic’s first radio operator, and 1,500 others had been lost along with the “unsinkable” ship. The new SOS distress signal was rarely ignored after that.
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I am not a Morse code operator (IANAMCO?), but I think the Morse code in the post title actually says SOSOSO. :) If you want to repeat an SOS three times, I think it would be:
...---... ...---... ...---...
CUBEY, you are correct, that's what I was going to say. (I actually am an amateur Morse Code, or 'CW' as we like to call it, op).
@Cubey got there before me. SOSOSOSO sounds like you've got a stutter.
@PHILLAMB168: Someone who has a stutter only while typing morse code sounds like the premise for a sketch on an SNL style show.
Happy birthday!
.... .- .--. .--. -.-- .---- ----- - .... -... .. .-. - .... -.. .- -.-- ... --- ...
-- .. ... ... .. -. --./.-/--.. . .-. ---
.---- ----- ----- - ....
.... --- .-- .- -... --- ..- - - .... .- - ...- .. --- .-.. . - -... .-.. ..- . ... - ..- ..-. ..-. ..--..
I'm not sure this is correct.
According to:
http://www.telegraph-office.com/pages/arc2-2.html
The first use was in August 1909, but the standard was developed in 1906 by the Germans.
Wired reports the first use in 1904:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0107
Additionally, it may have been 100 years since the 1st use of SOS, but SOS is no longer in use. SOS remained the maritime distress signal until 1999, when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.
Sadly, Morse is a dying art...I had to take the CW test when I got my Technician class license, but as of 2007, the FCC has dropped the Morse testing requirement for all license classes.
.. / -.. --- -. .----. - / .- -.-. - ..- .- .-.. .-.. -.-- / .-. . -- . -- -... . .-. / -.-. .-- / .- -. -.-- -- --- .-. . / ... --- / .. / -.-. .... . .- - . -.. / .- -. -.. / ..- ... . -.. / .- / - .-. .- -. ... .-.. .- - --- .-. .-.-.-
While you guys are right that the title says SOSOSOSO, this is actually the proper usage: when it's used as a distress signal, you say SOSOSOS, not SOSSOSSOSSOS. It's just in pop culture where people think the S is supposed to be repeated.
no, you shout SOS SOS SOS... with pauses between each group...
@11 - I did not know that. Good thing I never had to send it.
However, wiki seems to disagree with you - "Here is an example of an SOS signal the portions in brackets are an explanation only.
SOS SOS SOS de (this is) GBTT GBTT GBTT (call sign of the QE2 repeated 3 times)Queen Elizabeth 2 (Name of ship) psn (position)49.06.30 North, 04.30.20.west. Ship on fire, crew abandoning ship (Nature of distress) AR (end of transmission) K (invitation to reply)."
So which is it??? SOSOSO or SOS SOS SOS
I had to pass the 5 WPM test for my Novice class amateur radio license I got back in like 1985 and never really used.
Couldn't pass it again now without some review and practice.
KA7WWZ.
So... will naughty comments posted in Morse be disemvoweled? :)
I'm glad the FCC has dropped the code tests for amateur radio licenses, it would have taken much longer for me to actually get a license or to stay interested long enough to do it. As it is I was able to pass all three tests in one shot and actually get on the air.
As far as learning Morse, I'm only about a third of the way through the alphabet, but I think people make a mistake of trying to learn it at low speeds. I have to turn up to 20wpm in order to get anywhere, very much below that and it's like listening to music that's going way too slow, the melody disappears and it's just some independent notes. I keep the inter-character timing at about 8wpm for while learning new characters, then slowly increase that until I'm up to 20/20.
SOS is still in use. Amateurs use it on CW. Some of the poorer nations of the world still use the 500-510 kHz band on their ships at sea.
And yes, it should be SOS SOS SOS, not SOSOSOSOS.
Also, the CQD/SOS debate is not quite right when it comes to the Titanic. Yes, the radio ops on the Titanic sent both CQD and SOS. But the other ships in the area did not "think they were having a party" because of the two different signals. They thought they were having a party because of the flares the Titanic was setting off.
The radio op on the Californian was not confused by CQD/SOS - he could not have been. He had shut off the radio for the night and gone to bed.
Because of the Californian, it was from then on required that there always be a radio op on duty 24/7 - not a change to SOS.
Interesting to note the code requirement going away for all classes. I'm General Class, but might now consider testing for Extra since I was always pretty mediocre at retaining Morse.
Going for my license test next month after listening to everyone else over the airwaves for a year or so. Honestly, I'm kinda glad I don't have to deal with it but I think I'll at least try. If nothing else a nice note card of Morse on the wall of my shack will hopefully suffice if I ever run into it. Keep on keepin' on to the rest of ya on the airwaves.
Yes, I actually do use morse code. I'm one of those geezers who really did pass the 20 word per minute test in morse code to get my Amateur Extra Class license. I still copy the 18 WPM W1AW morse bulletins for fun.
I have a funny story to tell in this regard. I was taking my code test at the FCC offices in Washington DC. I had planned to take the written exam on the same day. In my pocket were my keys and a spare battery for my calculator.
It was a nine volt battery. I guess most of you can figure out what happened next. There I was in the middle of my five minute code test and I began to feel a burning sensation on my leg. This was a comprehension test. In earlier days you had to copy exactly one minute of the five error free. However this test was a multiple choice test that would give you several different spellings of each thing such as the other station's location, their exact call sign, and other such things. You had to pay attention for the whole thing.
And there I was with a very strong burning sensation in my pocket as my fresh 9 volt battery was shorting out. Mercifully, before the battery gave me a second degree burn, the test ended. I jumped out of my seat, and carefully extracted the sizzling battery out of my pocket.
I passed the tests. And I didn't even need the calculator. :-)
CW OPS DT DIE, QSB
DE AB3A
I'd put its age at 102. While SOS was finally internationally adopted in 1908, it was proposed in the Berlin International Radio Conference of 1906 by the Germans as a modification of their SOE signal. Also in the running: 'CQD' (Brits) and 'NC' (Americans). Although the earliest morse distress code comes from the railroad operators: 'QRR'. It also does not stand for Save our Ship or anything like it, and in the document produced from the International Radio Conference, the letters "SOS" aren't even mentioned, just the dots and dashes.
See:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/history.html#sos
I also wrote a paper mentioning some of this last year.
AB3A - Me, too. I passed the 20 WPM test also. They offered it to me when I went for my General license, and I thought, well, it's paid for, I should at least try it. My copy was pathetic, but I did pass it because I was just able too suss out the multiple choice answers. I felt so guilty that I resolved myself to become proficient at 20 WPM and eventually did. I could pass a real 20 WPM test now, if I had to. But, not then...I had no business passing that test, at the time.
AB3A - I forgot to mention, great story!
@13: Wikipe-tan says "Don't abbreviate Wikipedia as Wiki!"
Seriously. A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikipedia is Wikipedia. You can abbreviate it WP if you like, but people may not know what you're talking about.