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Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:166:flashes of light (Alan Sinder)

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Stephensonia

Strange information indeed. Though it rates a Cryptonomicon entry as well. Le Monstro notes cannon fire as telecommunication signals. Lawrence Waterhouse recognises someone's fist and Randy is well versed in Morse Code.equipment-heliograph.jpg
A Heliograph
used by signallers, to
send reflected sunlight
in Morse code

Authored entries

Heliography

The system, art, or practice of telegraphing, or signaling, with the heliograph. Heliograph, used by signallers, to send reflected sunlight in flashes of Morse Code, over a considerable distance.

The heliograph is a mirror set on a metal base which allows the mirror to be positioned on such a way as to reflect sunlight to a particular site. When operating over a long distance a telescope is used to assist in receiving the signals. The mirror can then be moved, by the use of a key to send flashes of light, therefore enabling the user to send a series of dots and dashes, in a code. The code used is known as Morse Code. The mirror and metal base are attached to a heavy tripod. This tripod has to be solid enough to hold the heliograph firmly in position, because moving the mirror slightly will take it off the aimed position. There are various components to be used with the helio, as there would be a required skill in setting it up, and being able to aim it correctly. Shown here it is prepared to operate with the sunlight behind it. Another mirror is set in a position to reflect sunlight onto the operating mirror.

Australian Light Horse made good use of the helio in the Desert campaigns in WW1, but they were aware of the drawbacks of the device. In open desert conditions it was a very useful item, but using it required the operator to be in a position where he could be seen, an obvious danger in warfare, and with sunlight unavailable the helio would not function.

Enthusiast James Riddle: recieved information from “Tom Windes, an archaeologist with the National Park Service (UNM, Albuquerque), and another archaeologist, Tom Barker expressing the similarity between the army heliograph signaling system and a possible prehistoric Chacoan signaling system (800 or 900 CE) discovered by them along with Al Hayes in the early 1970s in the San Juan Basin of north-western New Mexico while doing archaeological work.”

The idea certainly isn't new. In fiction the Lone Ranger and Tonto often came up against bad guys using the “easier to use” mirror or shaving knife with a sight hole signaling device (which any average teenaged scout figures out before tackling the more complex concept of social skills though I know of advanced webelos and bluejays). America Native Peoples may have been using mica to signal at a distance for centuries along with signal fires and smoke signals.mark5-helio.jpg
MARK V HELIOGRAPH
An Australian heliograph complete with a Morse-code
keying mechanism and is in working condition.
The heliograph was used to communicate by
reflecting sunlight from the mirrors and was
favored in sunny climates like Australia
and Southern Africa.

Edited Wikipedia Telegraphy

Telegraphy is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters. This definition includes recent forms of data transmission such as fax, email, and computer networks in general. (A telegraph is a machine for transmitting and receiving messages over long distances, i.e. for telegraphy.)

Before the internet came into general use, telegraphy messages were known as telegrams or cablegrams, often shortened to a cable or a wire message. Telegrams sent by the Telex network, a switched network of teleprinters similar to the telephone network, were known as a telex message. Before long distance telephone services were readily available, telegram services were very popular. Telegrams were often used to confirm business dealings and, unlike e-mail, telegrams were commonly used to create binding legal document for business dealings.

Before fax machines came into general use, wire picture or wire photo was a newspaper picture that was sent from a remote location by a facsimile telegraph. This is why many fax machines have a photo option even today.

The first telegraphs were optical, including the use of smoke signals and beacons. These have existed since ancient times. A semaphore network invented by Claude Chappe operated in France from 1792 through 1846. It helped Napoleon enough that it was widely imitated in Europe and the U.S. The last (Swedish) commercial semaphore link left operation in 1880.

Semaphores are faster (in the sense of 'provide much larger bandwidth') than smoke signals and beacons and consume no fuel. They are hundreds of times as fast as post riders and serve entire regions. However they require operators and towers every 30 km (20 mi), and only send about two words per minute. This causes the cost of sending a message to be roughly thirty times as high as electric telegraphs. This is useful to government, but too expensive for most commercial uses other than commodity price information.

Wikipedia: Morse Code

Morse code is a system of representing letters, numbers and punctuation marks by means of a code signal sent intermittently. It was developed by Alfred Vail while he was helping Samuel Morse with Morse's invention of the telegraph in 1835.

Morse code is an early form of digital communication, however unlike modern binary digital codes that use just two states (commonly represented as 1 and 0), it uses five: dot (·), dash (-), short gap (between each letter), medium gap (between words) and long gap (between sentences).

History of Morse code

Morse became interested in telegraphy in 1832, and worked out the basics of a relay system in 1835. The equipment was gradually improved and was demonstrated in 1837. Morse developed 'lightning wires' and 'Morse code,' and applied for a patent in 1840. A line was constructed between Baltimore and Washington and the first message, sent on May 24, 1844, was 'What hath God wrought!'

Morse's original code consisted of combinations of dots and dashes that represented numbers. Each number represented a word. This required looking up the number in a book to find the word it represented. A telegraph key was then used to tap out the sequence of dots and dashes, and pauses that represented the number.

Although Morse invented the telegraph, he lacked technical expertise. He entered an agreement with Alfred Vail who built more practical equipment. Vail developed a system in which each letter or symbol is sent individually, using combinations of dots, dashes, and pauses. Morse and Vail agreed that Vail's method of representing individual symbols would be included in Morse's patent. This system, known American Morse code, was the version that was used to transmit the first telegraph message.

The code may transmitted as an audio tone, a steady radio signal switched on and off (only the carrier wave, or CW, also continuous wave), an electrical pulse down a telegraph wire, or as a mechanical or visual signal (e.g. a flashing light).

In general, any code representing written symbols as variable length signals can be called a Morse code, but the term is used specifically for the two kinds of Morse code used for the English alphabet and associated symbols. American Morse Code was used in the wired telegraph systems that made up the first long-distance electronic communication system. International Morse Code, which uses only dots and dashes (eliminating the pause), is used today.

Telegraph companies charged based on the length of the message sent. Elaborate commercial codes were developed that encoded complete phrases in five-letter groups that were sent as single words. Examples: BYOXO ("Are you trying to crawl out of it?"), LIOUY ("Why do you not answer my question?"), and AYYLU ("Not clearly coded, repeat more clearly."). The letters of these five-letter code words were sent individually using Morse code. In computer networking terminology we would say the commercial code is layered on top of Morse code. Still in use in Amateur Radio are the Q code and Z code; they were and are used by the operators themselves for service information like link quality, frequency changes, and telegram numbering.

On January 8, 1838 Alfred Vail demonstrated a telegraph code using dots and dashes which was the forerunner of Morse code.

When considered as a standard for information encoding, Morse code had a successful lifespan that has not yet been surpassed by any other encoding scheme. Morse code was used as an international standard for maritime communication until 1999. When the French navy ceased using Morse code in 1997, the final message transmitted was "Calling all. This is our last cry before our eternal silence."

American Morse Code

Virtually extinct, and certainly no longer in use, American Morse Code uses a slightly different structure of dots and dashes and uniquely spaces also to represent numbers, letters, and special characters. This style of morse code was developed for land operators working over telegraph wire rather than via radio signals.

This older, alternate style of code was developed to accommodate the way in which operators listened to morse code sent to them. Rather than hearing tones from a speaker or headphones as we do now using International Morse Code, in these earliest days of telegraphy one would hear clicks from a mechanical sounding device, or often from the sending key which was switched to receive in slave mode when not transmitting.

Most often these operators worked for the railroad or later for Western Union and the like. Thomas Alva Edison was such an operator in his teenage years, as were countless youths of his time.

Modern International Morse Code

International Morse code is still in use today, although it has become almost exclusively the province of amateur radio operators. Until 2003 the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) mandated Morse code proficiency as part of the amateur radio licensing procedure throughout the world. In some countries, certain parts of the amateur radio bands are still reserved for transmission of Morse code signals only.

Since Morse relies on only a steady (unmodulated) radio signal, it requires less complex equipment than other forms of radio communication, and it can be used in very high noise / low signal environments. It also requires very little bandwidth and facilitates communication between amateur radio operators who do not share a common mother tongue and would have great difficulty in communicating using voice modes. It is also very popular among QRP operators.

In the United States until 1991, a demonstration of the ability to send and receive Morse code at 5 words per minute (WPM) was required to receive an FCC amateur radio license permitting use of the HF bands. Until 1999 proficiency at the 20 WPM level was required to receive the highest level of amateur license (Extra Class); effective April 15, 2000, the FCC reduced the Extra Class requirement to 5 WPM.[1]

The World Radiocommunication Conference of 2003 (WRC-03) made optional the international Morse code requirement for amateur radio licensing. Although the requirement remains on the books in the US, Canada, and elsewhere, some countries are working to eliminate the requirement entirely.

Amateur and military radio operators skilled in Morse code can often understand ("copy") code in their heads at rates in excess of 40 WPM. Although the traditional telegraph key is still used by many amateurs, the use of semi- and fully-automatic electronic keyers is prevalent today. Computer software is also frequently employed to produce and decode Morse code RF signals.

Interestingly, the ITU have recently (in February 2004) added the "@" (the "commercial at" or "commat") character to the Morse character set and is the digraph "AC" (probably to represent the letter a inside the swirl appearing to be a C)[2]. It is notable since this is the first addition to the Morse set of characters since World War I.

Timing and Representation

There are two "symbols" used to represent letters, called dots and dashes or dits and dahs. The length of the dit determines the speed at which the message is sent, and is used as the timing reference. Here is an illustration of the timing conventions. Its intent is to show exact timing - it would normally be written something like this:

-- --- ·-· ··· · / -·-· --- -·· ·

M O R S E (space) C O D E

where - represents dah and · represents dit. Here's the exact conventional timing for the same message (= represents signal on, . represents signal off, each for the length of a dit):

===.===...===.===.===...=.===.=...=.=.=...=.......===.=.===.=...===.===.===

^     ^     ^     ^     ^

|     dah     dit     |     word space…     symbol space     letter space

A dah is conventionally 3 times as long as a dit. Spacing between dits and dahs in a character is the length of one dit. Spacing between letters in a word is the length of a dah (3 dits). Spacing between words is 7 dits. (Beginners are taught to send short fast letters with small spaces between the dots and dashes in a symbol and exaggerated spaces between symbols and words. This makes it easier to learn.) People familiar with Morse Code often speak or write it like this. ("Dah" is pronounced with an "awe" vowel sound):

-- --- ·-· ··· · / -·-· --- -·· ·

DahDah DahDahDah DiDahDit DiDiDit Dit, DahDiDahDit DahDahDah DahDiDit Dit.

Letters, numbers, punctuation, prosigns

MorseAlphabetMW.jpg

Numbers

0 ----- 1 ·---- 2 ··--- 3 ···-- 4 ····- 5 ····· 6 -···· 7 --··· 8 ---·· 9 ----·

Common punctuation

Period ·-·-·- Comma --··-- Question Mark ··--·· Double Dash -···- Hyphen -····- Fraction Bar -··-· "@" (commat) ·--·-· (added in 2004, combines A and C into one character)

Special symbols (prosigns)

Prosigns are dot/dash sequences that have a special meaning. They are composed of two Morse code alphabetic characters "run together"; that is, that omit the normal pause that would occur if they were being sent as two letters of text. They are normally represented in print by the two letters, often with a ligating bar above them.

AR ·-·-· Stop (end of message), often written + AS ·-··· Wait (for 10 s), respond with C (yes) AS2 means wait 2 min, AS5 5 mins, etc For pauses of 10 min or longer, you must use QRX (see Q Code) K -·- Invitation to transmit (normally follows AR to indicate 'back-to-you') SK ···-·- End (end of contact), sometimes written VA BT -···- Separator, sometimes written = SN ···-· Understood

Not really prosigns, an error may be indicated by any of: ······· Error, correct word follows (defined to be any letter with at six or more dots in a row) · · · Error (unofficial) ·· ·· (same)

Non-English extensions to the Morse code

å ·--·- ä ·-·- à ·--·- (also å) ĉ -.-.. ch ---- é ··-·· ĝ --.-. ĥ -.--. ĵ .---. ö ---· ŝ ...-. ü ··-- (also ŭ) " ·-··-· ! ··--·

Commonly used Morse code abbreviations

Abbreviations differ from prosigns in that they observe normal interletter spacing; that is, they are not "run together" the way prosigns are.

AA  —   All after (used after question mark to request a repetition) AB  —   All before (similarly) ARRL American Radio Relay League ABT  —  About ADS  —  Address AGN  —  Again ANT  —  Antenna BN  —   All between BK  —   Break (to pause transmission of a message, say) BUG  —  Semiautomatic key C  —   Yes CBA  —  Callbook address CFM  —  Confirm CLG  —  Calling CQ  —   Calling any station CS  —   Callsign CUL  —  See you later CUZ  —  Because CW  —   Continuous wave CX  —   Conditions DE  —   From DX  —   Distance (sometimes refers to long distance contact) ES  —   And FB  —   Fine business (Analogous to "OK") FCC  —  Federal Communications Commission FER  —  For FM  —   From FREQ  —   Frequency GA  —   Good afternoon or Go ahead (depending on context) GE  —   Good evening GM  —   Good morning GND  —  Ground (ground potential) GUD  —  Good HIHI  —   Laughter HR  —   Here HV  —   Have LID  —  Poor operator MILS  —   Milliamperes NIL  —  Nothing NR  —   Number OB  —   Old boy OC  —   Old chap OM  —   Old man (any male amateur radio operator is an OM) OO  —   Official Observer OP  —   Operator OT  —   Old timer OTC  —  Old timers club OOTC  —   Old old timers club PSE  —  Please PWR  —  Power QCWA  —   Quarter Century Wireless Association R  —   I acknowledge or decimal point (depending on context) RCVR  —   Receiver RPT  —  Repeat or report (depending on context) RST  —  Signal report format (Readability-Signal Strength-Tone) RTTY  —   Radioteletype RX  —   Receive SAE  —  Self addressed envelope SASE Self addressed, stamped envelope SED  —  Said SEZ  —  Says SIG  —  Signal SIGS  —   Signals SKED  —   Schedule SN  —   Soon SOS  —  International Distress Call SRI  —  Sorry STN  —  Station TEMP  —   Temperature TMW  —  Tomorrow TNX  —  Thanks TU  —   Thank you TX  —   Transmit U  —   You UR  —   Your or You're (depending on context) URS  —  Yours VY  —   Very WDS  —  Words WKD  —  Worked WL  —   Will WUD  —  Would WX  —   Weather XMTR  —  Transmitter XYL  —  Wife YL  —   Young lady (used of any female) 73  —   Best regards 88  —   Love and kisses

Conversation with Morse code

The skill to have sensible conversations with Morse is more than knowing just the alphabet. To make communication efficient, there are many internationally agreed patterns of communication. A sample cw conversation between station 1 (s1) and station 2 (s2): s1: CQ CQ CQ de s1 K —— Calling anyone (CQ), this is (de) s1, listening (K) s2: s1 de s2 K —— Calling s1, this is s2, listening — (Now we have a connection) s1: VA —— Bye. s2: VA —— Bye.

Stations were just testing a connection. VA, meaning bye or end, is sent as one letter "···-·-" and can thus be marked either SK or VA.

Still The Speed King!

Okay, the world title for fastest text messaging is still raging in the streets. The victor in the most recent contest was a bit of a dark horse — 93-year-old telegraph operator Gordon Hill delivered a resounding ass-whoopin’ to his rival, 13-year-old Brittany Devlin, using Morse Code. Of course, Mr. Hill does have nigh on 80 years of practice under his belt, which was enough to help him triumph even despite Brittany’s liberal use of texting slang (Mr. Hill transmitted the chosen phrase verbatim). The showdown was sponsored by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, and the rivals had to transmit the following message: “Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing.” Damn straight! Screw the T9, Engadget’s switching over to Morse from now on. “ ... mentalflossboy writes "Engadget is reporting that Morse Code is actually faster than text messaging. According to the article, 93 year old Gordon Hill transmitted a message faster than 13 year old Brittany Devlin, despite Devlin's 'liberal use of texting slang.' And the fabulous quote they were they sending: 'Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing.'" ...”