FW: from the IEEE: SOS does not stand for "Save our Ship"

[William Fenn]

First, I am not an expert when it comes to the history of SOS, but wasn’t it
after the sinking of the Titanic that all ships in the maritime service were
required to have a device in their radio room that would sound an alarm to
awaken the radio operator when SOS (which denoted a ship was in trouble) was
received.  It seems to me that SOS would be a lot easier to decode than CQD
when you use relays in the decoder (No Computers or Logic Chips in dem dar
daze).  Could this be the reason SOS became the distress signal.

 

 

Bill

N4TS

 

  _____  

From: tacos-bounces+bfenn=cox.net at amrad.org
[mailto:tacos-bounces+bfenn=cox.net at amrad.org] On Behalf Of Phil
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 7:25 PM
To: Tacos AMRAD
Subject: Re: from the IEEE: SOS does not stand for "Save our Ship"

 

I hate to take issue with the mighty IEEE, but SOS never did stand for "Save
Our Ship" since it was not confined to marine disasters; it stood for "Save
Our Souls."

 

Or not.

 

Jack Phillips repeated transmitted both CQD and SOS from the Titanic, since
both were in use at the time and no official body had decided on which was
preferred.

 

Phil M1GWZ

 

 

 

On 28 Jan 2013, at 22:42, Richard Spargur wrote:





I had learned that S-O-S was chosen simply because it was so easy to
recognize and distinguish from other signaling.

 

     V/R

 

     Richard K. Spargur

    K3UI

     -  .  -       .  .  .  -  -       .  .  -       .  .

 

 

 

From: tacos-bounces+k3ui=comcast.net at amrad.org
[mailto:tacos-bounces+k3ui=comcast.net at amrad.org] On Behalf Of Andre
Kesteloot
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 4:53 PM
To: Tacos
Subject: from the IEEE: SOS does not stand for "Save our Ship"

 

MORSE CODE ‘SOS’
The “SOS” in Morse code does not, as is popularly believed, stand for “save
our ship.” The letters S-O-S were chosen in 1910 as the distress call to
replace the previously used C-Q-D because the pattern of three short, three
long, three short letters was more easily distinguishable against background
noise. CQ originated from the “sécu” in the French word “sécurité”
(security) followed by D, which signaled distress.

  _____  

TITANIC'S DISTRESS CALLS
The sinking ship’s distress calls were not received by ham
<http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Amateur_Radio>  radio operators in
the United States, as is commonly believed, because the Titanic’s
transmitter range did not extend that far. What ham radio operators did pick
up was the radio traffic relayed from ship to ship, and from ship-to-shore
stations.

The ship’s state-of-the-art transmitter had an 800-kilometer range during
the day, extending to 4800 km at night when the reflective character of the
atmosphere changed. But that range constantly varied with the location of
the ship, along with the atmospheric conditions. Although a ham radio with a
good receiver and antenna could have heard Titanic’s distress calls on the
East Coast of the United States, there is no confirmed report that happened.
The only amateur radio operator to receive a signal directly was Welsh
wireless operator Artie Moore.

 

 

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