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IsquaredR · 20th Apr 2022, 10:30 pm

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I am "old school" in all matters of amateur radio and, certainly, CW. As a yank I sat before real examiners at the US Federal Communications Commission and took real amateur licensing tests as well as commercial tests. The examiner administering the receiving test used a perforated paper tape Instructograph machine and it began with "dah-di-dah-di-dah." At the time I wasn't sure what to right down so I waited for what followed to be sent (we only needed to copy 1 minute perfectly out of 5 minutes of sending). In my 50+ years of hamming (40+ exclusively using CW) I consistently have used the prosign "AR" at the end of a transmission and prior to sending callsigns. But the "CT" prosign warrants my thanking the very experienced Morse men on this fine forum for telling me about the "dah-di-dah-di-dah" that preceded those FCC tests many years ago.

So I am publicaly announcing that beginning tonight I will begin each transmission with the "CT" prosign.

While I am banging away at this keyboard there is another matter I would like to bring up. Although most US hams (and virtually NO contesters) are polite enough to inquire on the air, "QRL" before launching into a CQ, those that do often insist on drawing the inquiry out unnecessarily to "Q R L ? ?"----consuming much more time than necessary. If one is trying to copy a weak station, all this extra A1 emission further obliterates any QSO in progress. It's most annoying. Whatever happened to the old-school "IE" that we used to use? "Di-dit dit" takes up very little time. Anyone involved in a QSO would know that someone is wondering if the frequency is clear without sending a Q-signal plus one or two question marks. Sometimes the QRL inquiry is sent twice or three times in rapid succession so obviously the station originating the inquiry isn't even taking the time to listen for a response (let alone tune on each side of the frequency).

So I'm done using "QRL"---it's too long and obliterates QSOs already in progress. Beginning today I am returning to "IE." No one will probably know or remember what this meant back when hams were a lot more courteous than they are now, but maybe if I do it enough some might figure it out.

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20th Apr 2022, 10:30 pm	#39
IsquaredR Tetrode Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Minocqua, Wisconsin, USA. Posts: 86	Re: Use of CT in morse? _ . _ . _ I am "old school" in all matters of amateur radio and, certainly, CW. As a yank I sat before real examiners at the US Federal Communications Commission and took real amateur licensing tests as well as commercial tests. The examiner administering the receiving test used a perforated paper tape Instructograph machine and it began with "dah-di-dah-di-dah." At the time I wasn't sure what to right down so I waited for what followed to be sent (we only needed to copy 1 minute perfectly out of 5 minutes of sending). In my 50+ years of hamming (40+ exclusively using CW) I consistently have used the prosign "AR" at the end of a transmission and prior to sending callsigns. But the "CT" prosign warrants my thanking the very experienced Morse men on this fine forum for telling me about the "dah-di-dah-di-dah" that preceded those FCC tests many years ago. So I am publicaly announcing that beginning tonight I will begin each transmission with the "CT" prosign. While I am banging away at this keyboard there is another matter I would like to bring up. Although most US hams (and virtually NO contesters) are polite enough to inquire on the air, "QRL" before launching into a CQ, those that do often insist on drawing the inquiry out unnecessarily to "Q R L ? ?"----consuming much more time than necessary. If one is trying to copy a weak station, all this extra A1 emission further obliterates any QSO in progress. It's most annoying. Whatever happened to the old-school "IE" that we used to use? "Di-dit dit" takes up very little time. Anyone involved in a QSO would know that someone is wondering if the frequency is clear without sending a Q-signal plus one or two question marks. Sometimes the QRL inquiry is sent twice or three times in rapid succession so obviously the station originating the inquiry isn't even taking the time to listen for a response (let alone tune on each side of the frequency). So I'm done using "QRL"---it's too long and obliterates QSOs already in progress. Beginning today I am returning to "IE." No one will probably know or remember what this meant back when hams were a lot more courteous than they are now, but maybe if I do it enough some might figure it out. . _ . _ .