Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Tuning the magnet
A couple more items from Shaffner's Telegraph Journal, published in 1854.
Note that the sender "adjusts his magnet carefully." It's not clear what he was adjusting for, or how he could tell when it was adjusted properly. Was he listening to resonances?
Note that OK unquestionably meant All Correct in 1854. It was familiar enough to become part of the protocol. This gives full weight to one of the disputed etymologies. Must admit, I'd been favoring the Choctaw origin until now.
Note 73, which is still in use now, long after the numbers were replaced by Q-signals.
Also the indications of what we'd now call work-life balance. SFD, SFT, SFP. Tea must have been more familiar than coffee. (Cups in signal 35 referred to battery cells, not tea. Early wet cells were glass cups.)
Note that the sender "adjusts his magnet carefully." It's not clear what he was adjusting for, or how he could tell when it was adjusted properly. Was he listening to resonances?
Note that OK unquestionably meant All Correct in 1854. It was familiar enough to become part of the protocol. This gives full weight to one of the disputed etymologies. Must admit, I'd been favoring the Choctaw origin until now.
Note 73, which is still in use now, long after the numbers were replaced by Q-signals.
Also the indications of what we'd now call work-life balance. SFD, SFT, SFP. Tea must have been more familiar than coffee. (Cups in signal 35 referred to battery cells, not tea. Early wet cells were glass cups.)Labels: Language update, Morsenet of Things
¶ 3:17 PM
