Instructions for the Use of the Telegraph

Courtesy of Tone Lovell, these have been excerpted from the Royal Navy's Handbook of Signalling, 1913. Note that they seem to be general practice, and not specific to naval signalling.

Handbook of Signaling 1913

excerpts, Chapter V: INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE TELEGRAPH

p.38

Manipulation of Morse Keys

29. It is desired to impress upon operators the importance of a good style of sending with the Morse Key. A bad style prevents good and rapid working, and it likely to cause fatigue, and may even lead to Telegraphists' cramp.

2. It is recognized that one style will not suit all telegraphists, and that a good telegraphist may vary his style according to the kind of key he is using, and for the sake of change.

Experience shows that an operator should

a) Sit comfortably directly facing the table, with the chair a little to the left of the key.

b) Put the first and second fingers lightly on the knob of the key, the thumb under the knob to steady the hand and keep it in position; and let the third and fourth fingers hang freely.

p. 39

c) The elbow should be held a little away from the body, so that the action of the wrist may be as free as possible; the hand and the forearm should be level, and in a line with the key. The whole position should be quite free from rigidity or constraint; and the chair should be of a suitable height to admit of this.

d) The signals should be sent with an easy free wrist-action; and no more force should be used than is necessary to depress the key, so as to make definite contact with the bottom stud.

e) After each letter, the knob may be momentarily released, and the hand slightly raised; though this release is not essential, provided that otherwise the action is perfectly easy and without a rigid grip.

f) The knob should never be gripped tightly, nor held so as to cause stiffness or constraint. To grip the key requires undue effort, and may lead to difficulty and fatigue.

g) A tapping style should be avoided, and the arm should not rest on the table.

---------

Procedure.

(This Procedure is that used by the Post Office.)

Station Calls.

30. Every Ship and Station will have a Distinguishing or Call Signal consisting of two or three letters. They should, as far as possible, be abbreviations of the names of the places or Ships.

p. 35

How to Call a Station.

31. On the Sounder the attention of a Station is gained by sending its Call Signal several times (generally three times), followed by V and the Call Signal of the sending Station. This is repeated until the Station required replies by sending its own Call Signal, followed by G.

Prefixes.

32. The first signal sent in a message, after having obtained the attention of the distant Station, is called the "prefix". It enables the receiver to determine on what form to write the message. The principal prefixes are as follows: --

Messages to be Delivered at the Receiving Station

Message to be Retransmitted at the Receiving Station.

Remarks.

SB

XB

Inland Government Telegrams entitled to priority.

DS

-

Engineering Service Telegram, requiring immediate attention.

SU

-

Urgent Service Telegram, entitled to priority.

S

X

Ordinary Inland Telegram, Government Telegram not entitled to priority.

SP

XP

Inland Press or News Telegrams

SR

XR

Inland Telegrams to be repeated.

SRP

XRP

Inland Telegrams to which a reply is prepaid

Procedure in sending a Message.

33. When the receiving Station is reading the sending Station will proceed as follows: --

Prefix.

Code time.

Office of Origin and service instructions (if any).

Number of words (abbreviated).

Name and address of receiver of message.

Break Sign.

Text of message.

Break Sign (if name and address of sender is to be signalled.)

Name and address of sender (if desired).

V E Sign.

If the sending Signalman perceives that he has made an error, he should stop, give the Erase Sign, repeat the last word sent correctly, and continue the message corrected.

Procedure in receiving a Message.

34. When using single current key, should the receiving Signalman miss a word, he will stop the sender by pressing his key and making the last word received, whereupon the sender will repeat the last word, and continue with the message.

When using a double current key, on the conclusion of the message, if any words have been missed as appear doubtful, the receiver makes "W.A." and the word previous to the missing or doubtful word.
  1. At the conclusion of the message, the receiving Signalman will count the number of words, and, if he finds the number to correspond with the number sent in the preamble, he will send the acknowledgement "R D."
  2. If, however, he finds the number of words is not right, he will signal the number of words he actually received, followed by "W." The sending station will then send the first letter of each word until the error is discovered, when the receiver will send "G," which means "Go on, spell out that word."
  3. If, however, the number of words as received is right, the number in the preamble having been sent by mistake, the sending station replies by making the right number by abbreviated numerals followed by "R T."
    When satisfied, the receiving station sends the final acknowledgment "R D."
  4. If the receiving station wants a word repeated, he sends "W A " (word after),, followed by the word preceding the doubtful word. If he wants the remainder of the message repeated, he sends I M I AA (all after). If he wants all the message repeated, he sender I M I A L L. When he requires no more repetitions, he sends the acknowledgment as above (R D).
  5. Should the receiving Signalman find that his instrument requires readjustment, he will ask the sending station to send V’s.

Special Signs used in Telegraphy

 
  1. In addition to the Morse Alphabet and Numerals, the following Signs are used for purposes of punctuation, and for other objects, indicated in the list: --
    2.

    Name.

    Sign.

    Full Stop.

    (AAA)

    Note of interrogation or repeat

    		  

    Note of exclamation

    		  

    Apostrophe

    		  

    Hyphen or Dash

    		  

    Break signal or fresh line

    		  

    Words to be in parenthesis.

    (as one sign, made before and after the passage to be in parenthesis ; both these symbols together will count as one word).

    Words to be underlined.

    (as one sign, made before and after the passage to be underlined ; both these symbols together will count as one word).

    Words to be in inverted commas.

    (as one sign, made before and after the passage to be in inverted commas ; both these symbols together will count as one word).

    Bar of division (/ or |)

    		  

    End of message.

    		  

    Acknowledgment of message. (RD)

    		  

    Go on.

    (G)

    Erase.

    		  

    Fractional bar (--)

    		  

    Symbol to be used between whole numbers and fractions.

    		  

    Abbreviations

  2. The following authorised abbreviations are also in use to denote certain phrases which are in constant use between telegraphists connected with the working of the line to save time:--
    3.

    Go on.

    G

    Signal of acknowledgment.

    RD

    Am I through?

    TQ

    Clear of work

    NN

    Not through

    IQ

    Attend other circuit

    UQ

    Now are your signals?

    HQ

    Repetition or correction required

    RQ

    You are now through

    DF

    All stations

    CQ

    Wait ; engaged

    MQ

    Weather report

    ZM

    Say when ready

    KQ

    Daily time signal

    TI

    Right

    RT

    Greenwich mean time

    ME

    Abbreviated Numerals.

  3. Only used in signaling the number of words in a message on Sounder instrument and repeating figures ; never used in the text of a message. They are also used for collating the full numerals in cipher messages.

    4. 1

    2

    3

    4

    5

    6

    7

    8

    9

    0

    Time Code.
  4. Time is transmitted by code according to the following diagram:--

    5. TODO scan p. 39

    Example:--

    Time, 5 h. 52 m.

    Code Time, E K S

    The twelve letters from A to M (J excepted) denote the twelve hours. They also denote the twelve periods of five minutes of which each hour is composed. The intervening four minutes are denoted by the letters R S W X. The letters sent singly indicate the hours; send in combinations of two, they represent the hours and certain periods of five minutes; send in connection with the intermediate letters R S W X, they represent hours and minutes. The letters A.M. or P.M., if used, are signalled in conjunction with the Code, thus:--

    M is 12.

    B is 2.

    F is 6.

    I is 9.

    MF is 12.30.

    BI is 2.45

    MFS is 12.32

    BIX is 2.49

    MFSAM is 12.32 A.M.

    BIXPM is 2.49 P.M.

    The Counting of Words, Figures, and Signs

  5. Every initial letter letter, such as C S O, A.A.G., goc, rha, will be signalled separately, counted as a word each, and entered in a separate space on the form; also station calls, such as P A, D V, but the "A.M.", "P.M." of time, however written or separated, will be signalled together, counted as a word, and entered together in a space on the form, thus, 12.35 P.M., 8.40 A.M., will count as two words respectively, and occupy two spaces.

2. Every single figure or letter, as 7, a ; each symbol, such as (L pound sign), s., or d. ; and every group of five figures, whether in the address or text, must be counted as a word, plus one word for any excess: thus, 243974 must count as two words, and be sent continuously.
  1. The full stop, if sent in connection with numbers, will be reckoned as a figure only, thus, 12.35 is equivalent to one word, 6.1010 to two.
  2. A stroke of division, whatever it separates, will count as a figure, and will be sent in conjunction with the remainder of the group: thus, 1/2 is equal to three units or one word; 190 15/16 as eight units or two words; a/3 as two words; b/c as three.
  3. The exceptions to this rule are:-- "a/c," account; "B/L," bill of lading; and "c/o," care of; which are counted as one word each.
    NOTE.—The symbol o/o (per cent.) is to be signalled as a combination of letters and the oblique stroke, and is counted as three figures or one word, but when used in conjunction with numbers, these three figures will be added to the total number of figures used with it when computing the number of equivalent words. Thus, 100 o/o counts as six figures, i.e., two words.
  4. When the affixes "ths," "rds," are used, the letters composing them must be sent together, but in a separate group from the fraction they follow, and will be counted as a word; thus 15/16ths, 2/3rds will count as two words each.
  5. Each letter of the symbols st, nd, rd, th, affixed to figures to denote ordinal numbers will count as a figure and be signalled in one group with the figure or figures they follow, but separated from the latter by a slight pause.
  6. When a figure or group of figures is preceded or followed by a letter or group of letters, the groups of figures or letters must be counted separately, but are to be entered into the same space.
    This 104a will be counted as two words, 7s. 6d. as four words.
    Numbers written in words will be spelt out and counted as such.
  7. Combinations of two or more words are to be counted as separate words, but combined words, which the usage of the language allows to be written together or coupled by hyphens, and which are so written by the sender of a telegram, must be counted as single words: as. for example, fifty-five, Lieutenant-General, linen-draper, frost-bitten, Iron-works.
  8. Names like MacDonald, O’Neil, De la Rue should be counted as one word each, but double names of persons, such as "Hardy-Jones" are counted as two words, whether written with a hyphen or without.
  9. When sums are expressed partly in figures and partly in words, they must be counted in the same way as shown in the following examples: "7 pence" must be counted as two words; "10 pounds 17 shillings" as four words. But the words "halfpenny," "twopence," "threepence," &c., when written in full, count as one word only.
  10. Cypher groups will be reckoned at the rate of 5 letters to a word: thus, BQRAKSV will count as two words.
    NOTEL—The words to be counted in a telegram include the name and address of Receiver, Text of Message, Name (and address, if signalled) of Sender.

Signalling Figures and Certain Symbols.
  1. (a) The bar of division used in the symbols, "a/c" (account); "b/l" (bill of lading; "c/o" (care of); and "o/o" (per cent.), or with any letters, whole numbers, or fractions, or as a division between shillings and pence, is to be signalled TODO, thus:--

TODO

(b) The symbol &c. should be signalled as etc. and counted as one word.

(c) The symbol (L pound sign) should be signalled as the letter L and when used in conjunction with a figure or figures, the combined expression should be signalled as one group without a full stop after the symbol.

Repetition of Figures.

41. On Sounder circuits all figures in the address and in the body of the telegram, as well as those indicating porterage in the service instructions, must be repeated in the abbreviated form by the sending office immediately after the completion of the telegram, and the receiving telegraphists must be careful to compare the figures repeated with those originally sent. To ensure the receipt of mixed numbers, i.e., groups of figures which contain both whole numbers and fractions, the numerator of the fractional part should be repeated in words – for instance, 1 5/16 should be repeated as 1 five 16 to distinguish it from 15/16, which should be repeated as fifteen 16.
The term fraction includes a group of numbers which may be separated by the oblique stroke or fractional bar, provided the numerator is written higher than the denominator.
Thus, 15/16 (TODO) counts as a fraction, and is therefore repeated as fifteen 16, whereas 18/6 is not a fraction, and is repeated in short numerals, thus:--

(TODO)

2. Cypher telegrams, or portions of telegrams in cypher, must be repeated back in all cases.
In repeating figure ciphers, the short Morse numerals should be used.
Last Updated: 29 December, 2005.

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