Three dots, three dashes, three dots, encapsulating all of one’s hope and fear.Ī brief regression and now back to the Titanic‘s transmission. Can you get the cadence? Even after some telegraphy training I still can’t get it just right. Why not take a moment and try tapping out SOS with one finger. Letters are tapped rapid fire one after the other. SOS - and only SOS - has no break between letters as in a normal transmission. #Scn coding sos codeThe three-letter code is transmitted faster than imagined. As an aside and contrary to popular belief, the initials “SOS,” do not stand for “Save our Souls” or “Save Our Ship.” SOS was adopted because the three dits of “S” following the three dahs of “O” easily and quickly stand out for any receiver. It was not until after the Titanic disaster that SOS became widely adopted. The letters “CQ” signaled a general call, such as “Attention All Stations” with the letter “D” indicating distress. Philipps, who used the older “CQD” for emergency. Though SOS was adopted in 1908 as an international symbol for distress, few radio operators in 1912 used it in practice, and neither did Mr. DINING WITH YOU IN SPIRIT TONIGHT.Īnd the transmission suddenly cuts off. And is it not how life”s catastrophes are announced? Everything normal until suddenly not.Īt 12:15 a.m. In the early morning of Apas the ship sailed from Southampton to New York, transmissions from Titanic‘s Marconi Room - the wireless center - were nondescript and ordinary. Subtitled Morse Code makes it easy to follow what transpires. To my chagrin the stream of dit-dahs dit dahs was mostly undecipherable, an alien staccato, and I quickly came to admire those fleet of pulse who fluently conversed in that strange, rapid-fire, mechanical brevity of the original code, even throwing slang into their dots and dashes, as they referred to fellow young wireless operators as “old man” rapping on the telegraphic key. The hair-raising transmission of Titanic‘s distress signal - a re-creation of it that is - can be found here: Titanic’s Morse Code and Text Transmission. Jack Phillips, Senior Wireless Officer on the Titanic
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