Reading Morse via signal lights

[using]

How many of you tried to read Morse in signal lights even though it is sent much slower and safer then radio?

A fellar who said he did signal lights and arms holding flags couldn't read audio Morse so we were even. It was

common during wars and convoys.

Stan 

[Darrel]

Many decades ago back in my youth I took a test for the Boy Scout "Signalling" badge, which included reading Morse code over a light.  Not having a proper signalling light, for my test I rigged up a Morse key in series with the bulb of an ordinary battery lantern, which my examiner used to send to me.  When the test came, I failed - it seemed to be gibberish that my examiner was sending to me.

The day after my failed test, I looked at what I'd got written down from the test.  It turns out I (and my examiner) had failed to allow for the warm-up time of the lantern bulb.  I found that for each letter I'd got written down, if I either added a "dit" at the beginning of the letter, or changed an apparent "dit" into a "dah" at the start of each letter, the message suddenly made complete sense.  I then contacted my examiner and explained what I'd done and what must have happened, and he did agree to change my "failed" into a "pass".  An ordinary battery lantern bulb is not good for sending Morse.  These day of course, a bright LED would be perfect.

Cheers,
       Darrel, aa7fv.

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[Walter - K5EST]

I and many Navy Radioman could read signal lights and common flag positions. Signalman area is where the now common flame proof straight key was used. It is a nice key, mine shall stay proudly near top of the key collection. 

Copying shipboard signal lights to me is easier if you hum the dots and dashes as they flash. That gives audio/visual.....easy peasy!

Walter - K5EST - WD
   

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[using]

Walker

What does a key look like and was it used like a Morse key?

Stan

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[using]

Darrel

Wow, you did great as a boy Scout, do you remember how old you were? You reminded me that in signal light

one does it one letter at a time with ack. one letter at a time, usually a 2nd person was needed to write down

each digit. As a seasoned, commercial R/O I couldn't make out those single digits, shame on me.

Stan 

-----Original Message-----
From: Darrel <demers...@gmail.com>
To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, May 25, 2022 1:47 pm
Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Reading Morse via signal lights

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[using]

Walter

Never thought of humming dots and dashes, might of worked?

Stan

-----Original Message-----
From: Walter - K5EST <walter...@gmail.com>

To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, May 25, 2022 2:21 pm
Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Reading Morse via signal lights

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[John Bell]

When I read the lamp I just imagined it as a sound until it became second nature. I can always remember the sound of the mates shouting "sparks sparks come quick somebody is calling on the lamp"

The American navy used to do it frequently in the Pacific.

Those were the days..........

john f5vhc

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[Richard Dillman]

I got to send a blinker light message ashore from SS LANE VICTORY while the ship was underway, this under the supervision of a genuine WWII signalman (photos attached).

RD

=========================
Richard Dillman

Inverness Ridge, CA
=========================

[Walter - K5EST]

Stan, here is a URL for the flame proof keys.

http://jhbunnell.com/navykey.shtml

The Navy had a large assortment of keys, here are examples......

https://www.navy-radio.com/xmtr-key.htm

[Jeremy C Allen]

Hi Stan,

That's how I learned Morse Code.  I found audio much easier, if only because I could look at my copy rather than stare at the light while trying to write in a straight line.

Mates had to copy, at 6 wpm, 5 lines of random letters and then 5 code groups.  Each was sent twice.  So you'd get about 7 random letters, they would repeat and they'd move onto the next one.  You had to get clean copy on the letters, and the code groups (mixed letters and numbers) had to be looked up in the International Book of Signals then the plain text written down.  There was a preamble and prosigns, but those weren't counted for the test.  I forget what passing was exactly, but you needed a certain number of the letters copied correctly, and you could only miss one code group.

This test was required for each license upgrade.  I even had to take an extra one because I first passed at Texas A&M but Mass Maritime wouldn't accept it.  So I took two tests for 3rd mate, then one each for 2nd mate, chief mate, and master.  

The testing light for all but one of my tests was a 2 inch diameter opaque piece of plastic with a light bulb behind it,, mounted in a metal box.  A very well-worn audio cassette was started and the light was supposed to blink the elements.  Well after about 10-15 years of tests, the tape was shot and the light would flicker a bit during the dots and dashes.  Add to that, trying to read a small light source from 20 feet away and having no one to help you write down the letters (in silence since there were 25-30 of us), it made for a trying experience.  Many of my classmates would memorize one of the sequences and just keep failing until that one came around on the tape for the exam.  My final test, for master, was in 2009 and the testing facility (SUNY Maritime)  finally entered the 21st century.  The test was a blinking computer screen about 6 inches from my face.  So FINALLY I could look at the paper while the light flashed in my peripheral vision.  What tripped me up during this test was I had reviewed light at 6 wpm, but they had lowered the requirement to 4 wpm.  So i was expecting much faster elements.  I managed however since I had been listening to CW on the radio for years at that point and the transition wasn't too hard.

Besides the testing, we still use "blinker light."  This past November I was with the squadron and we spent 3 mornings, before dawn, passing a message from ship to ship.  They did it again this March, but I wasn't here.  The toughest part was the sending was atrocious and at about 3 wpm.  They didn't have their timing down at all.  There was also some background shore and security lights to add to the fun.  My ship has no dedicated RO, and I'm pretty sure most of the other ones have the newly minted REO's that come from the ranks of the engineers and didn't know Morse at all, so it was up to the mates.  I was drilling my mates for a few weeks prior and we did fairly well with two people looking at the light and one person writing it down.  For signaling, this ship has a ALDIS lamp.  We also have a key on the bridge wings to activate the all-around lamp on our after mast.  I don't know how many of the others had old school shuttered signaling lamps.  

We also use signal flags, but not semaphore.  That's one thing I never learned.

In any case, we still use the flashing light in convoys since it's the most secure comms we have.

73

Jeremy 

[using]

Darrel

If you were that good at 14 or 15 you should of had a good life. A fun conversation, thanks

Stan

-----Original Message-----
From: Darrel <demers...@gmail.com>
To: using <sblum...@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, May 25, 2022 2:36 pm
Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Reading Morse via signal lights

I must have been about 14 or 15 years old.
I did have a second person to write down the letters that I called out, one by one.
Soon after that test, I acquired an army surplus "Daylight Signalling Lamp", which I still have. Unfortunately, I've never found anyone to practice sending to!

Cheers,
          Darrel.

[using]

John Bell

Those were the days. If I tried longer and harder and hummed I would have had more fun. At one letter

at a time it should have been a cinch.

Stan

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[Sea Horse]

S-E-A-H-O-R-S-E

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[Walter - K5EST]

Thought I would mention that the Navy flame proof key would key the lamp atop the high mast. Depending on commands, many times the lamp was infrared instead of a white lamp. This was an All Call to surrounding vessels. 

[Eric]

I’ve gotten to do blinkers twice during my 35 years at sea… 

1st time called out late at night off the coast of Chile…. the US Navy signalman was asking the preferred house of ill repute in Valparaiso and the going rate for services.   … good for 2 hours of overtime and a good laugh… got the information from the onboard experts on the 12-4 watch.

The second time was the USNS Stark in the Persian gulf… our naval escort … their helicopter took pictures of us and wanted a mailing address…. didn’t think Iran need the information on the M/V American Virginia WPVD.

Rgds:
Eric

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[David G. Bayliss (Hotmail)]

The Australian Defence Force (Navy, Army, and Air Force) maintains a small pool of mid-skilled Telegraphers (and a few from that pool are "highly skilled") for both radiotelegraphy, and visual signalling lamp.

Although radiotelegraphy is not as popular as the automatic data modes, it is retained as a contingency-emergency mode.  All tactical (combat) mf-hf radios are issued with telegraph keys for this reason.  Army Signal Lamps have been withdrawn by the Defence National Storage and Distribution Centre (DNSDC), which usually means "long term storage", or "disposal".  Most equipment-managers refer to DNSDC as "Don't kNow S&!t Don't Care".

Visual signalling is now primarily employed by the Navy and Air Force, but Army are meant to maintain a pool of mid-skilled personnel.

The concept behind mid-skilled vs highly-skilled is training time-space-funds allocation, considering return-on-investment.  Approximately 2% of the pool is highly-skilled and are the "instructors", while the balance are "assistant instructors" and "trainees".  

WHEN activated (to train more telegraphists) the "assistant instructor pool" will receive skill-improvement-training and current competency assessment in order to ensure they meet the required "Active" standard before training the "wider Army".

Army "Inactive Radiotelegraphy Standards" are:

Combat Signallers: 

5 wpm radiotelegraphy (min. 25 hrs trg)

Traffic Signallers: 

10 wpm radiotelegraphy (min. 40 hrs training)

Signals Intelligence: 

15 wpm radiotelegraphy (min. 60 hrs trg)

"Active Radiotelegraphy Standards" are:

Combat Signallers: 

10 wpm radiotelegraphy qualification

Traffic Signallers: 

15 wpm radiotelegraphy qualification

Signals Intelligence: 

25 wpm radiotelegraphy qualification

Combat Signallers, may qualify at the higher levels. Conventional Reconnaissance elements will usually stick at 10 wpm, while SF-SO-RFSU Operators will usually strive to meet the 15wpm standard.

Army speeds are calibrated against the 50-dit-unit "PARIS_" standard, and 15 wpm means 15 NUMBER groups (ciphertext words) per minute.  Most Combat or Formal traffic will be encrypted using low-grade tactical-codes or high-grade offline ciphers (OTFP/OTLP).  Once a trainee passes the 18 wpm formative assessment they are cleared for their first attempt at the 15 wpm summative assessment (Trade Test).  Assessments are to send THREE out of SIX messages totally error-free (no corrections), plus to receive THREE out of SIX messages error-free with no corrections (write-overs) or requests for corrections.  Messages are: two each Plaintext, Figure/Number Cipher, Alphabet Cipher.  Each message has content of at least five-minutes duration "break to break".

SIGNAL LAMP

All users:  10 wpm  (Navy "fleet speed" may be lower due to pitching and rolling, so Army use 8 wpm to calulate exposure duration [enemy threat])

I have not used a "live" Signal Lamp since the late 1990s.  We used them primarily for shore-to-ship (Patrol Boat) for Patrol exfiltration/extraction.

Radiotelegraphy (International Morse, plus military specific procedures) is occassionally taught by face-to-face course programs - within Units, usually with between six to ten trainees.  I was one Instructor, and trainees were introduced to sending after passing the 5 wpm formative assessment, and introduced to visual signalling after they pass the 8 wpm formative.  Most Units use Computer Based Training (MRX software, tone generators, and digital recorders).  I prefer tabletop training, tabletop circuits/nets (wireline), and on-air / point-to-point training.  The last "hosted" program that I was involved with was conducted during 2019, however I have been asked to produce a new video training package supplemented by pre-recorded audio files (for radiotelegraphy receive) and video files (for signal lamp receive).

==============

In the 1991 photos below... I was called-in to send a "Signal Lamp" message as I had not long returned from a SF posting in Perth where we used CW daily, and Signal Lamps regularly.  This staged photo was taken AFTER the message was sent.  The Press photographer knew I was about to start sending, but wanted extra "props" like the heliographs in his photos (this photo is not the actual Press photo).  I sent the message as required (before the ship had passed), and the Press photographer missed his chance to actually capture the "light".  I would not "re-enact" it for him as several other vessels were in queue, so he had to settle for a pose.

==============

“// WELCOME HOME,  FROM THE GUNNERS AT FORT LYTTON. //”

Members of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals (D. Bayliss and R. Hendrikson of 139th Signal Squadron) using visual signalling equipment to send the message “03 DE LYTN BTY // WELCOME HOME, FROM THE GUNNERS AT FORT LYTTON. // AR” to HMAS Sydney upon entry into the Brisbane River on Friday, 19th April 1991.  

The Photographs were taken by a Mr Meenah (who was a former Linesman-Rigger of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals during the 1950s).  I believe he was involved with the Fort Lytton Signals Historical Collection at the time.

The Signal Light was actually used to send the telegraphic message, and the heliographs were just props for the official photographer’s “photo shoot”.

HMAS Sydney and HMAS Brisbane were entering the Port of Brisbane on Return To Australia (RTA) following the Gulf War.  The ships entered Brisbane on Friday, 19th April for a short “stop over”, before departing in order to arrive at their Home Port of Sydney on Monday, 21st April 1991.

HMAS Sydney IV (Pennant Number: 03) was an Adelaide-class guided missile frigate (FFG) commissioned on 29 January 1983, and decommissioned on 07 November 2015.

HMAS Brisbane II (Pennant Number: D41 ) was a Charles F Adams (Modified Perth) Class Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG) commissioned on 16 December 1967, and decommissioned on 19 October 2001.

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[Eric]

The advantage of the blinker light, is it’s totally secure over the horizon,,, if you can’t see the ship they can’t intercept the message…. and it’s very inexpensive except for the training.   

Rgds:
Eric

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[David G. Bayliss (Hotmail)]

Yes Eric,  lamps have definite advantages ship-to-ship.  

Once we were underway and heading to a vessel, as either swimmers or paddlers, there was very little chance of maintaining signal lamp communications. The Deck Officers (1980s) that worked with us always complained that it was difficult for anybody standing Lookout to see us in the water as Assault swimmers, or on the surface in subdued Kleppers. Assault swimmers carried directional IR strobes for emergency use, while the Klepper Aerius kayaks had short detachable "elevated" directional lamps that could be set to IR strobe during an emergency.  Most infils/exfils, at least the ones I did, occured before sunrise, or after sunset, often during twilight.  The lamps and batteries we used were old and heavy, but worked well for shore-to-ship links. 

Regards,

DB

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[Dr Jim Kennedy]

At what speed was the signal lamp morse sent?

73, Doc - K2PHD

 

On May 25, 2022, at 1:39 PM, 'using' via Radio Officers <radio-o...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[David G. Bayliss (Hotmail)]

In Australia we were trade-tested at 10 wpm, while the typical "fleet speed" was around 8 to 9 wpm.  I was told that the better signallers could send at 12 wpm (but I never got up to that level of competency).

Being Army, we only used directional-procedure for shore-to-ship, ship-to-shore, and ship-to-ship.  Navy used both directional-, and non-directional procedure.

For directional-procedure, when sending, one person would send the message, and another would "spot" for the "ack flash".   For receiving, one person would spot, "ack flash" and call the characters, while another would scribe.  Words, cipher-groups, and prosigns each get acknowledged.  If an "ack" is not received the word, group, or prosign is immediately sent again.  

I mainly used two styles of lamp, the handheld 12/24v Aldis triggered shutter lamp, and the 10v Aldis tripod/spike mounted daylight signal lamp with a telegraph key (most were modified to 12v lamps due to component shortages).

Regards,

DB.

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[using]

Those are the real  blinkers. It probably is easer to send then receive but one digit at a time should be a cinch but wasn't for me.  

Stan

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Dillman <richard...@gmail.com>
To: Radio Officers <radio-o...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: walter...@gmail.com <walter...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wed, May 25, 2022 4:50 pm
Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Reading Morse via signal lights

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.

[using]

Walter

Simple and perfect to operate and prevent a fire or explosion, thanks.

Stan

-----Original Message-----
From: Walter - K5EST <walter...@gmail.com>
To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, May 25, 2022 4:59 pm
Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Reading Morse via signal lights

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[using]

Captain Jeremy

In all my sea going experiences I never heard that Captains and Mates had to be able to work the blinker

and you also made Master. Very interesting and congratulations. 

Stan

-----Original Message-----
From: 'Jeremy C Allen' via Radio Officers <radio-o...@googlegroups.com>
To: Radio Officers <radio-o...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wed, May 25, 2022 5:27 pm
Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Reading Morse via signal lights

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[Paul Sfriso]

Dear Dave.

Are the ADF signallers all full-time or are there any reserve operators ?

[David Bayliss]

Hi Paul,

ADF signallers are a mix of Full-time and Part-time.   

Full-time personnel are given more training opportunities and are generally more mission-focussed for deployments, but the Part-time personnel always appear more keen and results oriented.  We have a small Defence Force, so Reserve Force personnel also get ample opportunity to serve more than their required 50-days per annum (some serve 75-days, some 100-days).  If they wish to serve Overseas, or for more than 100-days in any year, then they are attached to a Regular (Full-time) Unit on "Full Time Service".  

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: Paul Sfriso
Sent: Friday, 27 May 2022 9:36 PM
To: Radio Officers
Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] Reading Morse via signal lights

 

Dear Dave.

.
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