5X5

[David M. Burnworth]

I have see nthe term "5x%" used a few times recently in the aviation world
and was wondering if someone could tell me what it means. Thanks in
advance!

[John Price]

Dave...

Signal strength 5 out of 5 and clarity 5 out of 5...

John

[Roy Smith]

"David M. Burnworth" <xlh...@lemoorenet.com> wrote:
> I have seen the term "5x5" used a few times recently in the aviation world

> and was wondering if someone could tell me what it means.

In radio parlance, there are numeric codes used to indicate the various
qualities of a signal, i.e. signal strength, clarity, etc (different radio
services used slightly different versions), with 1 being worse and 5 being
best. Thus, "5 by 5" in response to the question "how are you receiving
my transmission?" means "I am receiving you loud and clear".

I will probably get flamed for admitting this, but I always got a kick out
of the CB slang version: "wall to wall and ten feet tall".

--
Roy Smith <r...@popmail.med.nyu.edu>
New York University School of Medicine

[David M. Burnworth]

Thanks for the explanation. Don't worry, I won't say anything about the CB
saying, hehehe.

D. Burnworth

[Dave Mould]

In article <roy-120199...@qwerky.med.nyu.edu>, Roy Smith wrote:

> I will probably get flamed for admitting this, but I always got a kick out
> of the CB slang version: "wall to wall and ten feet tall".

Some of the army radio operators used a peculiar slang. For a signal check,
you would hear,

"Eenie meenie mynie mo, how do you read me on my radio?"
"Fee foe fie fum, reading you 5 with a bit of a hum!"

Dave Mould

[John Price]

Actually when I was in sunny SE Asia we used to use:

Lima Charlie, Hotel Mike? (Loud & Clear, How Me?)

Kphn

[Rob Warnock]

Roy Smith <r...@popmail.med.nyu.edu> wrote:
+---------------

| "David M. Burnworth" <xlh...@lemoorenet.com> wrote:
| > I have seen the term "5x5" used a few times recently in the aviation world
| > and was wondering if someone could tell me what it means.
|
| In radio parlance, there are numeric codes used to indicate the various
| qualities of a signal, i.e. signal strength, clarity, etc (different radio
| services used slightly different versions), with 1 being worse and 5 being
| best. Thus, "5 by 5" in response to the question "how are you receiving
| my transmission?" means "I am receiving you loud and clear".

+---------------

IIRC, the amateur radio scale is 1-5 for readability/clarity, and 0-9 for
signal strength (measured on the "S meter", with "S9" being highest), so
in ham parlance "loud & clear" (or rather, "clear & loud") indication was
"5 by 9". A "5 by 5" would be extremely intelligible, but not very loud.

-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock, 8L-855 rp...@sgi.com
Applied Networking http://reality.sgi.com/rpw3/
Silicon Graphics, Inc. Phone: 650-933-1673
2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. FAX: 650-964-0811
Mountain View, CA 94043 PP-ASEL-IA

[mlad...@my-dejanews.com]

In article <77el1s$n...@enews2.newsguy.com>,

"David M. Burnworth" <xlh...@lemoorenet.com> wrote:

> I have see nthe term "5x%" used a few times recently in the aviation world
> and was wondering if someone could tell me what it means. Thanks in
> advance!
>
>
It's actually a radio term, used by communicators (& ham radio operators).
It means that the Readabilty of voice transmission is 5 on a scale of 1-5,
and that the signal strength is also 5 on a scale of 1-5.

i.e., 5X5 means arm-chair quality; 5X2 would be very readable but quite weak;
and 2X5 would be a hard to read, but strong signal.

Most radio transmissions from general aviation cockpits fall into the 2X5
catagory because the mic gain in the COM radio is cranked so high that the
ambient noise in the cockpit drives the transmitter to 90+% modulation before
the pilot utters a word.

MikeM

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

[Greg Boston]

> IIRC, the amateur radio scale is 1-5 for readability/clarity, and 0-9 for
> signal strength (measured on the "S meter", with "S9" being highest), so
> in ham parlance "loud & clear" (or rather, "clear & loud") indication was
> "5 by 9". A "5 by 5" would be extremely intelligible, but not very loud.
>
> -Rob
>
>

That's true Rob except that the amateur radio operators use a system
called RST for Readability-Strength-Tone. The last value is used of
course when transmitting morse code. It ranks the 'purity' of the tone.
Poorly designed transmitters can result in tone distortion, or sometimes
'chirping' because the final stage loads down the oscillator stage which
pulls it off frequency. True, in voice communications, the last value is
omitted.

regards,

Greg Boston (formerly KA5FVA general class ham)

[Darrell Schmidt]

In the military both clarity and signal strength were rated on a 1-5 scale, so
"reading you 5 by 5" or "got you 5 square" meant very loud and very clear.  It
seems I remember the first number was loudness and the second was clarity.  So
"reading you 5 by 4" would mean very loud and pretty clear.  But I've been
flying professionally for 46 years and haven't heard the term much lately.  It
was more common to be used back in the 50's.  Most everyone now will say "gee,
you're loud enough, but kind of garbled".

Greg Boston wrote:

--
Home Page: "B-58 HUSTLER"  http://members.home.net/dschmidt1/
E-Mail   : dsch...@home.com