[TenTec] ALL CAPS?

[Wayne Nakata]

Hi,

I am just wondering as to how this relates to tentec radios?

At 01:27 PM 8/8/2006, you wrote:
>On Tue, 2006-08-08 at 12:46 -0400, w8au at sssnet.com wrote:
> > At 07:55 AM 8/8/06, Ronald Hands, VE3SP, wrote:
> > >w8au at sssnet.com wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Anyone familiar with WU telegrams, Military messages, AP and UPI
> > > > teletype news, etc knows that they were all done in CAPS.  Saved
> > > > using the "shift" key, and lower case was not necessary for
> > > message content.
> > > >
> > >   This was done because they were working with primitive technology, not
> > >because of any inherent virtue in all-caps messaging.
> >
> > Militarily speaking, all branches had standard typewriters and for
> > general admin purposes they used upper and lower case, BUT not the
> > communications branches.  They knew the value of brevity and efficiency
> > and used all caps machines.
> >
> > 5-level Baudot code was used for 50+ years not because it was
> > primitive, but because it was sufficient for the job.  To use 8-level
> > ASCII just added to the time required to transfer the same info, and
> > was only required when teleprinters were tied to computers.  (and
> > that didn't last long)
>
>Actually there was a 6 bit code called TTS that did include case but
>could be printed on a Baudot printer as all upper case. In Baudot the
>most significant bit is sent first, but the added bit in TTS is shown as
>the most significant. But in TTS the 5 base bits of Baudot are sent
>first, then the upper/lower case bit is sent. That oddity caused a lot
>of extra work when I worked up a computer connection from a TTS circuit
>25 or 30 years ago. The programmer figured it out in a week of trials,
>then I went to that adjacent AP office and confirmed it by looking at a
>receive cam. The TTY service people there didn't believe either until I
>proved it with the cam.
>
>Baudot and TTS predate ASCII by 20 or 30 years. And they predate
>computers by nearly that much. ASCII came decades after IBM Hollerith
>codes.
>
> > >   Any time saved by not using the shift key at the AP office was lost
> > >many times over at newspaper copy desks where editors had to laboriously
> > >mark each of the capitals before sending the stories for typesetting.  I
> > >know; I was one of those long-suffering copy editors.
>
>Perhaps you could have paid a bit more to AP for a TTS printer on the
>same circuit.
> >
> > My reference to AP/UPI was to broadcasting news.  Rip & Read
> > newscasters did not suffer from not having lower case.  You have a
> > good point, but it references only a tiny part of the whole
> > communications picture.
> >
> > Having said that, no doubt YOU were very good at your job, and having
> > that task added to your normal editing routine was something you
> > probably took in stride.  That's why they paid you top dollar.  :-)
> >
> > >  Newspapers long ago discovered that all-caps headlines were hard to
> > >read.
> >
> > Headlines?  All headlines were/are caps... to call attention to an
> > article.  Right?
> >
> > >As far as I know, they've all abandoned that style.  Internet
> > >users should follow suit.
> >
> > I'm sure newsdesks no longer get info via TTY.  It obviously comes in
> > file format for direct insertion into electronic page setups.
> >
> > But, are we Internet Operators, or Radio Communications
> > specialists?  Take your pick.  To me, the internet is just a helpful
> > tool to facilitate
> > our primary concern: communications between like minded radio
> > folks.  And an all-caps posting should not startle such individuals.
> >
> > (My apologies for this thread taking on a life of it's own.  I'm QNX
> > or QRT.  Back to the Orion wars...)  :-)
> >
> > Perry   w8au
>
>Now where's that shift up and shift down character for Morse or
>Continental code?
>
>--
>73, Jerry, K0CQ,
>All content copyright Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer
>
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