Forms of Signalling
- Semaphore
- Visual communication using positions of two flags for each letter of the alphabet. Can
be used at sea or on land but the sender and the receiver must be within visual range.
- Morse Code
- Audio communication using a single tone. The tone has two different lengths, long (dash)
and short (dot). A letter is made up of a sequence of dots and dashes, a pause
indicates the break between a letter, word, or sentence depending of the length of the
break. Even though it is a primarily audio means of communication, the dots and dashes can
be represented by a lot of things to enable visual communication. The prime example of
this is light, i.e. a short flash of light indicates a dot and a long one indicates a
dash.
- International Code of Signals
- This is the method of communicating to sea going vessels of the status of a particular
vessel. There is a different flag for each letter of the alphabet, the colours on the flag
are arranged to that the meaning of the flag can be determined from just the shape of the
design, without having to know its colours. As well as each flag being assigned a letter,
a meaning was given to an individual flag, examples would be the letter B, this flag was a
solid red colour and meant that the cargo the vessel was carrying was dangerous or
flamable. These flags would be hoisted up on the ship.
- Phonetic Alphabet
- The Internationally recognised phonetic alphabet is common to radio enthusiasts, both
amateur and the C.B. operator. However many other phonetic sounding words may be heard
over the air, this seems to be the most recognised.
- Radio Telephony
- The method of using radio telephones. It examined the proper use of the radios and how
to initiate distress calls and other types of calls.
You can click on the above links to learn how to use the various methods.
This page courtesy of New Ross Scouts
