Telegram


From Greek "Tele" meaning far-off and
from Greek "Gramma" meaning written down. Greek scholars at the time preferred the word "Telegrapheme".

Telegraph (Noun)


From French Télégraphe - meaning any signalling apparatus.

Telegraph (Verb)


From French Télégraphe - meaning to convey/to send a telegram.

Telegraphese/Cablese


The shortened "cut-up" language of telegram text.

Teleprinter/Teletypewriter


The machine which converts electrical impulses to printed letters/figures.

Telex


The dial-up communicating system invented in 1932 with printing apparatus situated in customers premises which transfers an replica of what is typed at the senders office direct to a similar machine in the destination office.

Telegraph plant


Plant of East India (Desmodium gyrans).
The leaves of which attract attention by their curious movements.


Puncher


(slang) A Telegraph Operator.

Perforator


The apparatus used by the operator to prepare chadless slip for automatic transmission at the constant speed of the line/transmitter.

Reperforator


Apparatus which manufactures slip automatically for later retransmission.

Slip


2-unit (old) and 5-unit Baudot paper tape. The 5-unit slip is either prepared by an operator using a perforator or automatically reproduced by a reperforator connected in-circuit to facilitate automatic transmission through a telegraph transmitter.

2-unit (slip) paper tape


Used on morse circuits




=-------------------------------------------------------------=
  o o o o   o o     o o   o o   o o   o o   o   o   o
  o o o o   o   o   o   o o o   o   o o o     o   o   o
=-------------------------------------------------------------=


This spells 'hallo' !

5-unit (slip) tape


Officially known as the CCITT Code Set ITA#2 otherwise called the Baudot or Murray code depending which side of the Atlantic one is, prototyped by Emile Baudot, a Lieutenant in the French Telegraph Service in 1874 and reworked to its present form by Donald Murray a New Zealander.

 =-----------------=
       o
       o   o  o
   o
                 o
   o       o  o  o
 =-----------------=

This also spells 'hallo' !

Chadded slip


The paper from the holes still attached by a 'hinge' in the slip, as produced by a reperforator.

Chadless slip


The paper from the holes in the slip has been removed as prepared on a perforator by a telegraph operator.




Coded Telegraph Time.




    mdnt
    Z
    M
  L Y     noon   N A

 K X               O B

I W          +       P C

  H V              Q D

    G T          R E
     S
     F

 0015hours=ZP,
 0030hours=ZS,
 1320hours=ND,
 2140hours=WH.




Test tapes


A common test of a circuit ( RYRY ) uses units 2 and 4 of a letter R, and units 1,3,5 of a letter Y on a 5-unit system.


RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY


THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOGS BACK


NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN TO COME TO THE AID OF THE PARTY


VOYEZ LE BRICK GEANT QUE J'EXAMINE PRES DU GRAND WHARF


KAUFEN SIE JEDE WOCHE VIER GUTE BEQUEME PELZE XY 1234567890




Creed Printer (Pretty Emma) Specimen Slip EX CandW CIRCA 1924


PRETTY EMMA CANNOT BOWWOW THE DIZZY OLD DUM=MUD=DUM OF KLONDYKE WHO EGGED THE KHAN OF CANAAN TO EFFECT A VACUUM ON THE BOKKO OF THE MIDDLE DRIVVEL CHIEFGUARD THE CHALF DOGFLY MAJJY ERRED AND GOOD HITCHKING ACBAR EBBED AS POPPY BABCOCK WILL BUYYEAST HJO LASS MEJFON FJORD JHEEL ECCLES ANTIINK IXXIS CASHHAND= 11223344556677889900 E1E2E3E4E5E6E7E8E9E0 Q4S5O6+90 OPR2T8Z?Y" "Y?Z8T2RPO N'VW-_U=MD DM=U_-WV'N LKHJFGEBCA ACBEGHJHKL /AU;XIO37!QIE E1Q!73OIX;UA/ A/C*


Later substituted by:-


AABBCCDDEE EEFFGGHHII IIJJKKLLMM MMNNOOPPQQ QQRRSSTTUU UUVVWWXXYYZZ = 11223344556677889900 E1E2E3E4E5E6E7E8E9E0 *9+605S4Q Q4S506+9* OPR2T8Z?Y" "Y?Z8T2RPO N'VW-_U=MD DM=U_-WV'N LKHJFGEBCA ACBEGFJHKL /AU;XI307!()1E E1()!703IX;UA/ A/C*


The purpose of a looped test tape is to check that the circuit is operational, the distant end in turn to acknowledge a good reception of test tape before telegraph traffic can be transmitted.




Paid Service Indications (P.S.I.) inc Telegram Rates.

Must be the first word in the address.
A number of the following were subsequently discontinued or their conditions altered over time.
If no P.S.I. appeared as the first word in the address, the telegram was assumed to be Full-Rate.

=URGENT= or =D=


Double the charge for FullRate.

=LC=


Deferred rate for destinations outside Europe, charged at half the full rate and delivered after the full rate messages, generally within a few hours.

=NLT=


Night letter rate charged at one third the full rate and delivered on the morning after the day of filing. Applicable to destinations in Africa, U.S.A., Middle-East, and certain countries in Asia.

=DLT=


Daily letter rate charged at one third the full rate and delivered on the second morning after the day of filing. Applicable to destinations with most other countries outside Europe.

=LT=


Deferred letter rate delivered on the morning after the day of filing.

=ELT=


Deferred letter rate to european destinations delivered after a minimum delay of six hours.

=GLT=


Deferred letter rate to British Empire/Commonwealth destinations containing solely social wording.
(The only P.S.I. not charged for).

=PLT=


Post letter telegram to all destinations in Canada - handled as telegrams London-Montreal then delivered as letters.

=CDE=


Telegrams containing code groups.

=EFM=


Expeditionary forces messages for His Majestys Forces, later extended to U.S. Forces.

=XLT=


Greetings telegram with free text.

=GTG=


Standard Greetings telegram.

=LX=


Greetings telegram to be delivered on a de-luxe form.

=RPx=


A telegram to which the reply has been prepaid by the sender upto the value of amount 'x' in gold-francs.
A gold-franc is 90 percent pure gold and weighs 10/31 of a gram. It is used in day-to-day balancing of international accounts.

=TC=


The text to be repeated (collated) and checked for accuracy for which the extra charge is one half again of the full rate cost.

=PC=


Request that the date and time at which his telegram has been delivered be notified to him as soon as possible after delivery.

=PCP=


Request that notification of delivery be forwarded to the sender by post.

=FS=


Request that the office of destination to cause his telegram to follow the addressee to which the sender must pay any redirection charges.

=TMx=


Telegrams may be addressed either to several addressees in the same locality or in different localities served by the same telegraph office or to one addressee at different addresses in the same locality or in different localities served by the same telegraph office. "x" denoting the number of addresses.

=CTA=


Request that each copy of a multiple telegram to contain all the addresses appearing in the original telegram.

=RÉEXPÉDIÉ DE..=


Any person, furnishing the necessary proof of identity, may request that telegrams arriving for him at a telegraph office be redirected by telegraph to another address.

=EXPRÈS=


Request for delivery by express with collection of extra charges from the addressee.

=XP=


Request for delivery by express with collection of extra charges from the sender.

=PAV=


Request for delivery by air-mail.

=POSTE=


Request for delivery by ordinary post.

=PR=


Request for delivery by registered post.

=GP=


Request for the telegram to be handed to the postal service by the telegraph office of destination for delivery at the postal counter.

=TR=


Request for the telegram to be passed to the telegraph counter at the office of destination for delivery to the addressee in person or his duly authorised representative on production of proof of identity.

=TF...=


Request for the telegram to be delivered by telephone, the number to be inserted immediately following the TF.


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