Signaling is well worth knowing. It
is good fun to be able to signal your friend across the street without other
people understanding what you are talking about. Before the development of
telephones or radios, signal codes allowed many people to communicate over long
distances.
Telegraph operators used Morse Code
to send messages around the world. Sailors used both Morse and Semaphore to
pass messages between ships. It is still makes an exciting hobby for
licensed amateur radio operators. While there are few practical
applications for these signaling methods in today's world, they are useful to
know in case of an emergency.
Semaphore
Semaphore signaling is used mainly
for short distance communications. Some points to remember:
1.
Signaling is useful only when it can
be read. The letters must be made perfectly and must be clearly seen.
2.
The sender must exactly face the
person they are signaling. They must stand firmly, with the feet apart.
3.
The flags must be at arms reach, arm
and flag making a straight line.
4.
The arms must be in the exact
position for each letter.
5.
When making T, O, and W the flags
must not cover one another.
6.
When making double letters bring the
flags in to the body after the first letter.
7.
Do not send too quickly. Never send
faster than the other person can read
Morse Code
In the Morse Code letters are formed
by a series of dots and dashes by using a Morse Key attached to a buzzer.
Because of its adaptability, Morse Code is more useful than Semaphore, but it
requires much practice to become proficient.
Morse Code signals and their
meaning:
VE VE VE Calling up signal
K
Carry On. (Answer to VE, if ready to receive message)
Q
Wait. (Answer to VE if not ready to receive message.)
T
General answer
AAA Period or decimal
AR
End of message
R
Message received correctly
8 dots Erase.
GB
Good Bye. (used when closing down)
Manual Alphabet for the Deaf
1.
It makes conversation easy in places
when you must not speak aloud, as in school, during music, or by the bedside of
the sick.
2.
It is a means of far-signaling much
quicker than semaphore or other spelling codes, for this gives one or more
words in one sign.
3.
It will enable you to talk when
there is too much noise to be heard, as across the noisy streets.
4.
It makes it possible to talk to a
deaf person.
5.
It is a wonderful developer of
observation.
6.
It is a simple means of talking to
an Indian or a Woodcrafter of another nationality whose language you do not
understand. This indeed is its great merit. It is universal. It deals not with
words but with ideas that are common to all mankind. It is therefore a kind of
Esperanto already established.
The Manual Alphabet for the Deaf is
used to spell out names and places for which there are no signs. Most
words are not spelled out, however, but are communicated with a sign that
represents the whole word or idea.
Sign Languages such as American Sign
Language (ASL) and Indian Sign Language have many advantages. In his
chapter on Sign Language in the Birch Bark Roll, Ernest Seton
lists some of these:
In this code you can talk to any
other Woodcrafter without an outsider knowing or understanding.
