# Accented letters



## Sparks58 (Jan 6, 2016)

Does anyone remember accented letters? (in morse) We had to be examined on them in the morse test but I swear I never used them once after that. Wasn't there a CH which was dah dah dah dah and an "N" with a squigle over it which was maybe dah dah di dah dah I cannot recall any of the others . There was an e with a slant mark as in cafe an probably an "O" with umlouts but i do not recall their characters or any others. (Sorry if this is an old chestnut and has been discussed before) I took my cert at Fleetwood in 1976 (MT/334) 
Nigel.


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

Â = di dah di dah
Á or Å = di dah dah di dah
CH = dah dah dah dah
É = di di dah di di
Ñ = dah dah di dah dah
Ö = dah dah dah di
Ü = di di dah dah

Think that's all of them...


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## pippin (May 13, 2008)

The big mistake was learning alphabet, numerals, accented letters, pro-signs, plain language, 5 letter code groups and 5 number code groups as separate entities.

If back in 1963-1965 when I did my 1st Class PMG I had access to a computer program such as " Just Learn Morse Code " it would have taken a fraction of the time to reach 25wpm.

A mix of all characters (as that prog does) at the learning stage would have increased my Morse fluency.

Nav Wngs could sometimes be tricky to copy.

There would not be the mental whoopsey that I still have when a sudden "odd" character mix occurs.

As happens with radio amateur callsigns eg 9J1XK.


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Whilst we had to learn them for the MRGC we couldn't actually take them down at GKA on our typewriters or keyboards as the appropriate keys didn't exist. On the occasions when a ship would send an accented letter we simply used the 'base' letter. But of course we had to recognise them in order to do this.
Larry +


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Scheveningen on 500 would usually respond to P and four dashes.

David

+


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## djringjr (Feb 11, 2008)

Larry Bennett said:


> Whilst we had to learn them for the MRGC we couldn't actually take them down at GKA on our typewriters or keyboards as the appropriate keys didn't exist. On the occasions when a ship would send an accented letter we simply used the 'base' letter. But of course we had to recognise them in order to do this.
> Larry +


At West Creek, New Jersey, USA Radio / WSC we did this as well. I have uploaded the McElroy Chart of Codes and Signals to the Internet Archive. Since is is a very large chart, a scan at 300 dpi is huge, so it will take a while to download. The main entry is here: Mc Elroy Chart Of Codes And Signals : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The download link for the PDF is here: https://ia903006.us.archive.org/7/i...gnals/Mc Elroy chart of codes and signals.pdf

A jpg file (much smaller) is attached.

73
DR


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## Robin McHood (Apr 11, 2015)

Sparks58 said:


> Does anyone remember accented letters? (in morse) We had to be examined on them in the morse test but I swear I never used them once after that. Wasn't there a CH which was dah dah dah dah and an "N" with a squigle over it which was maybe dah dah di dah dah I cannot recall any of the others . There was an e with a slant mark as in cafe an probably an "O" with umlouts but i do not recall their characters or any others. (Sorry if this is an old chestnut and has been discussed before) I took my cert at Fleetwood in 1976 (MT/334)
> Nigel.


Remember these very well from my PMG in 1965. Didn't use much until on Conoco tankers with Spanish crew when they became VERY important. Unfortunately sent a message to Ch Off's wife wishing her 'Felicidades Compleanos' instead of 'Compleaños' Thus wishing her many happy a**eholes.... Fortunately both saw the funny side and didn't hold it against me..... (PS I know the C*m bit isn't spelt correctly and should be with a u but the thought police like to asterisk that bit out....)


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## pippin (May 13, 2008)

How many of us wrote a slashed zero Ø when copying mixed letters and numbers?

I always did, especially important when taking Lat/Longs & etc in Nav Wngs to distinguish a 0 from a O.

Easy to do now on a keyboard Alt 0216 gives Ø. 

In fact knowing a few ASCII codes is quite useful. 

Here in Wales we need a circonflexe as in Siân (Alt 131) plus others.

Alt 248 (°) is handy for OBS temps!


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## Robin McHood (Apr 11, 2015)

pippin said:


> How many of us wrote a slashed zero Ø when copying mixed letters and numbers?
> 
> I always did, especially important when taking Lat/Longs & etc in Nav Wngs to distinguish a 0 from a O.
> 
> ...


Always and still do, also slash through a 7. Knowledge of ASCII codes became even more useful in my early days in computers and can still amaze a few young 'uns with my ability to create symbols apparently out of 'magic codes' on the number pad...


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## djringjr (Feb 11, 2008)

pippin said:


> How many of us wrote a slashed zero Ø when copying mixed letters and numbers?
> Easy to do now on a keyboard Alt 0216 gives Ø.


That's a slashed letter O. To get a real slashed zero you need a font with one.

I have one that I made from a scan of my Royal manual Empress typewriter. To find it, go to 
https://qsl.net/n1ea/  and search for MILL font. Or direct link. Remember to SAVE the file not open it, and then read up on how to install fonts on your operating system. Free for personal use.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I don't recall any problem with accented letters - used them once in a while. In German, it was quite acceptable to put an "e" after a letter to signify that the previous letter had an umlaut, e.g. for "ü" you could write "ue". I think that's still the case. I don't recall DAN DAN the Telegraph Man sending umlauts but I could be wrong. I did have trouble initially with Old Man's handwriting, for instance when they wrote a figure one in the traditional manner, I would send a "7". I did that for ages without any consequences, then one day I remembered. It just didn't occur to me when sending in a zombiefied state.

John T


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## pippin (May 13, 2008)

The reason for adding a slash to the figure 7 was to distinguish it from the (mainly French) way of writing the figure 1 with an up bit at the top.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

pippin said:


> The reason for adding a slash to the figure 7 was to distinguish it from the (mainly French) way of writing the figure 1 with an up bit at the top.


Used to get a few British people writing 7s like that too - I always thought it was a bit of a pose when they didn't do the continental "one". 

John T


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