READABILITY 1 -- Unreadable 2 -- Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable 3 -- Readable with considerable difficulty 4 -- Readable with practically no difficulty 5 -- Perfectly readable SIGNAL STRENGTH 1 -- Faint signals, barely perceptible 2 -- Very weak signals 3 -- Weak signals 4 -- Fair signals 5 -- Fairly good signals 6 -- Good signals 7 -- Moderately strong signals 8 -- Strong signals 9 -- Extremely strong signals TONE 1 -- Sixty cycle a.c. or less, very rough and broad 2 -- Very rough a.c. , very harsh and broad 3 -- Rough a.c. tone, rectified but not filtered 4 -- Rough note, some trace of filtering 5 -- Filtered rectified a.c.but strongly ripple-modulated 6 -- Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation 7 -- Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation 8 -- Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation 9 -- Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind Infrequently used is the addition of a letter to the end of the 3 numbers. These are: X = the signal is rock steady like a crystal controlled signal; C = the signal is chirpy as the frequency varies slightly with keying; and K = the signal has key clicks. X is from the early days of radio when such steady signals were rare. Today most all signals could be given an X but it is hardly ever used. It is helpful to report a chirpy or clicky signal by using the C or K, e.g. 579C or 579K. It is very common to send RST reports in abbreviated form, for example 599, is sent as 5NN. "N" in place of the number "9". Also another time saver is for the zero using a long "T". "T" is sent in place of the number zero as in "POWER HR IS 3TT WATTS". There is a number code for all numbers, however, the N and T codes are the most common ones. Also CW stations sometimes report their zones as "A4" or "A5" instead of sending "14" or "15". 1 = A, 2 = U, 3 = V, 4 = 4, 5 = E, 6 = 6, 7 = B, 8 = D, 9 = N, 0 = T End Of Line Full Stop End of message Stand by; wait Separation (break) between address and text; between text and signature. (Error in sending. 8 dits - Transmission continues with last word correctly sent.) Short form of above Repeat; I say again. (Difficult or unusual words or groups.) Number follows Out; clear (end of communications, no reply expected.) The following without the < > are other commonly used two letter procedural signals -- some Hams run them together -- others do not. BK Break CL Going off the air (clear) CQ Calling any amateur radio station (Many add a space between the C and the Q) DE This or From KA Beginning of message KN Go only, invite a specific station to transmit VE Understood (VE) Commonly used in CW - single letter meanings C Correct yes K Go, invite any station to transmit N No Negative R All received OK