Talk:SOS

Which ship was first?

The article states: "The first ship to transmit an SOS distress call appears to have been the Cunard liner Slavonia on June 10, 1909, according to "Notable Achievements of Wireless" in the September, 1910 Modern Electrics." and "The first recorded use of SOS as a distress signal was by the steamer SS Arapahoe on August 11, 1909."

Which is correct?2.29.91.193 (talk) 19:01, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

---

⅞(‘♦_♦‘)њ------- To the sentence starting with "From the beginning EK", 69.87.196.168 added "but with the dashes extended in duration to double their usual length to make the signal unmistakable in static." None of my early sources from 1905 to 1935 refer to long dashes, so I've removed this clause from the "From the beginning" sentence. I have no information that the long dashes were ever used, so if this clause is added back it needs to specify when and where the long dashes were used. Thomas H. White November 25, 2005

sos some ones stupid — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.93.31.200 (talk) 01:49, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Still, is there any evidence of SOS (not CQD) signal transmition by the Slavonia liner? The June 13, 1909 issue of The New York Times explicitly states it to be "C.Q.D.", and the Daily Mirror of June, 14 reads: "The Cunard liner Slavonia called distress signal of Marconi system", which, as we know, was "C.Q.D.", not "SOS" 93.125.49.240 (talk) 20:44, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

SOS

My Godfather was a Royal Navy radio man (1938-1945) and he told me that SOS meant Send Out Succour. SUCCOUR n. aid or assistance that relieves from difficulty or distress

• I read this article in Highlights (the children's magazine) a while back that said it stood for "Sierra Oscar Sierra" but I don't know what that has to do with anything.

Sierra means "S", Oscar means "O". The rest of the alphabet has clearly heard words associated (mainly used by radio hams, the police, etc): see [1] 7 3 Gordo 14:08, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

It's more widely used than that. See NATO phonetic alphabet.--agr 14:16, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Well I always thought, SOS was derived from "Save Our Soles". But I have no source to verify this, even though I feel it might be a good idea to add it to the article.

From what I can see, the SOS code in and of itself was first proposed by the Germans in 1905. If this is true, then any acronyms associated with SOS would logically be backronyms, simply because it was first concieved in German, not English. --Ourai 17:20, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

My mother works for a company SOS, what about them?

I just wanted to add a new phrasology to SOS that has become apparent to me since becoming active in political forums and debate SOS = Stuck On Stupid, not that I would want to see this on the main page, but it may give those that are into the debate aswell a chuckle.

Overbar format

Is there a reason that the SOS-with-overbar is being represented in mathemtical symbols (<math>\overline{\mbox{SOS}}</math> == ${\overline {\mbox{SOS}}}$), instead of regular HTML with CSS (<span style="text-decoration: overline">SOS</span> == SOS)? --Psiphiorg 15:43, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

None whatsoever, from what I can see. Having changed the overbar instances from <math> to <span>, and it does indeed look better, especially since it does not mess with the line spacing. Thanks for having pointed that out! --Ourai 17:20, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

The CSS version won't render for visitors with no CSS capability, or with CSS turned off. Andy Mabbett 15:59, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

Nursing

SOS is also used in nursing - si opus sit - means if there be need, and means a doctor has agreed that medicine can be given if a nurse sees fit.Malick78 19:04, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Latin Abbreviation

s.o.s. is a Latin abbreviation not only used in nursing meaning "si opus sit", translation: "if there is need", "if occasion require", "if necessary" (source: http://www.herbdatanz.com/pharmaceutical_latin_abbreviations.htm). I don't know if this has anything to do with the naval term, but shouldn't this be in the article somewhere?

Yes, it should be added to the disambiguation list. Feel free. --78.86.173.96 (talk) 19:22, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

under "early developments"

the paragraph starts "Prior to the development of peepee radio communication" what is peepee radio? or does it predate poopoo television...? 76.217.120.247 14:56, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Reverse code

Does "— — — · · · — — — " have any special meaning? It seems to me that a panicked or novice user might transpose the code thus, and it would be useful to have it carry the same "emergency" meaning. Andy Mabbett 15:58, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

It is sent out on continuous stream: "— — — · · · — — — · · · — — — · · · — — — · · ·", so it doesn't really matter anyway if you start it in wrong beeps. 82.131.5.123 (talk) 18:51, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Having been both an operator in the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and as a shore based civilian I can only say that I've never heard ---...--- sent. It has no meaning that I know of. As for being accidentally sent by a panicky or novice user this is absolutely impossible. If you were in a ship for example you'd have to be able to turn on the radio, tune in to the right frequencey (500khz), transmit the sos, receive the reply (hopefully), help ships find you and so one. If you were that competent you would of-course be the Radio Officer and know the morse code back to front. Watchkeeper (talk) 19:14, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Sound file

I don't think that the sound file sounds right, that is not an SOS.

Your right its not it sounds like 3 dits and 3 dashes Usnn 16:42, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I've just spent the last 40 minutes trying to upload a fixed .ogg file - it seems to be virtually impossible both on Commons and here in WP. The problem with the existing SOS.ogg is that it plays the three letters S, O and S. SOS, however is a prosign, with no letter-spacing. I have a fixed version here on my desktop, with the two letter-spaces reduced to the length of a dit each, but the world is going to have to do without it. Maybe someone else who has plumbed the depths of the frankly idiotic logon/modify/upload/download/licence/rename system, and has a copy of audacity or similar, can fix it, because I now officially 'give up' :-) --Nigelj (talk) 16:18, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Sending an SOS

I've added a bit about XXX (or the words Pan Pan Pan if used in Radiotelephony). These were used for issues of ship or invidual safety. A ship losing a propeller way out at sea would use this and not an SOS.

I've also added a bit on how an SOS would actually be sent. Most people think and SOS message is just a series of SOSs sent by morse.

My source for this addition is my own experience as a Radio Operator at sea both in the Royal and Merchant Navies. The same information is also contained in the 'Post Office Handbook for Radio Operators' published by HMSO. Watchkeeper (talk) 20:05, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

"SOS created in Germany" section

I have changed the rather odd heading "SOS created in Germany" to "Formalization." The fact that SOS's formulation was in Germany is notable, but it's not very relevant to the information being presented. The sense of the heading also didn't follow on from the previous section ("Early developments"). --Gilgongo (talk) 19:49, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

The sound file SOS.ogg needs modifying

The sound file currently linked here is not quite correct: in contradiction of the article, it plays the three separate letters S, O and S, not the prosign SOS. I just downloaded it from Commons and spent a few minutes fixing it in Audacity (after downloading and installing that on this machine). But then I ran foul of the labyrinthine complexity of uploading a file to Commons - only to be told in the end that, because I hadn't first created a logon for that site, my upload had failed (although my donations would still be welcome ;-). Even if I had succeeded, it appears I had taken a wrong turn somewhere as my upload could not be treated as a modification to Image:SOS.ogg, but would have to be Image:SOS2.ogg or something else. I have the fixed copy here, but of course I can't attach it to this. It only takes a minute to fix - can someone who has already mastered the magic of Commons do the job for us all, please? --Nigelj (talk) 20:09, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't even play the same letters. The three letters S.O.S are ...---... . (Last stop here is sentence full stop.)

The ogg file has ...---.. which would produce SOI.

Petrus4 (talk) 05:42, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Cultural references?

Here in Argentina at least, and probably around the world, SOS in morse code is a popular ring tone (I actually realized when reading this article and saying SOS out loud that I had heard it before). Should this be added? 186.136.144.120 (talk) 01:33, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

I think you'll find that's SMS. -- Ian Dalziel (talk) 07:55, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

SMS ... -- ... sent as three distinct letters. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.78.162.197 (talk) 22:20, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Badly Translated Word

"lesser after "Securité" distress call: "Panne (French for 'Alarm')" spelt "Pan" in English

Panne means breakdown, that is, when something that worked no longer is, or isn't anymore able to (Broken, damaged, out of fuel...) No relation with "Alarm" in this. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-pan . — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.147.137.177 (talk) 00:17, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

I was on the point of making that very correction even before I saw your comment. Certainly 'Alarm' seems to be a poor translation. However, http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/panne# has the maritime definition 3A, <see 'mettre, rester, se tenir en panne; prendre la panne'>. This might be the relevant definition after all; 3B has the 'breakdown' meaning, which I thought to be the appropriate one, but... Comments? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.102.122.2 (talk) 16:36, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

CQD

I believe that the Marconi CQD signal was not sent as individual letters. CQ was sent as a one letter group (-.-.--.-) was the standard “all stations listen” prefix, with D (-..) being sent as a separate letter