RE: [OT] Re: Meaning and origin of term I've heard in a few movies

Yes, Los is completely correct. This is a comms code to verify strength
and
clarity of signal. This was originally before strength signal LEDs etc.
All
people who used radio comms on a regular basis (such as pilots,sailors)
became familiar with the term and it became common practice to rate
anything
achieved with a 100% success to be 5X5. the trick was of course learning
the
degrees of quality eg if 5x5 is clear and strong, what exactly does 4x3
sound like? I had a comms instructor who swore he could tell the
difference
and rate each signal accordingly and accurately. But then he was
artillery
and I don't believe he could hear much at all let alone the difference
between signals!!

On shorthands, it took me a little while to understand what Yanks meant
by
24,7. And then every time I turned on the TV somebody was using the
term!

John Shoemark

> While this is a correct interpretation of what the term means in
> Aliens, it is not
> the original meaning of the term, which comes from communications.
>
> Los
>
> Thomas Barclay wrote:
>
> > Nathan spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > Was watching Event Horizon last night and kept hearing the
> crew use the term
> > > "five by five".  It seemed to indicate that everything is
> working fine.  I
> > > thought that I've also heard the term in another SF movie
> (Aliens, maybe?).
> > > I was wondering if anyone out there could say what the term
> means (five by
> > > five what?) and where it came from.
> >
> > Pilots landing on Aircraft carriers come in on a virtual 10x10 grid
> > to let the air traffic guys and the guys on the deck  know if they
> > are low/hi/off left/off right. 5x5 is dead centre on the grid. Now
> > when people ask "what's your status?", 5 by 5 is now taken to mean
> > all systems a-ok. The Colonial Marine dropship pilot in Aliens uses
> > the phrase "In the groove, five by five." to indicate that the
> > dropship is on the correct approach vector and everything looks
good.
> >
> > Tom.