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

Tom, (I thought I'd post to the group since it's relevant)

I'm not disagreeing with you. While I know more than my fair share about
carrier ops,
that's the first I've ever heard about 5x5 originating from there. What
I do know for a
fact is that 5x5 has been used (forever) as an indication of signal
strength and clarity
by radiomen and Ham operators. In particular when almost all long range
communications
were conducted with morse, a system of brevity for reception
confirmation was required
to ensure receipt of radio messages, in particular when antennas had to
be tweaked to
get the right bounce of the atmosphere or whatever. (Something still
done in SPECOPS
HF/VHF long range commo) It is possible that pilots, themselves required
to do much
"work' in the radio/communications world, could have started spreading
the term around
for other uses. In fact five by five now has widespread usage in all
kinds of ways but
usually means everythings peachy. (more or less) <g>

Thomas Barclay wrote:

> Los spake thusly upon matters weighty:
>
> If you disagree, why would it be five by five - where do the fives
> come from? I was under the impression this started in the Aircraft
> Carrier world and the expression spread from there to more general
> RTO to mean 'loud and clear' or 'everything a-okay'. Please suggest
> why the phrase five by five would have any other meaning or any
> special meaning in comms? At least the Aircraft Carrier explanation
> of a 10x10 grid makes sense. Then 5x5 is dead on, everything is fine.
> I haven't seen an equally complete or satisfactory explanation of why
> this would have originated in the comms environment. I'm not saying
> it didn't, but if it did I'd sure like to know its genesis and the
> reasoning behind this phrase.
>
> Thomas.
>
> > 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.
> > >
> > > /************************************************
> > > Thomas Barclay
> > > Voice: (613) 831-2018 x 4009
> > > Fax: (613) 831-8255
> > >
> > >  "C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot.	C++ makes
> > >  it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg."
> > >  -Bjarne Stroustrup
> > > **************************************************/
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> /************************************************
> Thomas Barclay
> Voice: (613) 831-2018 x 4009
> Fax: (613) 831-8255
>
>  "C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot.  C++ makes
>  it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg."
>  -Bjarne Stroustrup
> **************************************************/