RE: Meaning and origin of term I've heard in a few movies

5 by 5 refers to the first 2 of 3 elements of a radio signal report. The
3
elements are R - readability, S - strength and T - tone, hence the
report is
often known as an RST report. The R ranges from 0 to 5 whilst S & T
elements
range from 0 to 9. You will rarely here of the tone element as this
refers
to telegraphy (morse, baudot etc) rather than telephony (speech).
Incidently
if anyone gives a report of R0 or S0 they don't know what they are
talking
about as these mean tottally unreadable and no signal respectively so
they
couldn't have been received in the first place. R5 is a rare occurence -
perfect readability and S9 is a very strong signal. The reports are
heavily
used in ham radio and I believe also in CB and PMR applications.

Craig Mitchell

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nathan Pettigrew [mailto:nathanp@MICROSOFT.com]
> Sent: 01 September 1998 16:50
> To: FTGZG-L@bolton. ac. uk (E-mail)
> Subject: Meaning and origin of term I've heard in a few movies
>
>
> 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.
>
> Thanks,
> Nathan
>
>