Episode: 3922
Title: HPR3922: Silent Key
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr3922/hpr3922.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-25 17:22:33

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This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 3922 for Tuesday the 15th of August 2023.
Today's show is entitled Silent Key.
It is part of the series Ham Radio.
It is hosted by Trey and is about four minutes long.
It carries a clean flag.
The summary is a brief history of the term Silent Key, as applied to amateur radio.
Hello, this is Trey and I'm recording this in the shadow of the loss of a good friend
and mentor who helped guide me in my career and in my hobbies, like electronics, aviation
and amateur radio.
The amateur radio area is what I will be discussing today.
Many terms within amateur radio find their origins from the days of telegraph when operators
would use Morse code to send messages across great distances using wires strung from one
pole to another.
The telegraph key or code key was basically a momentary contact switch which would close
an electrical connection when pressed.
Holding the key down for a short period of time would send a short pulse down the line,
which is referred to as a DIT.
Sometimes the term used was DOT.
This may also be written using the period symbol.
Holding the key down for a bit longer would send a longer pulse down the line called a
DASH, sometimes referred to as a DAW.
And it may be written using the hyphen symbol.
Telegraph operators became a close-knit community even though they were geographically separated.
Often one operator could identify another operator by subtleties in the style or personality
of how they sent their messages.
This was known as the operator's FIST.
Today we would describe it as a behavioral biometric.
As the community of telegraph operators moved around or were replaced, new FISTs would be
identified as new personalities of code sending were tapped out on the telegraph keys.
When an operator passed away it was a loss to the community, and a loss of someone who
might have been befriended remotely by other operators.
The term of respect created for this situation was Silent Key, sent as an abbreviation S-K-C-R-K.
It meant that the particular operator would never send code again.
His telegraph key would be Silent.
This tradition has been carried on among amateur radio operators or HAMS.
This is also a close-knit community of people.
While some may still use Morse code to communicate, referred to as CW for continuous wave, there
are many other forms in use, including voice and digital modes.
But regardless of how we communicated with them, when we lose one of our own, we still
say they are S-K, Silent Key, no longer able to transmit.
Organizations like the amateur radio relay league and QRZ.com try to update their records
when a HAM passes away.
There are also databases like SilentKeyHQ.com, which keep records and memories of deceased
operators.
So it is with great sadness that I have been updating the records from my close friend
and mentor, Kilo Victor IV Yankee Delta, KV4YD.
Thank you for your friendship and support, and for sharing your wisdom over the years.
You will be missed.
Note, there is intentionally five seconds of recorded silence at the end of this recording,
as a moment of silence to remember our Silent keys.
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On the Satellite status, today's show is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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