Telegraph Codes.

January 23, 2001 8:34 PM

Telegraph Codes. Was doing some searching the other day to remind myself what code traditionally goes at the end of a wire story (it's "-30-" of course) and stumbled upon this gem. Best of all, it's not political.
posted by kindall (4 comments total)

Oh boy. I count six threads since the last mention of a current politician. Obviously, it's time for the MeFi Grudge Match Proposal. Ashcroft vs. Nader. Electrified steel cage deathmatch. Two men enter, one man leaves. No referee. Who wins?But seriously, if there's one thing I learned from this article, it's that communications protocol wars will always be with us. I never knew there were so many telegraph codes.
posted by darukaru at 10:25 PM on January 23, 2001

As to why -30- ends a wire story, it dates back to telegraph messages during the Civil War.

It was common for reporters' telegraphed reports to be cut off from the front, as telegraph lines were often cut by the enemy. To let editors know the end of the story had been transmitted, reporters began sending three-X's X-X-X at the end of their reports. Over time this tradition continued, eventually being translated from XXX to -30 -- the number the 3 roman numerals represented.

Just some useless trivia which may someday win you $64,000 on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire"
posted by darren at 6:24 AM on January 24, 2001

I learned a lot of things from this piece. Never knew you had to learn "click" telegraphy and "tone" telegraphy separately, for instance.

My very first science project in 7th grade was a telegraph so I have a soft spot for all things Morse, though I never went so far as to learn the code.
posted by kindall at 9:20 AM on January 24, 2001

-.- .. -. -.. .- .-.. .-.. / -.-- --- ..- / ... .... --- ..- .-.. -.. / .-.. . .- .-. -. / .. - .-.-.- / .. - / .. ... /
..-. ..- -. / .- -. -.. / .. - / -- .. --. .... - / -.-. --- -- . / .. -. / .... .- -. -.. -.-- / ... --- -- . - .. -- .
posted by thirteen at 9:42 AM on January 24, 2001