Talk:Letter beacon
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[edit] Original research
This article would benefit from citations to reliable independent sources. As is, it appears to be original research. Edison 22:06, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
- I agree, but that might be difficult. A google search comes up with a lot of hits, but most are message boards and newsletters related to SWR hobbyists, not sure how RS those would be. Digging back through the hits, I haven't seen any yet that are outright RS. It has been suggested that this article be merged with Numbers station, which I endorse, but the sourcing and verifiability problems will still need to be addressed. - Crockspot 16:34, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
- I've added the appropriate merge tags and boilerplate text.--Rosicrucian 19:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
- Oppose merge. The distinction between the terms should be obvious, even to non-shortwave enthusiasts, simply from reading both articles. A numbers station typically transmits groups of apparently random numbers, read usually by what seem to be recorded voices, at what appear to be scheduled times. A letter beacon transmits a single letter of Morse code continuously. After the upcoming U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, I may be able to source at least some of the information in this article (I have a book from the 1980s that documents both types of broadcast; we'll see how RS it is). --Tkynerd 21:30, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
- That would be very helpful. The only book I found on Amazon mentioning this phenomenon was a compendium of "Big Mysteries" from the 80's, and it didn't look like much mention was made in it. I don't have a complete hardon for merging this article. Having some sources would make it stand on its own legs a little better. Crockspot 18:17, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
- Well, that would be my source (the book is called Big Secrets and is by William Poundstone). :-( I'm sure there are better sources out there (e.g., books specifically about "secret" broadcasts, of which there are several, but I don't own any), but there may be enough material in Big Secrets to do. I didn't have a chance to work on this over the weekend (preoccupied by an apparently dying hard drive), but I'll try to get to it tonight or tomorrow. --Tkynerd 15:28, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
- That would be very helpful. The only book I found on Amazon mentioning this phenomenon was a compendium of "Big Mysteries" from the 80's, and it didn't look like much mention was made in it. I don't have a complete hardon for merging this article. Having some sources would make it stand on its own legs a little better. Crockspot 18:17, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
- Oppose merge. The distinction between the terms should be obvious, even to non-shortwave enthusiasts, simply from reading both articles. A numbers station typically transmits groups of apparently random numbers, read usually by what seem to be recorded voices, at what appear to be scheduled times. A letter beacon transmits a single letter of Morse code continuously. After the upcoming U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, I may be able to source at least some of the information in this article (I have a book from the 1980s that documents both types of broadcast; we'll see how RS it is). --Tkynerd 21:30, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
- I've added the appropriate merge tags and boilerplate text.--Rosicrucian 19:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
