Talk:Semaphore

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Contents

[edit] Article split?

The first half of the article deals with visual communication by means of movable bars. The next section deals with the wig-wag flags used at sea. They are both referred to as semaphore, aren't they? It seems to me a person interested in one system but not the other would still be able to find what he or she is looking for. I like the article's organization the way it is, so I vote against a split. It's not excessively long, anyway. --Cbdorsett 10:59, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm for it, flage semaphore is completely different from the other (lesser known?) semaphore.--Redlock 01:22, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Semaphore code space

This is how I am determining how many symbols are possible in a flag semaphore scheme. "Across" means the arm is extended across the torso.

Right arm → Up and across
(I)		 Up
(II)		 Out and up
(III)		 Out straight
(IV)		 Out and down
(V)		 Down
(VI)		 Down and across
(VII)
Left arm ↓
Up and across
(VIII)		 Looks like U. Flags would overlap at a distance. Flags would overlap.
O
I		 Looks like C. Looks like Cancel.
Up
(IX)		 Flags would overlap at a distance.
T
P
K		 Looks like D.
Out and up
(X)		 Flags would overlap.
Numeric
U
Q
L
E		 Looks like X.
Out straight
(XI)
W
J
Y
R
M
F
Z
Out and down
(XII)
X
V
Cancel
S
N
G		 Flags would overlap.
Down
(XIII)		 Looks like E.
D
C
B
A
Rest		 Looks like G; flags would overlap at a distance.
Down and across
(XIV)		 Looks like L. Looks like I.
H		 Flags would overlap. Looks like A; flags would overlap at a distance. Looks like N.

The signal for Error is not shown here, as the flags are in motion for that signal, while for all other signals, the flags are held still.

--  Denelson83  05:45, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References in fiction --> Lord of the Rings

I think that semaphores where used in one of the Lord of the Rings novels/movies, although I need to verify this. Any LoTR buffs? GChriss 15:02, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

There was a series of beacons in The Return of the King, which are a much simpler type of 'optical telegraph'. JeffUK 10:52, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reason for rewrite

edit summary by user:diza

no order ,one need to finish this article in order to know what it is about. mechnical arms are mentioned only 2-3 paragraph after they are introduced via ancient name ..etc'.)

--Dodo bird 18:41, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Total rewrite

I gave this article a total rewrite as per flag --DV8 2XL 04:06, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

great work man ! :) --Procrastinating@talk2me 08:46, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
Thanks. --DV8 2XL 10:00, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Relative Costs section

Where does the information in the section "Relative Costs' come from?
There's some missing context here - for instance, I presume these figures are adjusted in line with inflation, given the size of the wages in comparison with the "twenty five sous per day" described in the previous paragraph?
The timing "at most ten hours a day" is contradicted by the previous paragraph (where it says that the signalmen must work "at present from half past three till half past eight"). --David Edgar 11:39, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] External Link Cleanup

Hello, I'm just doing a cleanup of the external links for this article. Below are the entries I removed:

Most of these have nothing to do with semaphore, and instead are talking about marine signalling flags. Two of them are dead links, and one of them is merely a set of images identical in function to those in the article. The two pages Semaphore (comunication) and Semaphore (communication) are both based on the same article but have been copyedited into two different ways. They should be merged. -- JeLuF 10:17 Dec 31, 2002 (UTC)

I'm not sure we need disambiguation for this anyway -- see Talk:Semaphore -- Tarquin 10:28 Dec 31, 2002 (UTC)

A "symbol" and "code" are different things. A "code" is a scheme to translate a string of "symbols" into natural language. I fixed the article. Also, the title is misspelled- "communication" has two "m"s. I don't have time to fix it. (gotta go).

I have found a great website (personal page) about french optical telegraph history. The Chappe telegraph site contains very interesting materials. I am going to contact the author to propose him to help writing the optical telegraph article. -- Valery Beaud


I think this page needs to be merged with optical communication. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 21:09, 9 Jun 2004 (UTC)

196 symbols is equivalent to a (log(196) / log(2) =) 7.615-bit number. If 36 of these could be sent in 32 minutes, that is a signalling rate equivalent to 36*7.615 bits / 32 minutes = 0.143 bits per second. Not sure if this is relevant enough to put in. - Omegatron 03:04, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Copyrighted signals?

90.241.22.219, in their January 9th, removed the signals for X, Y and Z claiming they were "copyrighted". I don't think flag positions can be. Shouldn't that edit be undone? — Jacobo 14:28, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I put them back. --David Edgar 14:46, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
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