Some QST Abbreviations Used in Text and Drawings
November 1966 QST Article |
November 1966 QST
 Table
of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
QST, published December 1915 - present (visit ARRL
for info). All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
|
Grammar
and formatting standards have changed over time. As technology evolves
and society devolves, things like abbreviations, use of capital
letters, the 'verbization' of nouns (e.g., 'verbization'), interchanging
of homophones (e.g., 'their' and 'there'), and the growingly popular
offense of eliminating the space between a number and its associated
unit (e.g., '914MHz' vs. '914 MHz') are becoming more prevalent.
Look at nearly any press release or datasheet from a component manufacturer
in the past year and you will notice the number-unit change (I correct
many of the ones I post on RF Cafe). Some publishers (NPR) are particularly
offensive at taking liberties (aka laziness) and others (New York Times)
are stalwart standard bearers (good for them). I see many examples
during my daily search for technical headlines. We have gotten accustomed
to many changes, and some have been around so long that most people
have never seen the former usage. Since I post a lot of articles
from vintage editions of the ARRL's QST magazine, I though
it might be instructive to include this list of common abbreviations
used in the 1930s through 1960s (the years I post). Most notable
is the use of periods between letters and lower case vs. upper case
letters as with 'a.m.' (AM) and 'r.f.' (RF).
Note: If you use Visio software, you might
be interested in my
Visio Stencils that includes schematic symbols used in the ARRL
Handbook.Some QST Abbreviations Used in Text and Drawings
A., a., amp. - amperes
a.c. -
alternating current
a.f. - audio frequency
a.g.c. - automatic gain control
a.m. - amplitude modulation
amp. - amplifier
ant. - antenna
AREC -
Amateur Radio Emergency Corps
ARPPSC - Amateur Radio
Public Service Corps
aux. - auxiliary
a.v.c.- automatic
volume control
bal. - balanced
BC - broadcast
BCI - broadcast interference
BCL - broadcast listener
b.f.o. - beat-frequency oscillator
BPL - Brass Pounders
League
cath. - cathode
c.d. - civil defense
c.d. - Civil Defense (agency)
CD - Communication Dept.
(ARRL)
c.f.m. - cubic feet per minute
ckt. - circuit
coax - coaxial cable or connector
conv. - converter
CP - code proficiency
c.p.s. - cycles per second
c.t. - center tap
c.w. - continuous wave (radiotelegraphy)
cy. - cycles
db. - decibel(s)
db.m. - db. above
1 milliwatt
d.c. - direct current
d.p.d.t. - double-pole,
double-throw
d.p.s.t. - double-pole, single-throw
d.s.b. - double sideband
DX - distance
DXCC
- DX Century Club
EC - Emergency Coordinator
el.
- element
e.m.f. - electromotive force
Enam. - enameled
fax - facsimile
FCC - Federal Commuuications Commission
FD - Field Day
fil. - filament
f.m. -frequency
modulation
freq. - frequency
Gc. - gigacycle
gnd. - ground
h., hy. - henry(s)
h.f. - high frequency
htr. - heater
h.v. - high voltage
i.f. - intermediate
Frequency
K - thousand
kc. - kilocycles
kw.
- kilowatt(s)
l.f. -low frequency
l.u.f. - lowest
usable frequency
l.v. -low voltage
m. - meters
ma. - milliamperes
max. - maximum
Mc. - megacycles
m.f. - medium frequency
mho - millihenrys
mic.,
mike - microphone
mix. - mixer
m.u.f. - maximum
usable frequency
mv. - millivolts |
n.f.m. - narrow-band frequency modulation
NTS - National Traffic System
o.d. - outside diameter
OES - Official Experimental Station
OO - Official
Observer
OPS - Official Phone Station
ORS - Official
Relay Station
osc. - oscillator
OVS - Official V.H.F.
Station
PAM - Phone Activities Manager
p.e.p, -
peak envelope power
pf. - picofarad (micromicrofarads
)
p.p. - push-pull
pri. - primary
pwr. - power
RACES - Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
revr.,
rec. - receiver
rect. - rectifier
reg. - regulated,
regulation
r.f.. - radio frequency
r.f.c. - radio-frequency
choke
RM - Route Manager
RO - Radio Officer (civil
defense)
RST - Readability-Strength-Tone
RTTY -
radioteletype
s.a.s.e. - self-addresed stamped envelope
SCM - Section Communications Manager
SEC - Section
Emergency Coordinator
sec. - secondary
sig. - signal
s.p.d.t. - single-pole, double-throw
s.p.s.t. -
single-pole, single-throw
SS - Sweepstakes
s.s.b.
- single sideband
s.w.l. - short-wave listener
s.w.r.
- standing-wave ratio
t. - turns
temp. - temperature
t.p.i. - turns per inch
t.r. - transmit-receive
t.r.f. - tuned radio frequency
TV - television
TVI - television interference
u.h.f. - ultra-high
frequency
v.f.o. - variable-frequency oscillator
v.h.f. - very-high frequency
v.o.m. - volt-ohm-milliammeter
VOX - voice-operated break-in
v.t.v.m. - vacuum
tube voltmeter
VXO - variable crystal oscillator
WAC - Worked All Continents
WAS - Worked All States
w.p.m. - words per minute
xtal. - crystal
µf., µh.
- microfarads, microhenrys |
Posted 3/12/2013
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