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
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