Talk:SOS

message: The article states:
"The first ship to transmit an SOS distress call appears to have been the Cunard liner Slavonia on June 10, 1909, according to "Notable Achievements of Wireless" in the September, 1910 Modern Electrics."
and
"The first recorded use of SOS as a distress signal was by the steamer SS Arapahoe on August 11, 1909." 
Which is correct?2.29.91.193 (talk) 19:01, 30 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Americanradiohistory.com has added a number of issues online. "Notable Achievements of Wireless" on page 315 of the September 1910 issue states that the Slavonia transmitted an SOS on June 10, 1909.Thomas H. White (talk) 00:36, 4 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Which ship was first? 

message: Has anyone found a copy of Modern Electrics?  This would be very useful.  I don't see a copy scanned online.  
A search of California newspapers does not show Arapahoe, Slavonia, City of Racine, or Ohio.  The steamship Kentucky
is covered in many of the newspapers.  These early uses of SOS would be sensational news and would "make the papers,"
so why don't we find more?  MikeVdP (talk) 05:28, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Americanradiohistory.com has added a number of issues online. "Notable Achievements of Wireless" on page 315 of the September 1910 issue states that the Slavonia transmitted an SOS on June 10, 1909.Thomas H. White (talk) 00:36, 4 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Modern Electrics

message: My Godfather was a Royal Navy radio man (1938-1945) and he told me that SOS meant Send Out Succour.
SUCCOUR n. aid or assistance that relieves from difficulty or distress
* I read this article in Highlights (the children's magazine) a while back that said it stood for "Sierra Oscar Sierra" but I don't know what that has to do with anything.
:: Sierra means "S", Oscar means "O". The rest of the alphabet has clearly heard words associated (mainly used by radio hams, the police, etc): see  7 3 Gordo 14:08, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's more widely used than that. See NATO phonetic alphabet.--agr 14:16, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

text: From what I can see, the SOS code in and of itself was first proposed by the Germans in 1905. If this is true, then any acronyms associated with SOS would logically be backronyms, simply because it was first concieved in German, not English. --Ourai 17:20, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  SOS 

message: Is there a reason that the SOS-with-overbar is being represented in mathemtical symbols (\overline{\mbox{SOS}} == \overline{\mbox{SOS}}), instead of regular HTML with CSS (SOS == SOS)?
--Psiphiorg 15:43, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: None whatsoever, from what I can see. Having changed the overbar instances from <math> to , and it does indeed look better, especially since it does not mess with the line spacing. Thanks for having pointed that out! --Ourai 17:20, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The CSS version won't render for visitors with no CSS capability, or with CSS turned off. Andy Mabbett 15:59, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Overbar format 

message: SOS is also used in nursing - si opus sit - means if there be need, and means a doctor has agreed that medicine can be given if a nurse sees fit.Malick78 19:04, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Nursing

message: s.o.s. is a Latin abbreviation not only used in nursing meaning "si opus sit", translation: "if there is need", "if occasion require", "if necessary" (source: http://www.herbdatanz.com/pharmaceutical_latin_abbreviations.htm). I don't know if this has anything to do with the naval term, but shouldn't this be in the article somewhere?
: Yes, it should be added to the disambiguation list. Feel free. --78.86.173.96 (talk) 19:22, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Latin Abbreviation 

message: the paragraph starts "Prior to the development of peepee radio communication"  what is peepee radio?  or does it predate poopoo television...? 76.217.120.247 14:56, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  under "early developments" 

message: Does "— — — · · ·  — — — " have any special meaning? It seems to me that a panicked or novice user might transpose the code thus, and it would be useful to have it carry the same "emergency" meaning. Andy Mabbett 15:58, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It is sent out on continuous stream: "— — — · · · — — — · · · — — — · · · — — — · · ·", so it doesn't really matter anyway if you start it in wrong beeps. 82.131.5.123 (talk) 18:51, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reverse code 

message: I've added a bit about XXX (or the words Pan Pan Pan if used in Radiotelephony).  These were used for issues of ship or invidual safety.  A ship losing a propeller way out at sea would use this and not an SOS.
I've also added a bit on how an SOS would actually be sent.  Most people think and SOS message is just a series of SOSs sent by morse.
My source for this addition is my own experience as a Radio Operator at sea both in the Royal and Merchant Navies.  The same information is also contained in  the 'Post Office Handbook for Radio Operators' published by HMSO.
Watchkeeper (talk) 20:05, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sending an SOS 

message: I have changed the rather odd heading "SOS created in Germany" to "Formalization." The fact that SOS's formulation was in Germany is notable, but it's not very relevant to the information being presented. The sense of the heading also didn't follow on from the previous section ("Early developments"). --Gilgongo (talk) 19:49, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: "SOS created in Germany" section

message: Here in Argentina at least, and probably around the world, SOS in morse code is a popular ring tone (I actually realized when reading this article and saying SOS out loud that I had heard it before). Should this be added?
186.136.144.120 (talk) 01:33, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I think you'll find that's SMS. -- Ian Dalziel (talk) 07:55, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cultural references? 

message: "lesser after "Securité" distress call: "Panne (French for 'Alarm')" spelt "Pan" in English
Panne means breakdown, that is, when something that worked no longer is, or isn't anymore able to (Broken, damaged, out of fuel...) No relation with "Alarm" in this.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-pan .  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.147.137.177 (talk) 00:17, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Badly Translated Word 

message: I believe that the Marconi CQD signal was not sent as individual letters. Rather, the CQ_(call), CQ sent as a one letter group (– · – · – – · – ) being the standard “calling all stations” prefix, was followed by D (– · · ) being sent as a separate letter. RichardRegal (talk) 19:59, 18 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: CQD

message: The special distress signal (short short short long long long short short short, no letter breaks) does not actually appear to be a part of M.1667 International Morse Code as this article claims; at least not in the 2009 version. That standard does not make a distinction between any special distress code and the sequence of letters "s o s" (assuming that sequence is still recognized as distress). Since I have no first-hand knowledge I am not removing the claims right now, but I am adding citation-needed tags and will remove them at some point in the future if nobody can verify. --JCipriani (talk) 23:52, 1 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  SOS Prosign isn't part of International Morse Code? 

message: Can anyone explain why the article name and some instances of SOS have a bar over them?
Might it also be worthy of explaining this in the article as I'm sure I'm not only one wondering!?
--94.175.140.196 (talk) 11:00, 22 June 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: It's explained in the first sentence of the lead, and the fourth paragraph of "Formaization"! Ian Dalziel (talk) 11:50, 22 June 2018 (UTC)

text: The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 
The result of the move request was: Procedural close. This article is already at SOS. The overline you are seeing is actually being generated by the DISPLAYTITLE feature (see WP:DISPLAYTITLE). Editors could either be bold and remove the line near the top of the article that reads  or continue the above discussion.  Zzyzx11 (talk) 07:58, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

text: SOS →  – That is the WP:COMMONNAME. In fact, I've never seen SOS spelt with an overline off-Wikipedia. Yes, never, ever. Which also means that the current title is WP:MADEUP. 122.60.65.44 (talk) 06:22, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

text: The discussion above is closed.  Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Remove the overline from all instances of SOS. No one uses SOS with an overline off-wiki and if you do a search for sources you will see that none of them use the overline. This means that the current situation is not WP:VERIFIABLE. 122.61.73.44 (talk) 01:30, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

text: Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the  template. RudolfRed (talk) 04:17, 13 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why does it have an overbar 

message: :The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 
The result of the move request was: Procedural close. This article is already at SOS. The overline you are seeing is actually being generated by the DISPLAYTITLE feature (see WP:DISPLAYTITLE). Editors could either be bold and remove the line near the top of the article that reads  or continue the above discussion.  Zzyzx11 (talk) 07:58, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: SOS →  – That is the WP:COMMONNAME. In fact, I've never seen SOS spelt with an overline off-Wikipedia. Yes, never, ever. Which also means that the current title is WP:MADEUP. 122.60.65.44 (talk) 06:22, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

text: The discussion above is closed.  Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Remove the overline from all instances of SOS. No one uses SOS with an overline off-wiki and if you do a search for sources you will see that none of them use the overline. This means that the current situation is not WP:VERIFIABLE. 122.61.73.44 (talk) 01:30, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

text: Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the  template. RudolfRed (talk) 04:17, 13 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested move 7 January 2021 

message: The flashlight in the video sends ... --- ..., not ...---.... My flashlight gets it wrong, too. I asked the seller for a replacement once they fix it. Darsie42 (talk) 01:32, 7 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flashlight gets it wrong 

message: Bold edit to remove all overbars () in running text.  I don't see reliable secondary sources doing it, and Wikipedia should not either.  A short explanation was kept in the lead; this should be sufficient. 162 etc. (talk) 20:14, 3 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Overbar