Radio Jargon
Introduction
This essay describes some voice jargon used by amateur radio operators (hams); some of these terms may also be used in other radio services. If known, the origion of the terms is described.
Concept: Message Received
Term: Roger
When sending morse code, hams and others have—for a long time—sent just the letter "R". According to a web page from the U.S. Naval Historical Center, "R" in historical phonetic alphabets has been spoken as Rush(1913), Roger(1927), Roger(1938), Roger(World War II), and Romeo(1957-present). Since the phonetic for "R" was Roger during most of the transition from morse code to voice in military communications, it seems reasonable to surmise that the morse code meaning for "R" (message received) was adopted in voice communications, and spoken as Roger. By the time the phonetic was changed, Roger was so strongly associated with the meaning "message received" that it was retained with that meaning, and the phonetic Romeo meant only the letter "R".
Last updated 2008-7-11