3 ms·
Maybe I'm missing something, but with the Greek system why did they need to use draining water as a time-keeping method? Why not, after some acknowledgement seq
by nkrisc 7y ago
Maybe I'm missing something, but with the Greek system why did they need to use draining water as a time-keeping method? Why not, after some acknowledgement sequence, does the signaler not simply wave the touch a specific number of times which the receiver could use to correlate with a predetermined list of possible messages?
For example, signaler holds touch aloft continuously. Receiver notices and does the same to acknowledge. Signaler now waves the touch seven times. Receiver checks chart for which message 7 waves correlates to. Is that not effectively the same as the described method in the article but with less room for error due to timing?
You also wouldn't need to keep the devices themselves calibrated, as if one drained faster than the other, you'll have a problem. You only need a mutually agreed upon chart of messages which is already a requirement with the water method.
Basically, semaphore. Why not just semaphore? What is the advantage to their method? Is the timing method maybe easier if you were dealing with, say, 50 messages on the vessel? As opposed to coming up with a way to encode 50 different messages?
- rtkwe 7y agoLight on or off is a clear signal over a much longer distance than a light moving only a few feet. A simple candle can be seen a very long distance on a dark night but just moving it back and forth gets lost. There were no means of visual magnification available which is what makes semaphore possible over usable distances.
- ncmncm 7y agoSo, instead of waving the torch in the open you wave it next to a wall so it appears to go on and off. Same question.
- nkrisc 7y agoI thought the same as well. Clearly the ancient Greeks weren't morons so there's probably a reason they did it the way they did. Thinking about it more, their system is probably much easier for a novice to use, or some random soldier grabbed for signal duty. There's no need to count and keep track of torch waves. The synchronization protocol seems pretty simple and the process afterwards is equally simple. Hell, your soldier doesn't even need to know how to count, if that was even a problem for the Greeks.
- rtkwe 7y agoNow we need a wall on this random hilltop we're signaling from too. Fundamentally, a simpler signal is easier to decode and this only relies on sending two signals start and stop to encode many signals.