Signalman 1 & C - Historic Naval Ships Association

Routine precedence. Transmission for relay, of course,would be delayed until all higher precedence traffic iscleared.The date-time group (DTG) indicates theapproximate time a message was readied fortransmission. Normally, the DTG is assigned by thecommunications watch officer or signal officer. TheDTG in figure 3-2 indicates the message was ready fortransmission at about 1933 Greenwich mean time (is thezone suffix) on the 6th day of March.Because the DTG serves as a positive means ofidentification, no DTG should be assigned by anystation to more than one outgoing message. If for somereason you have to assign a DTG, be sure to informthe communications center of the DTG you used.Figure 3-2 has no message instruction element.The use of operating signals and the prosign IX willbe discussed in chapter 4.Address ComponentThe address component of figure 3-2 is FM NQHSTO OHWZ INFO XGHL XMT NFZV. This componentshows who originated the message, the addressee foraction, the addressee for information, and the exemptaddressee. Provision is also made to show which, if any,addressees included in a collective call sign need notreceive the message. (A collective call sign representstwo or more ships, stations, or commands.)The address component of the message isdetermined by the drafter and originator. Communicationspersonnel are authorized to convert theplain-language addressees to call signs or addressgroups when processing messages for transmission.All four prosigns that can be included in theaddress component appear in the example message.The originator's sign, FM, means “The originator ofthis message is indicated by the designationimmediately following.” The prosign for actionaddressee, TO, means “Addressees indicated by thedesignation immediately following are addressed foraction.” The information addressee sign, INFO,followed by call signs, shows that the message is forinformation only.The exempted addressee sign, prosign XMT,means that addressees following XMT are exemptedfrom the collective address. If a collective call is alsoused, the prosign XMT must also appear in the callelement. It appears as the last element in the addresscomponent, following the action and informationaddressees’ designations.If the call element gives all the addressees, theaddress component of a message may be omitted. Inthe example message, if there were no informationaddressees, the call would serve as the address. Theaddress component could then be omitted.PrefixThe prefix of a plaindress message containsaccounting symbols and the group count.Accounting symbols are included in Navy messageswhen a possibility exists that they may be transmittedover commercial facilities. Instructions for the use ofaccounting symbols are found in JANAP 128.The group count of a message is the number ofgroups in the text. In a message, GR followed bynumeral(s) means "This message contains the numberof groups indicated." In a message containing a text of26 words, the group count is written GR26. If themessage were encrypted, the group count would indicatethe number of code groups in the text. The group countnormally appears in the message prefix, but in certaincases may appear in the final instructions. When amessage is transmitted before the group count isdetermined, the prosign GRNC may be used in lieu ofthe group count. The actual group count will then betransmitted in the final instructions and inserted in themessage prefix by the receiving operator.Rules to follow when counting groups are thefollowing:Count groups in the text only.Each sequence of characters uninterrupted by aspace is counted as one group.Punctuation is not counted unless abbreviated orspelled out.Count every word and every continuouscombination of letters, figures, and/or symbols as onegroup.Hyphenated words and hyphenated names, whentransmitted as one word, count as one group.A numerical group count always must be used inencrypted messages. The group count element may beomitted in messages where the text consists of plainlanguage.Long BreakThe long-break prosign, BT, marks the separationbetween the text and other parts of a message. Itimmediately precedes and follows the text. In3-7