THE RST SYSTEM

Readability

1--Unreadable

2--Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable.

3--Readable with considerable difficulty.

4--Readable with practically no difficulty.

5--Perfectly readable.

Strength (Signal strength can be read from the S meter when receiving.)

1--Faint signals, barely perceptible.

2--Very weak signals.

3--Weak signals.

4--Fair signals.

5--Fairly good signals.

6--Good signals.

7--Moderately strong signals.

8--Strong signals.

9--Extremely strong signals.

Tone

1--Sixty cycle ac or less, very rough and broad.

2--Very rough ac, very harsh and broad.

3--Rough ac tone, rectified but not filtered.

4--Rough note, some trace of filtering.

5--Filtered rectified ac but strongly ripple-modulated.

6--Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation.

7--Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation.

8--Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation.

9--Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind.

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· Signal reports are exchanged when Ham Radio operators contact each other.

· For Morse code (CW) communications, all three are used. A very good signal report would be 599.

· For voice communications, only readability and strength are used. A very good signal report would be 59.