British naval signal and letter flags codified 1817.
Morse code from 1840s. Ham radio still uses it when signal took weak fir voice. Proficiency was required for a ham license until 2006.
Morse code from 1840s. Ham radio still uses it when signal took weak fir voice. Proficiency was required for a ham license until 2006.
Each team of four came up with their own signaling method, trying to balance how many bits were transmitted with each symbol with how quickly we could encode/decode the message.
Binoculars were not allowed. We were outside, so we didn't know how windy it would be.
I seem to recall on my team, we were sending two bits per symbol. I think it was just a large cardboard box, we colored each of the four flaps visually distinct, then unfolded one of the flaps for each symbol.
I don't recall a single team thinking to re-purpose naval flags.
Duh.
Naval flags would be higher bandwidth if you could pre-arrange a modest-sized dictionary of the words and phrases you’d need.
https://www.navalgazing.net/Signalling-Part-1 is a good read.