K?HB wrote on Fri 11 May 2007 03:32:

On May 10, 6:20 pm, AF6AY wrote:

Why is the (supposed) laugh on voice expressed as "HI HI."

For the same reason that hams give "59" signal reports instead of
saying "you're loud and clear", for the same reason that they say
"73" instead of "best wishes", and for the same reason that they say
"QSL" instead of "I got that".

I disagree a bit there, having listened to lots of voice
"conversations" and compared them to in-person conversations
without radios. The majority of amateur radio activity is done
solo by a ham using voice, CW, RTTY, data, etc. As such,
many just don't have the direct personal coupling to others
unless they are personal friends. A result of that is the flat,
rather emotionless speech patterns one can hear. They seem
to be talking to other radios, not other human beings.

Other radios don't laugh or cry or express emotions. People do
that. Some people in amateur radio want to emulate the
professionals and assume that pros talk only in flat, emotion-
less manner. That's not always the case when you get beyond
the "data reporting" communications kind of things on
commercial radio. Ahem, I've already been "chewed out" by
an unidentified Radio Kop on HF for daring to express some
slight emotion in my voice. shrug

There seems to be a difference in speech patterns in ham bands
above 30 MHz versus those below. The VHF and up folk tend to
sound more human and have been heard to actually express a
tiny bit of emotion! :-) Maybe that's just here in the southwest;
I haven't taken any scanner with me on cross-country (2K mile)
auto trips in the USA.

These, and "hi hi", are carryovers of
CW "shorthand" and have survived as a natural sort of "insiders
lingo".

Yes, yes, I think I know some of that... :-) I've already adapted
to several kinds of different radio service lingo. My only difficulty
on any of those was at around 2000 feet in a two-place single
engine aircraft with the (bad alternate) instructor hollering in my
right ear on flying the aircraft properly. "Clik, clik," the pilot's
"roger" using the PTT switch...which I "wasn't supposed to know"
according to the instructor. :-)

As a newer ham you may find them unnatural or awkward to
use, and the good news is that everyone will still be happy to snag
your prefix in WPX, even if you don't say TKS ES GL OM HI HI..

TNX, FB OM and roger that. :-) When I figure out how to
pronounce those capitalized letters, I'll use them. HI HI. :-)

Regards, Len AF6AY