CW abbreviation · Greetings & sign-off
GA in Morse code
Good afternoon as a greeting, or go ahead when handing the contact back; context tells you which.
Morse rendering
--. .-
Sent letter-by-letter with standard inter-letter gaps.
What it saves you on the air
This is the whole reason CW abbreviations exist. Sending GA instead of spelling out “Good afternoon / go ahead” cuts 93% of the airtime — 212 dot-units of keying saved every time you send it.
| Speed | GA | “Good afternoon / go ahead” | Saved |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 WPM | 1.6s | 21.1s | 19.6s |
| 20 WPM | 1.0s | 13.7s | 12.7s |
| 25 WPM | 0.8s | 11.0s | 10.2s |
Timed with standard spacing: dit 1 unit, dah 3, letter gap 3, word gap 7. Work out any other speed on the timing calculator.
Meaning
GA — Good afternoon / go ahead
When this is used
Used after roughly local noon. On HF, you'll commonly hear stations exchanging different G* greetings because the propagation path crosses time zones.
Examples
| On the air | Plain English |
|---|---|
| GA TNX FB QSO | Good afternoon, thanks for the fine QSO. |
Sending GA
| Letter | Morse | Units |
|---|---|---|
| G | --. | 9 |
| A | .- | 5 |
With the normal three-unit gaps between letters, GA is 17 units long. It is sent as ordinary letters, not joined like a prosign.
| Speed | 5 WPM | 13 WPM | 20 WPM | 25 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to send | 4.08 s | 1.57 s | 1.02 s | 0.82 s |
What the references say
In the CWops abbreviation list, published by the CW Operators' Club, GA is good afternoon or go ahead, depending on context.
Neither meaning is in the ITU list, which uses K as the invitation to transmit. Read GA as a greeting near the start of a contact and as go ahead at the end of an over.
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