Somerton Man: What the larger letters of the code mean, EUREKA?

Does a WW2 Radio Manual Hold The Answer?

The recent posts have focused once again on the presence of micro writing hidden beneath the larger letters found on the 'code' page. These posts contained numerous images that clearly show micro writing is present in each of the larger letters and in fact is also present beneath the lines across the page. For the record, this was the first time where such a use of micro writing has been discovered, to my knowledge no one has found an example before, at least publicly.

Back to the lines! One of those lines was always considered to indicate that whoever wrote the letters down had made a mistake and had simply crossed out the line. No explanation was given for the two lines with an X at one end that sits around the centre of the page although it was part of a recognised symbol used by radio operators to indicate a separation point between messages; the full symbol is two joined lines with X at each end where they crossed over.

The Clue
This provided a clue to the code page and the large letter meanings, what if all we see on the code page in terms of large letters were radio operators 'Pro Signs' short codes for a number of elements of all radio messages?

Strange M's & The Letter V
Looking at the 'code page' the first thing that may strike you is the use of the letter M on each of the first 4 lines of the code. You should notice how they are different styles, the first and third Ms are quite stylised, unusual in form whilst the second and fourth Ms are what you could call standard in form.

As you will read, it now appears possible that the first stylised M followed by an R could mean that this was a message received by the holder of the book. The second, standard shaped M, could indicate that this line was transmitted by the holder. The same theory applies to the Ms in the third and fourth lines, receiver then sender. Of course, this is a first attempt at understanding the nature of the M's and more needs to be done to either confirm it or consider alternatives.

The first letter in the last line is a letter V. Again as you will read, the V is the from line, this would indicate who sent it. That would be interesting to know, indeed it all will be.

We know that each of these letters contained micro letters and numbers and it now looks like we know at least the purpose behind each of the 5 lines. The next step is to further clean up the indiviual micro code letters and numbers within each of the larger letters, now perhaps we're getting somewhere.

A Eureka Moment..
A US radio field manual from WW2 may provide some more answers.
(View this manual here. When you read it, the first page describes how this version supersedes earlier ones, the search is on for copies of these, they could provide even more insight. Let us know if you find copies.)

Within the manual we find the following 'Pro Signs':
A means 'The originator of this message is indicated by the call sign immediately following'
AB in a sequence means 'All Before'
B means 'More to follow'
C means 'Correct' or, 'The following is the correct version'
D means 'Deferred'
G means 'Repeat back'
N means 'Not received'
O means 'Urgent'
P means 'Priority'
R means 'Received'
T means 'Transmit to..'
V means 'From'

If the last two letters of the code are not AB but AR then that would mean 'This is the end of my transmission to you and no response is required or expected'

What this may mean within the context of the 'code page' is not exactly clear at this time but it does seem possible that the larger letter may have direct relevance to the smaller micro contents of that letter. For example the letter 'C' at the end of line 4 could be saying 'the micro code contents of this letter is the correct version' and another example could be the letter 'P', which occurs twice in line 3, could mean, 'the micro code in this letter is a priority'.

Stay tuned! There's much more to follow and you read it here first!

To borrow a phrase, what we have found here is not the cure, but it does show us symptoms not seen recognised before, they were hidden in plain sight.

Coming soon, 'How the 'code' was 'Transmitted' not how you may be thinking..