The R-S-T System

Readability
1 Unreadable
2 Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable.
3 Readable with considerable difficulty.
4 Readable with practically no difficulty.
5 Perfectly readable.
Signal Strength
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.

If the signal has the characteristic steadiness of crystal control, add the letter x to the RST report. If there is a chirp, the letter c may be added to so indicate. Similarly for a click, add k. This reporting system is used on both CW and voice, except that the "tone" report is left out on voice.

An ascii version of this table

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