GE>> I was under the impression that Big-5 used to be used in ftn
 GE>> messages.

 HR>> No. Not translateable.

 GE> What do you mean by 'translateable'?

 HR> Translating from one charset to another.

 GE> What is not 'translateable'?

 HR> Other charsets below listed.

I still don't understand what you mean. 

Do you mean that IBMPC, ASCII, LATIN-1 and/or MAC are not translateable? 

Into what are they not translateable? Into Big-5?


 GE> As far as I know there are currently no FTS documents specifying
 GE> character set usage in ftn messages.

 HR> Read fsc-0054.004 - The CHARSET proposal.

First, FSC-54 is not a FTS document. It is a proposal that has not yet been
given FTS status. I agree that the basic ideas in FSC-54 are in general use
and I hope we'll see an FTS based on FSC-54 (or based on FSP-1013 which in
turn is based on FSC-54) in the not too distant future.

Second, FSC-54 mentions several character sets that you didn't list:

 HR> There are only 

 HR>  "IBMPC",   
 HR>  "ASCII"
 HR>  "LATIN-1"
 HR>  "MAC"

 HR> defined in FTSC. 

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