Making Voice Radio Communications Easier...

[Jonas]

Making Voice Radio Communications Easier...

OK, you’re communicating voice mode on the amateur bands, CB, or maybe just an inexpensive pair of walkie-talkies - you're transmitting at low power, or the band conditions are lousy, or your radios are about at the edge of their effective range or any combination thereof. You’re trying to get a message from your station to another station or the other station’s trying to get a message to you, and you both are having a rough time communicating. Here is the standard phonetic alphabet and the standard pro-words which every radio operator should be familiar with and use properly. These may not increase your transmitting power, make propagation better, or give your radios greater range, but they sure make communicating easier.

Phonetic Alphabet
A – Alpha – pronounced AL-fa
B - Bravo
C - Charlie
D - Delta
E – Echo – pronounced ECK-oh
F - Foxtrot
G - Golf
H - Hotel
I – India -
J - Juliet
K – Kilo – pronounced KEE-low
L – Lima – pronounced LEE-ma
M - Mike
N - November
O - Oscar
P – Papa – pronounced pa-PA
Q – Quebec – pronounced KEE-beck
R - Romeo
S - Sierra
T - Tango
U - Uniform
V - Victor
W - Whiskey
X - X-Ray
Y - Yankee
Z – Zulu

Ø - Zero (always written with the stroke through)
1 – One – pronounced WUN
2 - Two
3 – Three – pronounced TREE
4 – Four – pronounced FO-WER
5 – Five – pronounced FIFE
6 - Six
7 - Seven
8 – Eight – pronounced ATE
9 – Nine – pronounced NINER
Decimal point – pronounced POINT
Period – pronounced STOP (and written as "X")

Pro-words
“This Is” – the next words are my call-sign/name/identifier
“Figures” – my next words will be numbers, not letters
“I Spell” – I will spell out the next word letter by letter phonetically
“Affirmative” – Yes
“Negative” - No
“Say Twice” - request that broadcasting station say each word twice
“Say Again” - request that broadcasting station repeat last transmission
"Switch and answer" - change your frequency/channel to XXX and we'll resume contact on that frequency/channel.
“Roger” – I understand
“Wilco” – I understand and will comply
“Over” – Now it’s your turn to talk
“Out” – I’m through with this conversation and I’m turning off my radio

Other Prowords:
"Break" or "Break Break" - in Amateur Radio this signifies an emergency and is not used for any other purpose.
"Mayday" - emergency call when there is immediate danger to life. In most countries a false "Mayday" call comes with steep fines and imprisonment.
"Relay" - used only when you can hear two stations trying to contact each other, but the other stations cannot hear each other. You will relay information from one to another.
"Repeat" - not used on civilian radio. In the military, it requests that the artillery unit fire another salvo right where the last salvo landed.
"Roger" and "Wilco" are never used together. Neither are "Over" and "Out" despite what we've all seen in the movies.

Common Abbreviations:
From the old days of Morse code, but still widely used today.
73 - best wishes
88 - love and kisses
YL - young (and unmarried) lady
XYL - young and married lady
*note - ALL female radio operators, regardless of age, are either YLs or XYLs!

Finally, much to the dismay of us Texans, there is no official use of the pronoun "Y'all" in radio!