New Phonetics?
I'm seeing a confusing (for me) trend: people using different words for phonetics than the "standard". Like "America Florida 6 Canada Mexico Japan". Huh??? I heard a guy call "CQ Japan" - was he looking for someone from Japan, or with J in their callsign?
Or did they change it and not tell me?
druid
VA7LAS - Vernon Antartica 7 Laughing At Sailboats
There's 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't.
A lot of stations use what they think are better phonetics, usually Americans (and a few Italians).
Never hear a Russian using anything other than the agreed phonetics and a lot of them don't even speak English...
I have heard the usage alter according to the station they are calling, for example:-
For calling a U.S. station they would say Florida
For a European station they would say Foxtrot
The station calling "CQ Japan" was indeed looking for a Japanese contact.
There's no requirement to use any particular set of phonetics in amateur radio here in the US. Nor is there any requirement to use ANY phonetics at all. We MAY use phonetics, whether we say "Alfa Bravo Charlie" or "Aeolian Bdellium Catarrh".
There was a guy in Seattle, W7OTT, who would identify and turn the QSO over to the other operator by saying "This is W 7 One Two Three, go." Perfectly legal and quite amusing.
73
Pat K7KBN
Semper ubi sub ubi.
The NATO phonetic alphabet is a recommendation, not a requirement. I've found through experience that 'Golf Six Nancy Hotel United' gets through the pileups better than 'November Hotel Uniform'.
Biggest problem my brain cell has is when the call is NATO phonetic along with loads of others then you pick them out as Papa Alfa Papa ask them to confirm the call and they come back with Pete's Always Painfull!!
I'm poised with my crayon ready to write it down and it throws me completely after so many years of NATO spelling.
I somestimes go with Essex placenames on the local repeater - Galleywood Six Nevendon Harwich Upminster (slash Margaretting)
Every now and then, when it's a tenuous contact and they are just not picking up a leter or two of my suffix, I'll resort to Mexico Zero Tokyo Tokyo Brasil.
For some reason I have one of those suffixes that often provokes Tee Tee Bee as a response, even when the dx has stuck to normal phonetics for all previous qso's... and it can be a pain, as I'm not always sure they have said it correctly or I have heard it correctly.
http://www.andybright.com/m6bbc.html A bit silly but it whiled away a hot Sunday afternoon.
I think that this the best way to do it. I find that my mu call is harder for people to understand in a contest than the old gu calls. Golf can be said more powerfully than Mike, maybe a better microphone would help me, we will have to seeOriginally Posted by M0TTB
I have the same with my last letter - I'll often have to repeat it multiple times to get it across. "Uniform, Uniform, United, United, UNIFORM UNIFORM"
Sorry, Last Letter Again - The only way is Essex!!
PAP - Pronounce Alphabet Properly!!
Well, it's confusing to a newbie like me. I've only been on the "Ham" air a few months, but I've been using Phonetic Alphabet for years on Marine VHF, so it's what I'm used to. If I hear "Laughing At Sailboats" is that a callsign or a comment? "Lima Alpha Sierra" would never be used in normal conversation. Similarly, if I hear "Japan" is that where he's from or part of his callsign?
So that's why you can put me down in favour of NATO phonetics.
druid - confused enough already!
VA7LAS
There's 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't.
Depends on context - As said above, someone calling CQ Japan is clearly calling CQ and looking for Japanese stations. If someone is giving a callsign then it's normally fairly obvious. You'd be unlikely to hear the Laughing At Sailboats phonetics during a contest or when calling some DX but between a couple of mates having a chat then it's not uncommon to hear unusual and 'jokey' phonetics.
I'd never use the Nevendon Harwich Upminster phonetics if I was talking to someone I didn't know.
Personally myself I would still use The NATO Phonetic Alphabet...I was a signaller for many years in HM Forces..Not Royal Signals(I was a proper soldier) but STD II Driver Op in an Infantry regiment!! so the NATO alphabet was used anything else was frowned upon and making up your own just wasn't done whatsoever we were always told NO Jargon speak proper!!
Those of us who are truly brave...Walk without fear
If you hear a ham station in Japan, he will most often identify as "Japan Alfa ...." or "Japan America ...". I rarely hear a JA station using "Juliett". On Marine VHF (which uses FM most of the time, generally resulting in clear signals), things are quite different from on the amateur bands, with weaker signals - the ones you're trying to copy - being overcome by stronger ones. I've found that oftentimes a different phonetic will consistently work better than the ICAO (not NATO) list.
73
K7 Kinky, Bald & Nasty, formerly
K7 Kind Boy (from) Nevada
K7 Kennedy Beat Nixon (showing my age here!)
73
Pat K7KBN
Semper ubi sub ubi.
That's a good point, I've never heard a J station use Juliett as a phonetic. I also sometimes use 'Germany six' as my prefix in pileups as it's a bit of a cheat - If the DX asks for the "Germany station" then I can feel quite justified in calling again
Oh and the ICAO and NATO phonetic alphabets are the same so the term is interchangable.
Mike Six Special Operations Executive, still get a few that don't get it
I bet they call you M6SOX...
at least its not Sierra Uniform Xray
Lots of good history on phonetics, including the NATO list (which derived from the ICAO list, which was developed from the ITU list, etc) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_ph...phabet#History
73
Pat K7KBN
Semper ubi sub ubi.
The use of unversial phonetics is easier to pick out of QRM if even only a part of it is heard.
You can be about 90% sure of what you heard without hearing the full word clearly.
Example Foxtrot. Even if you hear Fox only or just the last part 'trot.
Nothing else goes with 'trot' normally speaking in ham radio. trot is never used by it'self, that I ever heard.
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