Standardized Phonetic Alphabet

In Emergency Communications, there is no place for “cutesy” language and efforts to establish/maintain individual identies/preferences are not acceptable.

Phonetics are standardized and there is NO tolerence for deviation. Operators must adhere to the standardized list as given below.

For example, a callsign N4TAB is expressed phonetically as:
November Four Tango Alpha Bravo
and NOT
Nicaragua Number Four Texas Afghanistan Bulemia.

The following list is the acceptable phonetic alphabet. If this isn’t already ingrained into your
procedural behavior, print it and rehearse it.

A

ALFA

M

MIKE

Y

YANKEE

B

BRAVO

N

NOVEMBER

Z

ZULU

C

CHARLIE

O

OSCAR

 1 ONE

D

DELTA

P

PAPA (PA-PA’)

2

TWO

E

ECHO

Q

QUEBEC (KAY-BEK’)

3

THREE (TREE)

F

FOXTROT

 R ROMEO

4

FOUR

G

GOLF

S

SIERRA

5

FIVE (FIFE)

H

HOTEL

T

TANGO

6

SIX
I INDIA

U

UNIFORM

7

SEVEN

J

JULIETT

V

VICTOR

8

EIGHT

K

KILO

W

WHISKEY

9

NINE (NINER)

L

LIMA

X

X-RAY

 0 ZERO