US Phonetic Radio Alphabet

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Colin9690

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IdleMonitor said:
Thank you. That's what I was looking for.

And that was quick too, only 2 minutes and a response. That was quicker than me looking for it.
Lol, I'm on this site all day it seems. :)
 

hotdjdave

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Note: there are some slight variations to the law enforcement chart on the site listed.

For example, CHARLES is used more often than CHARLIE.

Where I live, in Los Angeles, the LAPD uses the chart in the link, but with CHARLES instead. The CHP uses the same chart, but with some variations (see below).

Also, sometimes the following are used instead of the ones given (this is depending on locale):
APPLE for ADAM
GARY for GEORGE
INDIGO for IDA
JAMES for JOHN
KEVIN for KING
LARRY for LINCOLN
NANCY for NORA
OCTOBER for OCEAN
YELLOW for YOUNG
I am sure that others could tell you the same for their particular area, as well.
 

2112

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And "Baker" for "Boy". I've even heard police departments that used the international phonetic alphabet, but only once or twice...
 

IdleMonitor

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To be honest, I don't even need this for anything to do with radios.

Just a simple way to communicate over the phone when clarifying correct spelling of words while dealing with some yanks.

I just wanted to use simple words that you folk could identify with.

This is what I was able to gather.

"Phonetic Alphabet"

Certain letters of the alphabet sound alike over the phone, like "A" and "H" & "B" and "V." To avoid confusion, a Phonetic Alphabet Scheme can be used in routine communication. It works by using specific words to represent each letter of the alphabet.


A - Adam
B - Boy
C - Charles
D - David
E - Edward
F - Frank
G - George
H - Henry
I - Ida
J - John
K - King
L - Lincoln
M - Mary
N - Nora
O - Ocean
P - Paul
Q - Queen
R - Robert
S - Sam
T - Tom
U - Union
V - Victor
W - William
X - X-ray
Y - Young
Z - Zebra
 

cristisphoto

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I have it all buuut...

Well i'd submit the USA APCO PDF buut I don't see where you can do that soo
IF anyone wants it then tell me how to attach files on this forum lol
Regards,
Crista
 
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ctrabs74

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2112 said:
I've even heard police departments that used the international phonetic alphabet, but only once or twice...

Are you referring to the "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo" phonetic alphabet? Most of the police depts in New Jersey (with a couple of exceptions, mainly in Newark) and in the Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia use the international phonetic alphabet, as does Florida (I'm basing my Fla. observations on watching dozens of episodes of "Cops" over the years).

The international phonetic alphabet also seems to be the preference on the Fire/EMS side in most places (save for FDNY).

Philadelphia Police have a phonetic alphabet with a lot of variations (PPD also uses 12-hour time instead of 24-hour time like virtually every other police/fire department in the US, which gets very irritating at times when you're used to listening to police follow a certain format):

ANDY instead of ADAM
BARNEY instead of BOY/BAKER
DAN instead of DAVID
ISSAC instead of IDA
KATE instead of KING
LOUIE instead of LINCOLN
NATHAN instead of NORA/NANCY
OLIVER instead of OSCAR
PAT instead of PAUL

It's also commonly used in a couple of suburban departments (Abington and Cheltenham in Montgomery County, Pa. and Haverford Twp, Delaware County); most of the Delaware Co departments use the APCO format; in MontCo and Chester County* (as well as Pa State Police), the international format is used.

* - The majority of Chester Co fire dispatchers use the APCO format (a couple weeks ago, a dispatcher actually stated the location as "B-Bravo building, room B-Boy 2xx" - no, I don't get it either); meanwhile, the majority of PD dispatchers use international, even though our county's police id's are partially based on the APCO format (ie. Unit 1-1 Paul 1 is a patrol officer in Downingtown). Yet, I'd say about 65-70 percent of the cops in my county use international when reading back tags (ie. FTZ = "Foxtrot-Tango-Zulu") as opposed to APCO (though some cops seem to use terms from both for some odd reason).
 
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IdleMonitor said:
Anyone got a list of the phonetic alphabet used by the US?


Well define the US and define when. If you mean the US military As I understand they have used three types that I know of. I have all three here in my stash of useless knowledge for just such occasions.

The first was used before WW2:
A-Affirm
B-Baker
C-Cast
D-Dog
E-Easy
F-Fox
G-George
H-Hypo
I-Int
J-Jig
K-King
L-Love
M-Mike
N-Negat
O-Option
P-Prep
Q-Queen
R-Roger
S-Sad
T-Tare
U-Unit
V-Victor
W-William
X-X-Ray
Y-Yoke
Z-Zebra

The next was used in WW2 and in Korea:
A-Able
B-Baker
C-Charlie
D-Dog
E-Easy
F-Fox
G-George
H-How
I-Item
J-Jig
K-King
L-Love
M-Mike
N-Nan
O-Oboe
P-Peter
Q-Queen
R-Roger
S-Sugar
T-Tare
U-Uncle
V-Victor
W-William
X-X-Ray
Y-Yoke
Z-Zebra

And after Korea the standard US/NATO phonetic alphabet we all know and love became the standard:
A-Alpha
B-Bravo
C-Charlie
D-Delta
E-Echo
F-Foxtrot
G-Golf
H-Hotel
I-India
J-Juliet
K-Kilo
L-Lima
M-Mike
N-November
O-Oscar
P-Papa
Q-Quebec
R-Romeo
S-Sierra
T-Tango
U-Uniform
V-Victor
W-Whiskey
X-X-Ray
Y-Yankee
Z-Zulu

Police agencies were of course known for using the APCO brand of phonetics.

A - ADAM
B - BOY
C - CHARLES
D - DAVID
E - EDWARD
F - FRANK
G - GEORGE
H - HENRY
I - IDA
J - JOHN
K - KING
L - LINCOLN
M - MARY
N - NORA
O - OCEAN
P - PAUL
Q - QUEEN
R - ROBERT
S - SAM
T - TOM
U - UNION
V - VICTOR
W - WILLIAM
X - X-RAY
Y - YOUNG
Z - ZEBRA

Of course as our esteemed colleagues have mentioned many agencies have been known to toss in their own customizations. Actually given the current police fetish for militarizing themselves I would look for a migration to standard phonetic alphabet favored by the military NATO, ICAO.

Sorry. Way more info than anyone ever wanted to know I'm sure.
 

fmon

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Show & tell

cristisphoto said:
Well i'd submit the USA APCO PDF buut I don't see where you can do that soo
IF anyone wants it then tell me how to attach files on this forum lol
Regards,
Crista
Here ya go Crista. PDF files can be attached directly.
1. Click on the Manage Attachments below.
2. Browse to the pdf.
3. Click Upload
 
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kb2vxa

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Hi all,

Thanks for opening another can of worms, but considering my mirth it looks more like the proverbial barrell of monkeys. The bottom line is THERE IS NO STANDARD PHOENETIC ALPHABET, I have heard so many variations they would fill volumes. Funny how nobody mentioned the REAL international version using well known place names but naturally it too has variations. Now does Victoria refer to South Africa, Australia or the queen of England? (;->)

Here's one for you to ponder, what do you do about the letter Q? Don't tell me it's Quebec, Americans are the only ones in the world to mispronounce it like "aluminum" and as you see we spell it wrong too.

I found this particularly funny;
"Just a simple way to communicate over the phone when clarifying correct spelling of words while dealing with some yanks."
Funny because just yesterday I ran into a company representative whose pronunciation was clear as mud and his phonetics were out of this world. His mind was so boggled by my use of common phoenetics he couldn't say yes or no to confirm my spelling. We spent 10 minutes haggling over the spelling of ONE WORD! Uh huh, he was a yank alright, note the lower case. (Yank is a proper word, a noun, yank is a verb.)
(;->)

Have fun with that snake I just tossed in with the worms. (;->)
 
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newbie

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St Clair, Michigan
From my Marine days

A - Alpha
B - Bravo
C - Charlie
D - Delta
E - Echo
F - Foxtrot
G - Golf
H - Hotel
I - India
J - Juliet
K - Kilo
L - Lima
M - Mike
N - November
O - Oscar
P - Papa or Pete
Q - Quebec
R - Romeo
S - Sierra
T - Tango
U - Uniform
V - Victor
W - Whisky or Willie
X - X-ray
Y - Yankee
Z - Zulu
 

Napalm

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The NATO phonetic alphabet is the only one that counts in my book.

Us Europeans always laugh when we hear all that Adam David stuff. It's also amusing listening to some variations heard on the amateur bands.

Mexico 3 Canada America Victoria..

Riiiiiiiiight.

Oh and if you ask me what Q is in the NATO alphabet, I'll reply "Kehbeck"
 

cristisphoto

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MMKAY Taking a nap in the afternnon is BAD MMKAY lol

Hence my delayed response SO:
ANYWAYs

OK Its too doggone big at 6oo. kbs soo
I Guess ya' all are just assed out lol:roll: :lol:
But hey they are common So to be fair and stick to my word lol
I'll link an example here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

Keep in mind there are MANY different version due to the MANY diferent languages thet exist on our planet...
BUUT because we speak English I'll link the NATO's Version.. :wink:


Regards
Crista
 

RISC777

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I love how Geneva is pronounced by people that don't there or near there too. heh
 
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