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The (International) Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the NATO phonetic alphabet, NATO spelling alphabet, ICAO phonetic alphabet or ICAO spelling alphabet, is the most widely used radiotelephone spelling alphabet. The ITU phonetic alphabet and figure code is a rarely used variant that differs in the code words for digits.
The Q-code is a standardised collection of three-letter codes that each start with the letter "Q". It is an operating signal initially developed for commercial radiotelegraph communication and later adopted by other radio services, especially amateur radio. To distinguish the use of a Q-code transmitted as a question from the same Q-code transmitted as a statement, operators either prefixed it with the military network question marker "INT" or suffixed it with the standard Morse question mark UD.
The Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets prescribed the words that are used to represent each letter of the alphabet, when spelling other words out loud, letter-by-letter, and how the spelling words should be pronounced for use by the Allies of World War II. They are not a "phonetic alphabet" in the sense in which that term is used in phonetics, i.e. they are not a system for transcribing speech sounds.
The R-S-T system is used by amateur radio operators, shortwave listeners, and other radio hobbyists to exchange information about the quality of a radio signal being received. The code is a three digit number, with one digit each for conveying an assessment of the signal's readability, strength, and tone. The code was developed in 1934 by Amateur radio operator Arthur W. Braaten, W2BSR, and was similar to that codified in the ITU Radio Regulations, Cairo, 1938.
A radiotelephone, abbreviated RT, is a radio communication system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephony means transmission of sound (audio) by radio, in contrast to radiotelegraphy, which is transmission of telegraph signals, or television, transmission of moving pictures and sound. The term may include radio broadcasting systems, which transmit audio one way to listeners, but usually refers to two-way radio systems for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication between separated users, such as CB radio or marine radio. In spite of the name, radiotelephony systems are not necessarily connected to or have anything to do with the telephone network, and in some radio services, including GMRS, interconnection is prohibited.
A signal strength and readability report is a standardized format for reporting the strength of the radio signal and the readability (quality) of the radiotelephone (voice) or radiotelegraph signal transmitted by another station as received at the reporting station's location and by their radio station equipment. These report formats are usually designed for only one communications mode or the other, although a few are used for both telegraph and voice communications. All but one of these signal report formats involve the transmission of numbers.
Radiotelephony procedure includes various techniques used to clarify, simplify and standardize spoken communications over two-way radios, in use by the armed forces, in civil aviation, police and fire dispatching systems, citizens' band radio (CB), and amateur radio.
SINPO, an acronym for Signal, Interference, Noise, Propagation, and Overall, is a Signal Reporting Code used to describe the quality of broadcast and radiotelegraph transmissions. SINPFEMO, an acronym for Signal, Interference, Noise, Propagation, frequency of Fading, dEpth, Modulation, and Overall is used to describe the quality of radiotelephony transmissions. SINPFEMO code consists of the SINPO code plus the addition of three letters to describe additional features of radiotelephony transmissions. These codes are defined by Recommendation ITU-R Sm.1135, SINPO and SINPFEMO codes.
ACP-131 is the controlling publication for the listing of Q codes and Z codes. It is published by the Combined Communications Electronics Board (CCEB) countries, and revised from time to time. When the meanings of the codes contained in ACP-131 are translated into various languages, the codes provide a means of communicating between ships of various nations, such as during a NATO exercise, when a common language is not in effect.
Radio code is any code that is commonly used over a telecommunication system such as Morse code, brevity codes and procedure words.
Procedure signs or prosigns are shorthand signals used in Morse code radio telegraphy procedure, for the purpose of simplifying and standardizing radio communication protocol. They are several from Morse code abbreviations, which consist mainly of brevity codes that convey messages to other parties with greater speed and accuracy.
A spelling alphabet is a set of words used to stand for the letters of an alphabet in oral communication (speech), especially when over a two-way radio or telephone. The words are chosen because they sound sufficiently different from each other to avoid any confusion that could easily otherwise result from the names of letters that sound similar except for some small difference easily missed or easily degraded by the imperfect sound quality of the apparatus. For example, "bee" and "pee" and "dee" sound similar and could easily be confused, but "bravo" and "papa" and "delta" sound different, making confusion unlikely.
A radiogram is a formal written message transmitted by radio. Also known as a radio telegram or radio telegraphic message, radiograms use a standardized message format, form and radiotelephone and/or radiotelegraph transmission procedures. These procedures typically provide a means of transmitting the content of the messages without including the names of the various headers and message sections, so as to minimize the time needed to transmit messages over limited and/or congested radio channels. Various formats have been used historically by maritime radio services, military organizations, and Amateur Radio organizations.
Procedure words or prowords are words or phrases limited to radio telephone procedure used to facilitate communication by conveying information in a condensed standard verbal format. Prowords are voice versions of the much older prosigns for Morse code first developed in the 1860s for Morse telegraphy, and their meaning is identical. The NATO communications manual ACP-125 contains the most formal and perhaps earliest modern (post-WW-II) glossary of procedure words, but its definitions have been adopted by many other organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Rhode Island Department of Emergency Management, Civil Air Patrol, Military Auxiliary Radio System, and others.
The Circuit Merit system is a measurement process designed to assess the voice-to-noise ratio in wired and wireless telephone circuits, especially the AMPS system, and although its reporting scale is sometimes used as input for calculating mean opinion score, the rating system is officially defined relative to given ranges of voice-to-noise ratios.
16-line message format, or Basic Message Format, is the standard military radiogram format for the manner in which a paper message form is transcribed through voice, Morse code, or TTY transmission formats. The overall structure of the message has three parts: HEADING, TEXT, and ENDING. This heading is further divided into procedure, preamble, address, and prefix. Each format line contains pre-defined content. An actual message may have fewer than 16 actual lines, or far more than 16, because some lines are skipped in some delivery methods, and a long message may have a TEXT portion that is longer than 16 lines by itself.
The QSA code and QRK code are interrelated and complementary signal reporting codes for use in wireless telegraphy. An enhanced format, SINPO code, was published in the ITU Radio Regulations, Geneva, 1959, but is longer and unwieldy for use in the fast pace of Morse code communications.
Allied Communication Procedures is the set of manuals and supplements published by the Combined Communications Electronics Board that prescribe the methods and standards to be used while conducting visual, audible, radiotelegraph, and radiotelephone communications within NATO member nations. These procedures relate to procedure words, radiotelephony procedure, Allied Military phonetic spelling alphabets, plain language radio checks, the 16-line message format (radiogram), and others.
Time synchronization over radio is the procedure used for time transfer performed by humans over two-way radio circuits, including voice, telegraph, and teletype.
Allied Communications Publications are documents developed by the Combined Communications-Electronics Board and NATO, which define the procedures for communicating in computer messaging, radiotelephony, radiotelegraph, radioteletype (RATT), air-to-ground signalling, and other forms of communications used by the armed forces of the five CCEB member countries and/or NATO.
References
- ↑ "ACP 125 (F) - Comm Instructions - Radio Telephone Procedures". Archived from the original on 2015-05-25.