Absolutely. I am not yet at a point where I need a mnemonic for my own call sign, but it’s nice to know that it’s there. I try to use ICAO phonetics exclusively. One may need to vary an individual item from time to time, but overall they are the best understood by the largest number of people.
I wish it was ok to comment here, but it never works out for any good what so ever. Good evening to all John Whiskey 6 Japan Papa Germany for the non contesters w6jpg
Those are serious objections when everyone is rolling their own phonetics. When you deviate from a standard, each word you choose must be unambiguous, so must not be easily confused with any other word in any language around the globe. Longer words definitely have an advantage over shorter words when you want to reduce possibilities of confusing your chosen word with another word from all the world's dictionaries. But longer words also take longer to recite over the air. "Quebec" is easy. Just pronounce it the way the natives of that city would pronounce it, and you'll be fine. It's far better than "quad", which not only rhymes with dozens of other words, but also sounds to a Spaniard like it must be spelled "cuad". Personally, I'd prefer Quetzalcoatl (that doesn't sound like any other word I know), and while we're at it, Xochimilco is better than X-ray (X-ray begins with the sound of an "E", which is not the sound that an "X" makes). Now that we're on a roll, how about we use "Popocatepetl", which clearly doesn't rhyme with other common words, and it fixes the problem with "Papa", that people seem to disagree about which syllable should be stressed. Those Nahuatls gave us so many great words to use as phonetics! When we each roll our own, you can improve the alphabet, and I can improve the alphabet, but our individual uncoordinated efforts at improvement may actually serve to reduce overall interoperability. But when we use a common standard, we only have to be concerned with collisions between words that are part of that standard alphabet. The NATO folks didn't do a perfect job here, but they did okay.
Some people will likely misinterpret that to stand for "K". Maybe so. The old pre-1956 military standard was "queen" which I think was far better. If you're working a VK, "Queensland" would be understood with near 100% probability. Maybe "quadrature","quadratic", or what about "quantum"? Possibly so with the contest-DX crowd, but with normal domestic amateur QSOs, homespun phonetics can be more effective. I use "kilowatt-yesterday-Volkswagen" and have never had anyone misinterpret or misunderstand the phonetics. Of course, if the upper end of the audio response curve extends high enough (up to ~4000 Hz) to not suppress the articulation/sibilance sounds of the voice, phonetics are rarely necessary. Something else I have noticed is that in recent years, unlike when I first got on phone back in the 60s, more and more hams are now pronouncing Z as "zee" instead of "zed", which over the air is all but indistinguishable from C and V. Another consideration is that with the ageing of the amateur community, more of us are now suffering from high-frequency hearing loss.
About time for this - again: A – as in Aeolian B – as in Bdellium C – as in Czar – or Cthulhu – or one hundred D – as in Djibouti – or five hundred E – as in Eight F – as in Philly G – as in Gnat H – as in Heir I – as in One J – as in Jalapeño K – as in Knick-knack L – as in Fifty – or llama M – as in Mnemonic – or thousand N – as in Nguyen O – as in Oedipus P – as in Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Q – as in Quran R – as in Are S – as in Sea T – as in Tsar U – as in Uighur V – as in Five W – as in Write X – as in Xylophone – or ten Y – as in Yttrium Z – as in Zwieback
So ... I'm guessing that the most common of the "14 common phone mistakes" appears to be which phonetic alphabet to use? Dave W7UUU
WB6 Mike Kilo Sierra was misunderstood frequently. Messy Kitchen Sink got a laugh out of a YL during a contest (not to be sexist; I think she had a great sense of humor, and we were both tired). At least THAT got through clearly. However, I tired of repeats, upgraded and got AI6IN; fewer repeats. I kinda wish I had AI5IN, 'cause it would look and sound the same forward and backward in Morse. Bottom line, whatever gets the message (call) through is best, IMHO.
True, I just can't understand why anyone would be passionate about [drum roll followed by Imperial Death March] PROPER PHONETICS. /significant capitals There are reasons for both approaches. Standardization often, not always but often, helps comprehension for native English speakers under poor conditions. OTOH, sometimes other phonetics are easier to distinguish for non-native English speakers, as has been hashed out here a bazillion times and is still true. Finally, creative non-standard phonetics can absolutely help with memorization. My friend of decades, Keith, KA4PNO, I long ago dubbed "Pretty Nasty Odor." I don't think anyone who has EVER met him and heard those phonetics ever forgot his call. Likewise another long time friend, John, WB4VLQ became decades ago "Vicious Little Quack" - same result. Then it can just be fun, like when I pointed out that if the Pretty Nasty Odor was TOO offensive, one could just Pull Nose Off.
After reading all these comments, figure I'd throw in my 2 cents: I was taught to use the NATO (ITU) phonetics, in all aspects of my radio life. So, while I'm not going to say anything to someone who uses a made up phonetic alphabet, unless you are on a net or passing traffic, I am just going to pass over the call. As a net control, for a busy net, I can guaranty that I am going to ask you to repeat your call if you fire it at me quickly, in a home brew phonetic. Take 10 check ins in 20 seconds, doesn't help when someone just used "quagmeyer" for Q, the brain has to stop and think. That's all it takes to throw off the rhythm. It's not my place to say what is right or not, but I will just keep moving to another frequency to a QSO that I can effectively communicate, whether it's phonetic alphabet or the language being spoken. Hope "quagmeyer" didn't need my grid square for his award.
My call is KG8ZQ, which is a mouthful. I cannot count the times that the contact has interpreted "Zulu Quebec" as the letters "QK." A few years ago I began saying, "Zulu Queen," and I haven't had the problem since. Once I was talking to a physicist in Hamburg, and I used "Zipping Quarks." No problem! 73 Jerry KG8ZQ.
Stick a fork in this thread . I think we covered the phonetics use . I agree with the over using of the word " there " is very annoying . Also the over use of " and - ah " and the over use of " so - ah " is very annoying . It's fun to count how many times they use it in a key- down . And also they say " and things like that there " or " so there you go " .
Now I'm sure I've done a few of these and maybe still do without realizing it. In my own call sign, I like to use ZED ZED instead of Zulu Zulu. Lord help me if I get the Zulu Nation on me. The only problem I really have with radio operators, is when it's their turn at the mic and their voice starts to trail off for a few minutes. And you're not really sure what they're talking about. And in that few minutes of near silence, you have to wait for the repeater to reset. I've called a few on the landline to let them know they've drifted off into the ether, even on HF. N3P ZED ZED
