There's a huge difference between a P6 and an F6 callsign Is there some kind of DSP noise reduction corrupting the audio in that vid? Or just lack of high frequencies in the audio?
I think this is the root cause of the entire problem! Many hams who complain here that they can't get the message through to the other side with NATO but they succeed when using other phonetic alphabets. I think the root cause of that is that the "other side" doesn't understand and/or isn't trained well enough using NATO. So as long as we keep using all sorts of varieties, the problem will never go away.
So that's F6KLO. He's a bit fast in his pronounciation but very well copied. I can't understand why you would hear Papa instead of Foxtrot. Especially the French have a very distinct difference between an A and an O.
For several years back in the 1960s I was a professional radio amateur. My paid occupation was as a Museum Assistant at the Science Museum in London, and my job was to operate and demonstrate the Museum ham radio station, GB2SM. 73, Walt (G3NYY)
For those ops who are speech pathologists and linguists know that IPA in these contexts refers to all the sounds (phonemes) of a particular spoken language. I had to learn the phonemes of spoken English when I was an undergrad way back in the day. I had to learn and recognize the sounds and also had to memorize the written symbols of American English speech. For example, the word beach is spelled with five letters only has 3 sounds (phonemes).
Sticking to the NATO phonetics is a good idea. There are operators around the world for whom English is their second language. Make everything you say as easy to understand as possible.
No. There is no noise reduction and minimal filters. No DSP. And what is the "huge" difference??? Papa....Foxtrot. Both are 2 syllables. Both have a short "ah" sound in both the first and second syllable. Though it may be heard on the video, I missed it completely as I was receiving calls from Venezuela, Czech Republic and other stations. Not all the stations were from France with a F or a T prefix. I am not quite sure how you can possibly say that Foxtrot and Papa do NOT sound alike.
I guess I am not as "professional" as you. I am using a Kenwood TS-50 with a Hamstick. It's from the '90s. Sorry it's not a $6,000 Flex Radio.
Being around Military Communications for over 30 years IPA is all that I will ever use. Operating from VQ9 for over 9 years it is amazing how fast people learn the IPA when they want a rare contact. When everyone is on the same sheet of music the rate will go up big time, like 8 or more contacts a minute, until you hit a speed bump with crazy stuff. My advice is listen and see how the other guy is operating. Emergency Communication should always be on the same sheet of music. Rag Chewing and general ham radio who cares what phonetics people use?
If the second syllable of Papa is accented, as the ICAO recommends, they are quite different to my ear. But with the first syllable stressed, they are very similar, at least in the vowels. It does bring up the point that not everyone distinguishes words the same way. My wife's native language is Spanish, and mine is English, but we're both bilingual. In Spanish, vowels are critical, while consonants, especially trailing ones, are much less so, sometimes fading into meaninglessness. No matter how clearly I enunciate, I can't get my wife, nor her Spanish speaking friends, to hear the difference between "Teacher" and "T-shirt". Spanish doesn't have distinct ch vs sh sounds, nor do they pay attention to short trailing consonants. She can easily distinguish all the letters in the ICAO phonetic alphabet, of course.
I don't have a $6000 radio either and I have dug calls out of the noise on a 1972 radio as well. But here in the Netherlands, I HAD to learn the NATO alphabet to get my license some 40 years ago. So that alphabet and its "sounds" are carved in my brain like nothing else. On the other hand, the French are well known to speak too fast When my French collegue visits his parents, it always takes him a few days at the office to slow down again when speaking English.
I learned the ITU phonetics many years ago during my flying days. There's a reason the ITU/NATO phonetics are used in aviation.
Yes. The NATO phonetic alphabet is seared into my brain as well. Not because I was forced to learn it, but instead because I wanted to learn it and become fluent using it. In case you didn't notice in the video, I had asked for the French station to repeat his callsign. I used the word "MIC".....he opted for "MEXICO". Should I have scolded him on air? You're talking to me as if "I" was in the wrong. Notice how I gave MY call sign to the recipient? I used the "proper" phonetics, he on the other hand opted for a different set of words. Yet here I am defending myself??? Whatever. Done with this Bravo Sierra thread anyway.
