This is an accepted version of this page
| Alfa | November |
| Bravo | Oscar |
| Charlie | Papa |
| Delta | Quebec |
| Echo | Romeo |
| Foxtrot | Sierra |
| Golf | Tango |
| Hotel | Uniform |
| India | Victor |
| Juliett | Whiskey |
| Kilo | Xray |
| Lima | Yankee |
| Mike | Zulu |
TheInternational Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet or simply theRadiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as theNATO phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used set of clear-code words for communicating the letters of theLatin/Roman alphabet. Technically aradiotelephonicspelling alphabet, it goes by various names, includingNATO spelling alphabet,ICAO phonetic alphabet, andICAO spelling alphabet. TheITU phonetic alphabet and figure code is a rarely used variant that differs in the code words for digits.
Although spelling alphabets are commonly called "phonetic alphabets", they are not phonetic in the sense ofphonetic transcription systems such as theInternational Phonetic Alphabet.
To create the code, a series of international agencies assigned 26 clear-code words (also known as "phonetic words")acrophonically to the letters of theLatin alphabet, with the goal that the letters and numbers would be easily distinguishable from one another over radio and telephone. The words were chosen to be accessible to speakers of English, French and Spanish. Some of the code words were changed over time, as they were found to be ineffective in real-life conditions. In 1956,NATO modified the then-current set used by theInternational Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): the NATO version was accepted by ICAO that year, and by theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU) a few years later, thus becoming the international standard.[1]
The 26 code words are as follows (ICAO spellings):Alfa,Bravo,Charlie,Delta,Echo,Foxtrot,Golf,Hotel,India,Juliett,Kilo,Lima,Mike,November,Oscar,Papa,Quebec,Romeo,Sierra,Tango,Uniform,Victor,Whiskey,X-ray,Yankee, andZulu.[Note 1]⟨Alfa⟩ and⟨Juliett⟩ are spelled that way to avoid mispronunciation by people unfamiliar with Englishorthography; NATO changed⟨X-ray⟩ to⟨Xray⟩ for the same reason.[2] The code words for digits are their English names, though with their pronunciations modified in the cases ofthree,four,five,nine andthousand.
The code words have been stable since 1956. A 1955 NATO memo stated that:
It is known that [the spelling alphabet] has been prepared only after the most exhaustive tests on a scientific basis by several nations. One of the firmest conclusions reached was that it was not practical to make an isolated change to clear confusion between one pair of letters. To change one word involves reconsideration of the whole alphabet to ensure that the change proposed to clear one confusion does not itself introduce others.[3]
Soon after the code words were developed by ICAO (seehistory below), they were adopted by other national and international organizations, including the ITU, theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO), the United States Federal Government as Federal Standard 1037C: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms[4] and its successors ANSI T1.523-2001[5] andATIS Telecom Glossary (ATIS-0100523.2019)[6] (all three using the spellings "Alpha" and "Juliet"), the United States Department of Defense,[7] theFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) (using the spelling "Xray"), theInternational Amateur Radio Union (IARU), theAmerican Radio Relay League (ARRL), theAssociation of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO), and by many military organizations such as NATO (using the spelling "Xray") and the now-defunctSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).[citation needed]
The same alphabetic code words are used by all agencies, but each agency chooses one of two different sets of numeric code words. NATO uses the regular English numerals (zero,one,two, etc., though with some differences in pronunciation), whereas the ITU (beginning on 1 April 1969)[8] and the IMO created compound code words (nadazero,unaone,bissotwo etc.). In practice the compound words are used very rarely.[citation needed]
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A spelling alphabet is used to distinguish those parts of a message that contain letters and digits, because the names of many letters sound similar, for instancebee andpee,en andem oref andess. The potential for confusion increases if static or other interference is present, as is commonly the case with radio and telephonic communication. For instance, the target message "proceed to map grid DH98" would be transmitted asproceed to map grid Delta-Hotel-Niner-Ait.
Civilian industry uses the code words to avoid similar problems in the transmission of messages by telephone systems. For example, it is often used in the retail industry where customer or site details are conveyed by telephone (for example to authorize a credit agreement or confirm stock codes), although ad-hoc code words are often used in that instance. It has been used by information technology workers to communicate serial numbers and reference codes, which are often very long, by voice. Most major airlines use the alphabet to communicatepassenger name records (PNRs) internally, and in some cases, with customers. It is often used in a medical context as well.
Several codes words and sequences of code words have become well-known, such asBravo Zulu (letter code BZ) for "well done",[9]Checkpoint Charlie (Checkpoint C) in Berlin, andZulu Time forGreenwich Mean Time orCoordinated Universal Time. During theVietnam War, the US government referred to theViet Cong guerrillas and the group itself as VC, or Victor Charlie; the name "Charlie" became synonymous with this force.
The final choice of code words for the letters of the alphabet and for the digits was made after hundreds of thousands of comprehension tests involving 31 nationalities. The qualifying feature was the likelihood of a code word being understood in the context of others. For example,Football has a higher chance of being understood thanFoxtrot in isolation, butFoxtrot is superior in extended communication.[10]
Pronunciations were set out by the ICAO before 1956 with advice from the governments of both the United States and United Kingdom.[11] To eliminate national variations in pronunciation, posters illustrating the pronunciation desired by ICAO are available.[12] However, there remain differences in the pronunciations published by ICAO and other agencies, and ICAO has apparently conflicting Latin-alphabet andIPA transcriptions. At least some of these differences appear to be typographic errors. In 2022 theDeutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) attempted to resolve these conflicts.[13] For example, they consistently transcribe[a] for what the ICAO had transcribed variously as[a],[aː],[ɑ],[ɑː],[æ],[ə] in IPA and asa, ah, ar, er in orthography.
Just as words are spelled out as individual letters, numbers are spelled out as individual digits. That is, 17 is rendered asone seven and 60 assix zero. Depending on context, the wordthousand may be used as in English, and, for whole hundreds only (when the sequence 00 occurs at the end of a number), the wordhundred may be used. For example, 1300 is read asone three zero zero if it is a transponder code or serial number, and asone thousand three hundred if it is an altitude or distance.
The ICAO, NATO, and FAA use modifications of English digits as code words, with 3, 4, 5 and 9 being pronouncedtree,fower (rhymes withlower),fife andniner. The digit 3 is specified astree so that it will not be mispronouncedsri (and similarlythousand is pronouncedtousand); the long pronunciation of 4 (still found in some English dialects) keeps it somewhat distinct fromfor; 5 is pronounced with a second "f" because the normal pronunciation with a "v" is easily confused with "fire"; and 9 has an extra syllable to keep it distinct from the German wordnein "no".[14] (Prior to 1956,three andfive had been pronounced with the English consonants, but with the vowels broken into two syllables.) For directions presented as the hour-hand position on a clock, the additional numerals "ten", "eleven" and "twelve" are used with the word "o'clock".[12]: 5–7
The ITU and IMO, however, specify a different set of code words. These are compounds of ICAO and Latinesque roots.[15]The IMO's GMDSS procedures permits the use of either set of code words.[15]
There are two IPA transcriptions of the letter names, from theInternational Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and theDeutsches Institut für Normung (DIN). Both authorities indicate that anon-rhotic pronunciation is standard.[Note 2] That of the ICAO, first published in 1950 and reprinted many times without correction (e.g. the error in 'golf'), uses a large number of vowels. For instance, it has six low/central vowels:[æ][a][aː][ɑ][ɑː][ə]. The DIN consolidated all six into the single low-central vowel[a]. The DIN vowels are partly predictable, with[ɪɛɔ] in closed syllables and[ie/ei̯o] inopen syllables apart fromecho andsierra, which have[ɛ] as in English, German and Italian. The DIN also reduced the number of stressed syllables inbravo andx-ray, consistent with the ICAO English respellings of those words and with the NATO change of spelling ofx-ray toxray so that people would know to pronounce it as a single word.
| Symbol | Code word | DIN 5009 (2022)IPA[13] | ICAO (1950)[12] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | English respelling | |||
| A | Alfa [sic] | ˈalfa | ˈælfa | AL fah |
| B | Bravo | ˈbravo | ˈbraːˈvo [sic] | BRAH voh |
| C | Charlie | ˈtʃali (orˈʃali) | ˈtʃɑːli (orˈʃɑːli) | CHAR lee (or SHAR lee)[16] |
| D | Delta | ˈdɛlta | ˈdeltɑ | DELL tah |
| E | Echo | ˈɛko | ˈeko | ECK oh |
| F | Foxtrot | ˈfɔkstrɔt | ˈfɔkstrɔt | FOKS trot |
| G | Golf | ˈɡɔlf | ɡʌlf [sic] | golf |
| H | Hotel | hoˈtɛl | hoːˈtel | ho TELL |
| I | India | ˈɪndia | ˈindi.ɑ | IN dee ah |
| J | Juliett [sic] | ˈdʒuliˈɛt | ˈdʒuːli.ˈet | JEW lee ETT |
| K | Kilo | ˈkilo | ˈkiːlo | KEY loh |
| L | Lima | ˈlima | ˈliːmɑ | LEE mah |
| M | Mike | ˈmai̯k | mɑik | mike |
| N | November | noˈvɛmba | noˈvembə | no VEM ber |
| O | Oscar | ˈɔska | ˈɔskɑ | OSS cah |
| P | Papa | paˈpa | pəˈpɑ | pah PAH |
| Q | Quebec | keˈbɛk [sic] | keˈbek | keh BECK |
| R | Romeo | ˈromio | ˈroːmi.o | ROW me oh |
| S | Sierra | siˈɛra | siˈerɑ | see AIR rah |
| T | Tango | ˈtaŋɡo | ˈtænɡo | TANG go |
| U | Uniform | ˈjunifɔm (orˈunifɔm) | ˈjuːnifɔːm (orˈuːnifɔrm [sic]) | YOU nee form (orOO nee form)[16] |
| V | Victor | ˈvɪkta | ˈviktɑ | VIK tah |
| W | Whiskey | ˈwɪski | ˈwiski | WISS key |
| X | Xray, x-ray | ˈɛksrei̯ | ˈeksˈrei [sic] | ECKS ray |
| Y | Yankee | ˈjaŋki | ˈjænki | YANG key |
| Z | Zulu | ˈzulu | ˈzuːluː | ZOO loo |
There is no authoritative IPA transcription of the digits. However, there are respellings into both English and French, which can be compared to clarify some of the ambiguities and inconsistencies.
| Symbol | Code word | Respellings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICAO[12] (English) | SIA[17] (French) | CCEB 2016[18] | FAA[19] | ITU-R 2007(WRC-07)[20] IMO(English)[21] | IMO (French)[21] | US Navy 1957[22] | US Army[23] | |||
| 1 | One,unaone | WUN | OUANN | wun | wun | OO-NAH-WUN | OUNA-OUANN | wun | wun,won(USMC)[24] | |
| 2 | Two,bissotwo | TOO | TOU | too | too | BEES-SOH-TOO | BIS-SO-TOU | too | too | |
| 3 | Three,terrathree | TREE | TRI | tree | tree | TAY-RAH-TREE | TÉ-RA-TRI | thuh-ree | tree | |
| 4 | Four,kartefour | FOW-er | FO eur | FOW-er | fow-er | KAR-TAY-FOWER | KAR-TÉ-FO-EUR | fo-wer | fow-er | |
| 5 | Five,pantafive | FIFE | FA ÏF [sic] | fife | fife | PAN-TAH-FIVE | PANN-TA-FAIF | fi-yiv | fife | |
| 6 | Six,soxisix | SIX | SIKS | six | six | SOK-SEE-SIX | SO-XI-SICKS | six | six | |
| 7 | Seven,setteseven | SEV-en | SÈV n | SEV-en | sev-en | SAY-TAY-SEVEN | SÉT-TÉ-SEV'N [sic] | seven | sev-en | |
| 8 | Eight,oktoeight | AIT | EÏT | ait | ait | OK-TOH-AIT | OK-TO-EIT | ate | ait | |
| 9 | Nine,novenine[Note 3] | NIN-er | NAÏ neu | NINE-er | nin-er | NO-VAY-NINER | NO-VÉ-NAI-NEU | niner | nin-er | |
| 0 | Zero,nadazero | ZE-RO(ZEE-ro)[Note 4] | ZI RO | ZE-ro | ze-ro / zee-ro | NAH-DAH-ZAY-ROH[Note 5][Note 6] | NA-DA-ZE-RO[Note 5][Note 6] | zero | ze-ro | |
| 00 | Hundred | HUN-dred | HUN-dred | (zero zero) | (hundred) | hun-dred | ||||
| 000 | Thousand | TOU-SAND(TOU-sand)[Note 4] | TAOU ZEND | (zero zero zero) | (thousand) | thow-zand | tou-sand | |||
| (decimal point) | Decimal,(FAA)point | DAY-SEE-MAL[Note 4] | DÈ SI MAL | (decimal) | (point) | DAY-SEE-MAL | DÉ-SI-MAL | |||
CCEB has code words for punctuation, including those in the table below.
| Symbol | Code word |
|---|---|
| . | stop (when not a decimal point) |
| , | comma (when not a decimal comma) |
| - | hyphen,(FAA)dash |
| / | slant |
| ( | brackets on |
| ) | brackets off |
Others are: "colon", "semi-colon", "exclamation mark", "question mark", "apostrophe", "quote", and "unquote".[18]
Prior toWorld War I and the development and widespread adoption of two-way radio that supported voice,telephone spelling alphabets were developed to improve communication on low-quality and long-distance telephone circuits.
The first non-military internationally recognized spelling alphabet was adopted by the CCIR (predecessor of theITU) during 1927. The experience gained with that alphabet resulted in several changes being made during 1932 by the ITU. The resulting alphabet was adopted by the International Commission for Air Navigation, the predecessor of the ICAO, and was used for civil aviation untilWorld War II.[11] It continued to be used by the IMO until 1965.
Throughout World War II, many nations used their own versions of a spelling alphabet. The US adopted theJoint Army/Navy radiotelephony alphabet during 1941 to standardize systems among all branches of its armed forces. The US alphabet became known asAble Baker after the words for A and B. TheRoyal Air Force adopted one similar to theUnited States one during World War II as well. Other British forces adopted theRAF radio alphabet, which is similar to the phonetic alphabet used by theRoyal Navy during World War I. At least two of the terms are sometimes still used by UK civilians to spell words over the phone, namelyF for Freddie andS for Sugar.
To enable the US, UK, and Australian armed forces to communicate during joint operations, in 1943 the CCB (Combined Communications Board; the combination of US and UK upper military commands) modified the US military's Joint Army/Navy alphabet for use by all three nations, with the result being called the US-UK spelling alphabet. It was defined in one or more of CCBP-1:Combined Amphibious Communications Instructions, CCBP3:Combined Radiotelephone (R/T) Procedure, and CCBP-7:Combined Communication Instructions. The CCB alphabet itself was based on the US Joint Army/Navy spelling alphabet. The CCBP (Combined Communications Board Publications) documents contain material formerly published in US Army Field Manuals in the 24-series. Several of these documents had revisions, and were renamed. For instance, CCBP3-2 was the second edition of CCBP3.
During World War II, the US military conducted significant research into spelling alphabets. Major F. D. Handy, directorate of Communications in the Army Air Force (and a member of the working committee of the Combined Communications Board), enlisted the help of Harvard University's Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory, asking them to determine the most successful word for each letter when using "military interphones in the intense noise encountered in modern warfare." He included lists from the US, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, British Army, AT&T, Western Union, RCA Communications, and that of the International Telecommunications Convention. According to a report on the subject:
The results showed that many of the words in the military lists had a low level of intelligibility, but that most of the deficiencies could be remedied by the judicious selection of words from the commercial codes and those tested by the laboratory. In a few instances where none of the 250 words could be regarded as especially satisfactory, it was believed possible to discover suitable replacements. Other words were tested and the most intelligible ones were compared with the more desirable lists. A final NDRC list was assembled and recommended to the CCB.[25]
After World War II, with many aircraft and ground personnel from the allied armed forces, "Able Baker" was officially adopted for use in international aviation. During the 1946 Second Session of the ICAO Communications Division, the organization adopted the so-called "Able Baker" alphabet[10] that was the 1943 US–UK spelling alphabet. However, many sounds were unique to English, so an alternative "Ana Brazil" alphabet was used in Latin America. In spite of this,International Air Transport Association (IATA), recognizing the need for a single universal alphabet, presented a draft alphabet to the ICAO during 1947 that had sounds common to English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
From 1948 to 1949,Jean-Paul Vinay, a professor of linguistics at theUniversité de Montréal, worked closely with the ICAO to research and develop a new spelling alphabet.[26][10] The directions of ICAO were that "To be considered, a word must:
After further study and modification by each approving body, the revised alphabet was adopted on1 November 1951, to become effective on 1 April 1952 for civil aviation (but it may not have been adopted by any military).[11]
Problems were soon found with this list. Some users believed that they were so severe that they reverted to the old "Able Baker" alphabet. Confusion among words likeDelta andExtra, and betweenNectar andVictor, or the poor intelligibility of other words during poor receiving conditions were the main problems. Later in 1952, ICAO decided to revisit the alphabet and their research. To identify the deficiencies of the new alphabet, testing was conducted among speakers from 31 nations, principally by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. In the United States, the research was conducted by the USAF-directed Operational Applications Laboratory (AFCRC, ARDC), to monitor a project with the Research Foundation ofOhio State University. Among the more interesting of the research findings was that "higher noise levels do not create confusion, but do intensify those confusions already inherent between the words in question".[25]
By early 1956 the ICAO was nearly complete with this research, and published the new official phonetic alphabet in order to account for discrepancies that might arise in communications as a result of multiple alphabet naming systems coexisting in different places and organizations. NATO was in the process of adopting the ICAO spelling alphabet, and apparently felt enough urgency that it adopted the proposed new alphabet with changes based on NATO's own research, to become effective on 1 January 1956,[27] but quickly issued a new directive on 1 March 1956[28] adopting the now official ICAO spelling alphabet, which had changed by one word (November) from NATO's earlier request to ICAO to modify a few words based on US Air Force research.
After all of the above study, only the five words representing the letters C, M, N, U, and X were replaced. The ICAO sent a recording of the newRadiotelephony Spelling Alphabet to all member states in November 1955.[10] The final version given in thetable above was implemented by the ICAO on1 March 1956,[11] and the ITU adopted it no later than 1959 when they mandated its usage via their official publication,Radio Regulations.[29] Because the ITU governs all international radio communications, it was also adopted by most radio operators, whether military, civilian, oramateur. It was finally adopted by the IMO in 1965.
During 1947 the ITU adopted the compoundLatinate prefix-number words (Nadazero,Unaone, etc.), later adopted by the IMO during 1965.[citation needed]
In the official version of the alphabet,[31] two spellings deviate from the English norm:Alfa andJuliett.Alfa is spelled with anf as it is in most European languages because the spellingAlpha may not be pronounced properly by native speakers of some languages – who may not know thatph should be pronounced asf. The spellingJuliett is used rather thanJuliet for the benefit of French speakers, because they may otherwise treat a single finalt as silent. For similar reasons,Charlie andUniform have alternative pronunciations where thech is pronounced "sh" and theu is pronounced "oo". Early on, the NATO alliance changedX-ray toXray in its version of the alphabet to ensure that it would be pronounced as one word rather than as two,[32] while the global organization ICAO keeps the spellingX-ray.
The alphabet is defined by various international conventions on radio, including:
| Letter | 1920 UECU[33] | 1927 (Washington, D.C.) International Radiotelegraph Convention (CCIR)[34] | 1932 General Radiocommunication and Additional Regulations (CCIR/ICAN)[41][42] | 1938 (Cairo) International Radiocommunication Conference code words[36] | 1947 (Atlantic City) International Radio Conference[43] | 1947 ICAO (from 1943 US–UK)[44] | 1947 ICAO alphabet (from ARRL[citation needed])[46] | 1947 ICAO Latin America/Caribbean[25] | 1947 IATA proposal to ICAO[25] | 1949 ICAO code words[25] | 1951 ICAO code words[26] | 1956 ICAO final code words[12] | 1959 (Geneva) ITU Administrative Radio Conference code words[38] | 1959 ITU pronunciations[38] | 2008–present ICAO code words[12] | 2005–present IMO pronunciations (English)[21] | 2005–present IMO pronunciations (French)[21] | 2008–present ICAO pronunciations[12] | 2018–present NATO pronunciations[16] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Argentine | Amsterdam | Amsterdam | Amsterdam | Amsterdam | ABLE | ADAM | ANA | ALPHA | Alfa | Alfa | Alfa | Alfa | AL FAH | Alfa | AL FAH | AL FAH | AL FAH | al-fah |
| B | Brussels | Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore | BAKER | BAKER | BRAZIL | BETA | Beta | Bravo | Bravo | Bravo | BRAH VOH | Bravo | BRAH VO | BRA VO | BRAH VOH | brah-voh |
| C | Canada | Canada | Casablanca | Casablanca | Casablanca | CHARLIE | CHARLIE | COCO | CHARLIE | Coca | Coca | Charlie | Charlie | CHAR LEEorSHAR LEE | Charlie | CHAR LEE (orSHAR LEE) | TCHAH LI (ouCHAR LI) | CHAR LEEorSHAR LEE | char-lee |
| D | Damascus | Denmark | Danemark | Danemark | Danemark | DOG | DAVID | DADO | DELTA | Delta | Delta | Delta | Delta | DELL TAH | Delta | DELL TAH | DEL TAH | DELL TAH | dell-tah |
| E | Ecuador | Eddystone | Edison | Edison | Edison | EASY | EDWARD | ELSA | EDWARD | Echo | Echo | Echo | Echo | ECK OH | Echo | ECK O | EK O | ECK OH | eck-oh |
| F | France | Francisco | Florida | Florida | Florida | FOX | FREDDIE | FIESTA | FOX | Foxtrot | Foxtrot | Foxtrot | Foxtrot | FOKS TROT | Foxtrot | FOKS TROT | FOX TROTT | FOKS TROT | foks-trot |
| G | Greece | Gibraltar | Gallipoli | Gallipoli | Gallipoli | GEORGE | GEORGE | GATO | GRAMMA | Golf | Gold | Golf | Golf | GOLF | Golf | GOLF | GOLF | GOLF | golf |
| H | Hanover | Hanover | Havana | Havana | Havana | HOW | HARRY | HOMBRE | HAVANA | Hotel | Hotel | Hotel | Hotel | HOHTELL | Hotel | HOHTELL | HOTÈLL | HOTELL | hoh-tel |
| I | Italy | Italy | Italia | Italia | Italia | ITEM | IDA | INDIA | ITALY | India | India | India | India | IN DEE AH | India | IN DEE AH | IN DI AH | IN DEE AH | in-dee-ah |
| J | Japan | Jerusalem | Jérusalem | Jérusalem | Jerusalem | JIG | JOHN | JULIO | JUPITER | Julietta | Juliett | Juliett | Juliett | JEW LEEETT | Juliett | JEW LEEETT | DJOU LIÈTT | JEW LEEETT | jew-lee-ett |
| K | Khartoum | Kimberley | Kilogramme | Kilogramme | Kilogramme | KING | KING | KILO | KILO | Kilo | Kilo | Kilo | Kilo | KEY LOH | Kilo | KEY LOH | KI LO | KEY LOH | key-loh |
| L | Lima | Liverpool | Liverpool | Liverpool | Liverpool | LOVE | LEWIS | LUIS | LITER | Lima | Lima | Lima | Lima | LEE MAH | Lima | LEE MAH | LI MAH | LEE MAH | lee-mah |
| M | Madrid | Madagascar | Madagascar | Madagascar | Madagascar | MIKE | MARY | MAMA | MAESTRO | Metro | Metro | Mike | Mike | MIKE | Mike | MIKE | MA ÏK | MIKE | mike |
| N | Nancy | Neufchatel | New York | New-York | New York | NAN | NANCY | NORMA | NORMA | Nectar | Nectar | November | November | NOVEM BER | November | NOVEM BER | NOVÈMM BER | NOVEM BER | no-vem-ber |
| O | Ostend | Ontario | Oslo | Oslo | Oslo | OBOE | OTTO | OPERA | OPERA | Oscar | Oscar | Oscar | Oscar | OSS CAH | Oscar | OSS CAH | OSS KAR | OSS CAH | oss-cah |
| P | Paris | Portugal | Paris | Paris | Paris | PETER | PETER | PERU | PERU | Polka | Papa | Papa | Papa | PAHPAH | Papa | PAHPAH | PAHPAH | PAHPAH | pah-pah |
| Q | Quebec | Quebec | Québec | Québec | Quebec | QUEEN | QUEEN | QUEBEC | QUEBEC | Quebec | Quebec | Quebec | Quebec | KEHBECK | Quebec | KEHBECK | KÉBÈK | KEHBECK | keh-beck |
| R | Rome | Rivoli | Roma | Roma | Roma | ROGER | ROBERT | ROSA | ROGER | Romeo | Romeo | Romeo | Romeo | ROW ME OH | Romeo | ROW ME OH | RO MI O | ROW ME OH | row-me-oh |
| S | Sardinia | Santiago | Santiago | Santiago | Santiago | SUGAR | SUSAN | SARA | SANTA | Sierra | Sierra | Sierra | Sierra | SEEAIR RAH | Sierra | SEEAIR RAH | SIÈR RAH | SEEAIR RAH | see-air-rah |
| T | Tokio | Tokio | Tripoli | Tripoli | Tripoli | TARE | THOMAS | TOMAS | THOMAS | Tango | Tango | Tango | Tango | TANG GO | Tango | TANG GO | TANG GO | TANG GO | tang-go |
| U | Uruguay | Uruguay | Upsala | Upsala | Upsala | UNCLE | UNION | URUGUAY | URSULA | Union | Union | Uniform | Uniform | YOU NEE FORMor OO NEE FORM | Uniform | YOU NEE FORM (orOO NEE FORM) | YOU NI FORM (ouOU NI FORM) | YOU NEE FORMorOO NEE FORM | you-nee-form |
| V | Victoria | Victoria | Valencia | Valencia | Valencia | VICTOR | VICTOR | VICTOR | VICTOR | Victor | Victor | Victor | Victor | VIK TAH | Victor | VIK TAH | VIK TAR | VIK TAH | vic-tah |
| W | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | WILLIAM | WILLIAM | WHISKEY | WHISKEY | Whiskey | Whiskey | Whiskey | Whiskey | WISS KEY | Whiskey | WISS KEY | OUISS KI | WISS KEY | wiss-key |
| X | Xaintrie | Xantippe | Xanthippe | Xanthippe | Xanthippe | XRAY | X-RAY | EQUIS | X-RAY | eXtra | eXtra | X-ray | X-ray | ECKSRAY | X-ray | ECKS RAY | ÈKSS RÉ | ECKS RAY | ecks-ray |
| Y | Yokohama | Yokohama | Yokohama | Yokohama | Yokohama | YOKE | YOUNG | YOLANDA | YORK | Yankey | Yankee | Yankee | Yankee | YANG KEY | Yankee | YANG KEY | YANG KI | YANG KEY | yang-key |
| Z | Zanzibar | Zululand | Zürich | Zurich | Zurich | ZEBRA | ZEBRA | ZETA | ? | Zebra | Zulu | Zulu | Zulu | ZOO LOO | Zulu | ZOO LOO | ZOU LOU | ZOO LOO | zoo-loo |
| 0 | Jérusalem[Note 7] | Jerusalem[Note 7] | Zero | Juliett[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: ZE-RO, ZERO) | zero | (see table of digits) | (see table of digits) | ZE-RO | zee-ro | |||||||||
| 1 | Amsterdam[Note 7] | Amsterdam[Note 7] | Wun | Alfa[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: WUN, WUN) | one | WUN | wun | |||||||||||
| 2 | Baltimore[Note 7] | Baltimore[Note 7] | Too | Bravo[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: TOO, BIS) | two | TOO | too | |||||||||||
| 3 | Casablanca[Note 7] | Casablanca[Note 7] | Thuh-ree | Charlie[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: TREE, TER) | three | TREE | tree | |||||||||||
| 4 | Danemark[Note 7] | Danemark[Note 7] | Fo-wer | Delta[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: FOW-ER, QUARTO) | four | FOW-er | fow-er | |||||||||||
| 5 | Edison[Note 7] | Edison[Note 7] | Fi-yiv | Echo[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: FIFE, PENTA) | five | FIFE | fife | |||||||||||
| 6 | Florida[Note 7] | Florida[Note 7] | Six | Foxtrot[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: SIX, SAXO) | six | SIX | six | |||||||||||
| 7 | Gallipoli[Note 7] | Gallipoli[Note 7] | Seven | Golf[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: SEV-EN, SETTE) | seven | SEV-en | sev-en | |||||||||||
| 8 | Havana[Note 7] | Havana[Note 7] | Ate | Hotel[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: AIT, OCTO) | eight | AIT | ait | |||||||||||
| 9 | Italia[Note 7] | Italia[Note 7] | Niner | India[Note 7] | (alt. proposals: NIN-ER, NONA) | nine | NIN-er | nin-er | |||||||||||
| . (decimal point) | (proposals: DAY-SEE-MAL, DECIMAL) | decimal | DAY-SEE-MAL | DÉ-SI-MAL | DAY-SEE-MAL | ||||||||||||||
| Hundred | hundred | HUN-dred | |||||||||||||||||
| Thousand | (proposals: TOUS-AND, –) | thousand | TOU-SAND | ||||||||||||||||
| , | Kilogramme[Note 7] | Kilogramme[Note 7] | Kilo[Note 7] | ||||||||||||||||
| / (fraction bar) | Liverpool[Note 7] | Liverpool[Note 7] | Lima[Note 7] | ||||||||||||||||
| (break signal) | Madagascar[Note 7] | Madagascar[Note 7] | Mike[Note 7] | ||||||||||||||||
| . (punctuation) | New-York[Note 7] | New York[Note 7] | November[Note 7] | STOP | STOP |
For the 1938 and 1947 phonetics, each transmission of figures is preceded and followed by the words "as a number" spoken twice.
The ITU adopted theIMO phonetic spelling alphabet in 1959,[47] and in 1969 specified that it be "for application in the maritime mobile service only".[48]
Pronunciation was not defined prior to 1959. For the post-1959 phonetics, the underlined syllable of each letter word should be emphasized, and each syllable of the code words for the post-1969 figures should be equally emphasized.
The Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet is used by theInternational Civil Aviation Organization for international aircraft communications.[31][12]
| Letter | 1932 General Radiocommunication and Additional Regulations (CCIR/ICAN)[41][42] | 1946 ICAO Second Session of the Communications Division (same asJoint Army/Navy)[25] | 1947 ICAO (same as 1943 US-UK)[44] | 1947 ICAO alphabet (adopted exactly from ARRL[46] | 1947 ICAO Latin America / Caribbean[25] | 1949 ICAO code words[25] | 1951 ICAO code words[26] | 1956–present ICAO code words[12] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Amsterdam | Able | ABLE | ADAM | ANA | Alfa | Alfa | Alfa |
| B | Baltimore | Baker | BAKER | BAKER | BRAZIL | Beta | Bravo | Bravo |
| C | Casablanca | Charlie | CHARLIE | CHARLIE | COCO | Coca | Coca | Charlie |
| D | Danemark | Dog | DOG | DAVID | DADO | Delta | Delta | Delta |
| E | Edison | Easy | EASY | EDWARD | ELSA | Echo | Echo | Echo |
| F | Florida | Fox | FOX | FREDDIE | FIESTA | Foxtrot | Foxtrot | Foxtrot |
| G | Gallipoli | George | GEORGE | GEORGE | GATO | Golf | Gold | Golf |
| H | Havana | How | HOW | HARRY | HOMBRE | Hotel | Hotel | Hotel |
| I | Italia | Item | ITEM | IDA | INDIA | India | India | India |
| J | Jérusalem | Jig | JIG | JOHN | JULIO | Julietta | Juliett | Juliett |
| K | Kilogramme | King | KING | KING | KILO | Kilo | Kilo | Kilo |
| L | Liverpool | Love | LOVE | LEWIS | LUIS | Lima | Lima | Lima |
| M | Madagascar | Mike | MIKE | MARY | MAMA | Metro | Metro | Mike |
| N | New York | Nan (later Nickel) | NAN | NANCY | NORMA | Nectar | Nectar | November |
| O | Oslo | Oboe | OBOE | OTTO | OPERA | Oscar | Oscar | Oscar |
| P | Paris | Peter | PETER | PETER | PERU | Polka | Papa | Papa |
| Q | Québec | Queen | QUEEN | QUEEN | QUEBEC | Quebec | Quebec | Quebec |
| R | Roma | Roger | ROGER | ROBERT | ROSA | Romeo | Romeo | Romeo |
| S | Santiago | Sail/Sugar | SUGAR | SUSAN | SARA | Sierra | Sierra | Sierra |
| T | Tripoli | Tare | TARE | THOMAS | TOMAS | Tango | Tango | Tango |
| U | Upsala | Uncle | UNCLE | UNION | URUGUAY | Union | Union | Uniform |
| V | Valencia | Victor | VICTOR | VICTOR | VICTOR | Victor | Victor | Victor |
| W | Washington | William | WILLIAM | WILLIAM | WHISKEY | Whiskey | Whiskey | Whisky |
| X | Xanthippe | X-ray | XRAY | X-RAY | EQUIS | X-RAY | eXtra | X-ray |
| Y | Yokohama | Yoke | YOKE | YOUNG | YOLANDA | Yankey | Yankee | Yankee |
| Z | Zürich | Zebra | ZEBRA | ZEBRA | ZETA | Zebra | Zulu | Zulu |
| 0 | Zero | Zero | Zero | |||||
| 1 | One | Wun | One | |||||
| 2 | Two | Too | Two | |||||
| 3 | Three | Thuh-ree | Three | |||||
| 4 | Four | Fo-wer | Four | |||||
| 5 | Five | Fi-yiv | Five | |||||
| 6 | Six | Six | Six | |||||
| 7 | Seven | Seven | Seven | |||||
| 8 | Eight | Ate | Eight | |||||
| 9 | Nine | Niner | Niner | |||||
| . | Decimal | |||||||
| 100 | Hundred | |||||||
| 1000 | Thousand |
The ITU-R Radiotelephony Alphabet is used by theInternational Maritime Organization for international marine communications.
| Letter | 1932–1965 IMO code words[49] | 1965–present (WRC-03) IMO code words[50] | 1967 WARC code words[51] | 2000–present IMO SMCP pronunciations[50] | 1967 WARC pronunciations[51] | 2007–present ITU-R pronunciations[20] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Amsterdam | Alfa | Alfa | AL FAH | AL FAH | |
| B | Baltimore | Bravo | Bravo | BRAH VOH | BRAH VOH | |
| C | Casablanca | Charlie | Charlie | CHAR LEEorSHAR LEE | CHAR LEEorSHAR LEE | |
| D | Danemark | Delta | Delta | DELL TAH | DELL TAH | |
| E | Edison | Echo | Echo | ECK OH | ECK OH | |
| F | Florida | Foxtrot | Foxtrot | FOKS TROT | FOKS TROT | |
| G | Gallipoli | Golf | Golf | GOLF | GOLF | |
| H | Havana | Hotel | Hotel | HOHTELL | HOHTELL | |
| I | Italia | India | India | IN DEE AH | IN DEE AH | |
| J | Jérusalem | Juliett | Juliet | JEW LEEETT | JEW LEEETT | |
| K | Kilogramme | Kilo | Kilo | KEY LOH | KEY LOH | |
| L | Liverpool | Lima | Lima | LEE MAH | LEE MAH | |
| M | Madagascar | Mike | Mike | MIKE | MIKE | |
| N | New-York | November | November | NOVEM BER | NOVEM BER | |
| O | Oslo | Oscar | Oscar | OSS CAH | OSS CAH | |
| P | Paris | Papa | Papa | PAHPAH | PAHPAH | |
| Q | Québec | Quebec | Quebec | KEHBECK | KEHBECK | |
| R | Roma | Romeo | Romeo | ROW ME OH | ROW ME OH | |
| S | Santiago | Sierra | Sierra | SEEAIR RAH | SEEAIR RAH | |
| T | Tripoli | Tango | Tango | TANG GO | TANG GO | |
| U | Upsala | Uniform | Uniform | YOU NEE FORMor OO NEE FORM | YOU NEE FORMor OO NEE FORM | |
| V | Valencia | Victor | Victor | VIK TAH | VIK TAH | |
| W | Washington | Whisky | Whisky | WISS KEY | WISS KEY | |
| X | Xanthippe | X-ray | X-ray | ECKSRAY | ECKSRAY | |
| Y | Yokohama | Yankee | Yankee | YANG KEY | YANG KEY | |
| Z | Zurich | Zulu | Zulu | ZOO LOO | ZOO LOO | |
| 0 | Zero | ZEERO | NADAZERO | ZEERO | NAH-DAH-ZAY-ROH | NAH-DAH-ZAY-ROH |
| 1 | One | WUN | UNAONE | WUN | OO-NAH-WUN | OO-NAH-WUN |
| 2 | Two | TOO | BISSOTWO | TOO | BEES-SOH-TOO | BEES-SOH-TOO |
| 3 | Three | TREE | TERRATHREE | TREE | TAY-RAH-TREE | TAY-RAH-TREE |
| 4 | Four | FOWER | KARTEFOUR | FOWER | KAR-TAY-FOWER | KAR-TAY-FOWER |
| 5 | Five | FIFE | PANTAFIVE | FIFE | PAN-TAH-FIVE | PAN-TAH-FIVE |
| 6 | Six | SIX | SOXISIX | SIX | SOK-SEE-SIX | SOK-SEE-SIX |
| 7 | Seven | SEVEN | SETTESEVEN | SEVEN | SAY-TAY-SEVEN | SAY-TAY-SEVEN |
| 8 | Eight | AIT | OKTOEIGHT | AIT | OK-TOH-AIT | OK-TOH-AIT |
| 9 | Nine | NINER | NOVENINE | NINER | NO-VAY-NINER | NO-VAY-NINER |
| . | DECIMAL | DAY-SEE-MAL | DAY-SEE-MAL | |||
| . | Full stop | STOP | STOP | STOP | ||
| , | Comma | |||||
| Break signal | ||||||
| ⁄ | Fraction bar | |||||
| 1000 | TOUSAND | TOUSAND | ||||
Since "Nectar" was changed to "November" in 1956, the code has been mostly stable. However, there is occasional regional substitution of a few code words, such as replacing them with earlier variants, to avoid confusion with local terminology.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)!ATL 08/177 ATL TWY DIXIE CHANGED TO TWY D 2008181933-PERM
