Radiotelephone

procedure
Radio Telephone(R/T) Communications play an
important part in our day-to-day fleet
operation and in the control of coastal and
harbor shipping. R/T is the easiest, most
convenient method of relaying real-world
situation traffic from ship to ship, ship to shore
or shore to ship. There is no tape to cut and
send, there are no typewriters keys to depress.
All is necessary is to pick up a transmitting
microphone and speak out.
R/T transmission should be as short and concise as
possible consistent with clarity. Often, personnel other
than trained operators use R/T equipment. These
personnel must be instructed in the proper methods of
using the microphone and equipment as well as
cautioned them of the ease by which the transmission
can be intercepted by unfriendly forces.
1. In making a call by radio: first, the name of the
called station is given followed by the name and
the call sign of the calling station.

2. When testing a radiotelephone transmitter the

operator should clearly indicate that he is testing,
and that station call sign or name of the station, as
required by the rules, should be clearly given.
Tests should be as brief as possible.
3. If a radio station is used only for occasional calls, it
is a good practice to test the station regularly.
Regular tests may reveal defects or faults which, if
corrected immediately may prevent delays when
communication are necessary. Caution should be
observed by person testing a station to make
certain their test message will not interfere with
other communications in progress on the same
channel.
4. Technical repairs or adjustments to radiotelephone
communication set/stations are made only by
qualified technician(s).

5. When a designated operator permits another person

to use the microphone and talk over the facilities of
the station he should remember that he continues
to bear responsibility for the proper operation of
the station.
1. Listen before transmitting. Unauthorized break-in
is lubberly and causes confusion. Often neither
transmission gets through.
 2. Speak clearly and distinctly at a copying speed
on short phrases. Slurred syllables and clipped
speech are both hard to understand. A widespread
error among untrained operators is the failure to
emphasize vowel sufficiently.
 3. Use standard pronunciation. Speech with
geographical peculiarities is difficult for persons
from other parts of the country to understand.
4. Speak clearly and distinctly at a copying speed on short
phrases. Slurred syllables and clipped speech are both
hard to understand. A widespread error among untrained
operators is the failure to emphasize vowel sufficiently.
 
5. Use standard pronunciation. Speech with geographical
peculiarities is difficult for persons from other parts of
the country to understand.
 
6. Be natural. Maintain a normal speaking rhythm. Group
words to a natural manner. Send your message phrase by
phrase rather than word by work.
7. Give an accurate evaluation in a response to a request
for a radio check. A transmission with feedback and/or a
high level of background noise is not “Loud and Clear”
even though the message can be understood.
 
8. Shield your microphone. Keep your head and body
between noise-generating sources and the microphone
while transmitting.
 
9. Pause momentarily, as much as possible, when
transmitting long messages, to allow
 
10. Any station with higher precedence messages to
break in.
 
11. Keep speaker volumes to moderate level. 
12. Adhere strictly to prescribed procedures.
13. Transact your business and get off the air.
1. Transmit while surrounded by other persons loudly
discussing the next maneuver or event. The noise
picked up by the microphone confuses receiving
stations and causes a serious security violation.
 
2. Hold the microphone button in the push to talk
position until absolutely ready to transmit. Your
carrier will block communication net.
3.Hold a handset loosely. A firm pressure on the
microphone button prevents unintentional release
and consequent transmission interruption.
4. Send test signals for longer than 10 seconds.
 
5. Transmit without proper authorization.

6. Violate radio silence.

 
7. Hold the microphone button in the push to talk
position until absolutely ready to transmit. Your
carrier will block communication net.
8. Hold a handset loosely. A firm pressure on the
microphone button prevents unintentional release
and consequent transmission interruption.
 
9. Send test signals for longer than 10 seconds.

10. Transmit without proper authorization.

 In cases of communications difficulties, we must
identify spoken letters to avoid confusion, of
which, the standard phonetic alphabets shall be
used. The following are the accepted
phonetics:
LETTE PHONETI PRONOUNCIATIO LETTE PHONETI PRONOUNCIATIO
R C N R C N
ALPHABE ALPHABE
T T
A ALFA AL – FAH N NOVEMBE NO – VEM – BER
R
B BRAVO BRA – VOH O OSCAR OSS – CAH
C CHARLIE CHAR – LEE P PAPA PAH – PAH
D DELTA DELL – TAH Q QUEBEC KEH – BECK
E ECHO ECK – OH R ROMEO ROW – ME – OH
F FOXTROT FOKS – TROT S SIERRA SEE – AIR – RAH
G GOLF GOLF T TANGO TANG – GO
H HOTEL HOH – TELL U UNIFORM YOU – NEE – FORM
I INDIA IN – DEE – AH V VICTOR VIK – TAH
J JULIET JEW – LEE – ETT W WHISKY WISS – KEY
K KILO KEY – LOH X XRAY ECKS – RAY
L LIMA LEE – MAH Y YANKEE YANG – KEY
M MIKE MIKE Z ZULU ZOO – LOO
To distinguish numerals from words similarly
pronounced, the proword “FIGURES” may be used
preceding, such numbers. When numerals are
transmitted by radiotelephone, the following rules
for pronunciation shall be observed.
Numbers will be transmitted digit by digit except
that exact multiples of thousands may be spoken as
such
NUMERAL SPOKEN AS

0 ZERO
1 WUN

2 TOO

3 TREE
4 FOW – ER

5 FIFE

6 SIX
7 SEV-EN

8 AIT

9 NINER
 COMMONLY USED PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS & MEANINGS

A. PRECEDENCE OF PROWORDS WITH EQUIVALENT PROSIGNS

FLASH – ZULU (Z) – messages must be sent in less than 10 minutes

IMMEDIATE = OSCAR(O) - sent within 30 minutes or one hour

PRIORITY = PAPA (P) – sent from one to six hours

ROUTINE = ROMEO (R) – sent after all higher precedences.

B. PROWORDS USED TO IDENTIFY A PORTION OF A TRANSMISSION

AA - ALL AFTER - = portion of the message to which I have reference is all that which
follows.
AB - ALL BEFORE = the portion of the message to which I have reference is all that which precedes

WA - WORD AFTER = the word of the message to which I have reference is that which follows.

WB - WORD BEFORE = the word of the message to which I have reference is that which precedes
C. ENDING PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS
K – OVER = this is the end of my transmission to you and a response is necessary. Go ahead transmit
or an invitation to transmit.

AR – OUT = this is the end of our transmission to you and no answer is required or expected

AR – DISREGARD THEIR TRANSMISSION OUT = this transmission is in error. This proword will
not be used to cancel messages that have been completely transmitted or for which receipts or
acknowledgements have been receive.

R – ROGER = I have received your last transmission very satisfactorily

WILCO = I have received, understood your message will comply accordingly

D. PAUSE PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS

AS – WAIT – I must pause for a few seconds

AS – AR – WAIT OUT – I must pause longer than a few seconds

E. SEPARATION PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS

BT – BREAK – I hereby indicate the separation of the text from other portions of the message

(/) SLANT SIGN – Oblique stroke representing division or used to represent “or” as in o/a (On or About)
(-) – DASH OR HYPHEN – represents a pause between phrases
F. PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS FOLLOWED BY ONE OR MORE CALL SIGNS OR ADDRESS GROUP
DE – THIS IS – This transmission is from the station whose designator immediately follows

TO – TO – The addressee immediately following are addressed or action

FM – FROM – The originator of this message is indicated by the address designator immediately following
XMT – EXEMPT – The addresses immediately following are exempted from a collective call

G. TRANSMISSION INSTRUCTION PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS

T – RELAY TO – Transmit this message to all addresses immediately following this proword or
prosign, the address component is mandatory when this prosign or proword is used.

G – READBACK – Repeat this entire transmission back to me exactly as received

F – DO NOT ANSWER – Stations called are not to answer this call. When this proword or prosign is
employed the transmission shall be ended with the proword or prosign OUT or AR.

H. GROUP COUNT PROWORD AND PROSIGN

GR – GROUPS – This message contains the number of groups indicated by the numeral following

GNRC – GROUP NOT COUNTED – The groups in this message have not been counted
I. PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS USED WITH EXECUTIVE METHOD

I X – EXECUTE TO FOLLOW – Action on the message or signal which follows is to be carried out
upon receipt of the proword/prosign “Execute” or IX 5 second dash. To be used only with Delayed
Executive Method.

I X (5 second dash) – EXECUTE – Action on the message or signal to which this applies

IMMEDIATE EXECUTE – Action on the message or signal following is to be carried out upon
receipt of the
“EXECUTE” – To be used only with the Immediate Executive Method

J. GENERAL PROWORDS AND PROSIGNS

AA – UNKNOWN STATION – (Flashing Light) the identity of the station I am attempting to establish
communication is unknown.

ADDRESS GROUP – The group that follows is an address group

B – MORE TO FOLLOW – Transmitting station has additional traffic for the receiving station

BROADCAST YOUR NET – Link the two (2) nets under your control for automatic rebroadcast
 C – CORRECT – You are correct or, what you have
transmitted is correct
 CALLSIGN – The group that follows is a call sign
 DISREGARD IT / DISREGARD THIS TRANSMISSION IS IN
ERROR – This proword or prosign shall not be
used to cancel any message that has been
completely transmitted and for which receipt
or acknowledgement has been received.
 EEEEEEE (8 E’s) – CORRECTION – An error has been
made in this transmission. The correct version is
 EEEEEEE AR – DISREGARD THIS TRANSMISSION – OUT – This
transmission is in error. Disregard it
 FIGURES – Numerals or numbers will follow
 G – I AM READ BACK – The following is my response to your instruction
to read back
 HM HM HM – SILENCE – (Repeated three or more times) – cease
transmission on this net immediately (When authentication system is
in force) Silence will be maintained until lifted.
 IMI – SAY AGAIN – Repeat all your last transmission, followed by
identification data, it means
“Repeat _____”
 INITIAL – The following phonetic equivalent is to be recorded as a
single letter of a name
 INT – INTERROGATIVE – Am asking a question
 INT ZNB – AUTHENTICATE – The station called is to reply to
your challenge which follows
 I AUTHENTICATE – The group that follows is the reply to
your challenge to authenticate
 I SPELL – I shall spell the next word phonetically
 J – VERIFY – That which follows has been verified at your
request and is reported to be used only as a reply to
verify
 MESSAGE FOLLOWS – a message which requires recording is
about to follow (Transmitted immediately after the call)
 NEGATIVE – Means NO when question is answerable by yes or
no
 NR NUMBER – Message identification or station serial number
of the message
 SVC – SERVICE – The message that follows is a service message
 SIGNALS – The groups which follow are taken from a signal
book. This is intended for use when tactical signals are
passed on non-tactical nets
 SILENCE LIFTED – Silence is lifted, resume transmission
 SPEAK SLOWER – Your transmission is too fast. Reduce speed
transmission
 STOP REBROADCASTING – Cut the automatic link between the two
nets that are being broadcast and revert to normal
working/transmission
 TIME – That which immediately follows is the time or date-time
group (DTG) of the message.
 VERIFY – Verify entire message (for portion indicated) with the
originator and send correct version.
 WORD’S TWICE – Communications is difficult, transmit each phrase
or each code group twice. (May be used as an order or request)
 WRONG – Your last transmission was incorrect, the correct version is
_______________.
 ZNB –AUTHENTICATION IS – Transmission authentication of this
message is _____________________.