NATO Phonetic Alphabet
From SJA
SJA has adopted the NATO phonetic alphabet for general use on our telephone and radio systems.
When talking over the phone or radio, use the NATO Phonetic Alphabet to spell out something. This helps to avoid confusion between O (“oh” as in the letter) or 0 (“oh” as in the number), Bee, Cee, Dee, Eee, Gee, Pee, Vee, Zee, and such…
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Alphabet and pronunciation
The pronunciation of the words in the alphabet as well as numbers may vary according to the language habits of the speakers. In order to eliminate wide variations in pronunciation, posters illustrating the pronunciation desired are available from the ICAO.
Letters
| Letter | Code word | Pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Alfa (ICAO, ITU, IMO, FAA) Alpha (ANSI) | AL FAH | |
| B | Bravo | BRAH VOH | |
| C | Charlie | CHAR LEE or SHAR LEE | |
| D | Delta | DELL TAH | |
| E | Echo | ECK OH | |
| F | Foxtrot | FOKS TROT | |
| G | Golf | GOLF | |
| H | Hotel | HO TELL (ICAO) HOH TELL (ITU, IMO, FAA) | |
| I | India | IN DEE AH | |
| J | Juliett (ICAO, ITU, IMO, FAA) Juliet (ANSI) | JEW LEE ETT | |
| K | Kilo | KEY LOH | |
| L | Lima | LEE MAH | |
| M | Mike | MIKE | |
| N | November | NO VEM BER | |
| O | Oscar | OSS CAH | |
| P | Papa | PAH PAH | |
| Q | Quebec | KEH BECK | |
| R | Romeo | ROW ME OH | |
| S | Sierra | SEE AIR RAH (ICAO, ITU, IMO) SEE AIR AH (FAA) | |
| T | Tango | TANG GO | |
| U | Uniform | YOU NEE FORM or OO NEE FORM | |
| V | Victor | VIK TAH | |
| W | Whiskey | WISS KEY | |
| X | X-ray or Xray | ECKS RAY (ICAO, ITU) ECKS RAY (IMO, FAA) | |
| Y | Yankee | YANG KEY | |
| Z | Zulu | ZOO LOO |
Digits
| Digit | Code word | Pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Zero (FAA) Nadazero (ITU, IMO) | ZE RO (ICAO, FAA) NAH-DAH-ZAY-ROH (ITU, IMO) | |
| 1 | One (FAA) Unaone (ITU, IMO) | WUN (ICAO, FAA) OO-NAH-WUN (ITU, IMO) | |
| 2 | Two (FAA) Bissotwo (ITU, IMO) | TOO (ICAO, FAA) BEES-SOH-TOO (ITU, IMO) | |
| 3 | Three (FAA) Terrathree (ITU, IMO) | TREE (ICAO, FAA) TAY-RAH-TREE (ITU, IMO) | |
| 4 | Four (FAA) Kartefour (ITU, IMO) | FOW ER (ICAO, FAA) KAR-TAY-FOWER (ITU, IMO) | |
| 5 | Five (FAA) Pantafive (ITU, IMO) | FIFE (ICAO, FAA) PAN-TAH-FIVE (ITU, IMO) | |
| 6 | Six (FAA) Soxisix (ITU, IMO) | SIX (ICAO, FAA) SOK-SEE-SIX (ITU, IMO) | |
| 7 | Seven (FAA) Setteseven (ITU, IMO) | SEV EN (ICAO, FAA) SAY-TAY-SEVEN (ITU, IMO) | |
| 8 | Eight (FAA) Oktoeight (ITU, IMO) | AIT (ICAO, FAA) OK-TOH-AIT (ITU, IMO) | |
| 9 | Nine (FAA) Novenine (ITU, IMO) (No 'r' in spellings) | NIN ER (ICAO, FAA) NO-VAY-NINER (ITU, IMO) |
Usage
The alphabet is used to spell out parts of a message containing letters and numbers to avoid confusion, because many letters sound similar, for instance "n" and "m" or "b" and "d". For instance the message "proceed to map grid DH98" could be transmitted as "proceed to map grid Delta-Hotel-Niner-Ait". Using "Delta" instead of "D" avoids confusion between "BH98" and "DH98". The unusual pronunciation of certain numbers was designed to reduce confusion, eg, "Fife" instead of "Five" to avoid confusion with "Fire".
In addition to the traditional military usage, civilian industry uses the alphabet to combat similar problems in the transmission of messages over telephone systems. For example, it is often used in the retail industry where customer or site details are spoken over the telephone (in order to authorize a credit agreement or confirming stock codes), although ad hoc coding is often used in that instance. It has found heavy usage in the information technology industry to accurately and quickly communicate serial/reference codes (which can be and frequently are extremely long) or other specialized information by voice.
