International Phonetic Code, International Morse Code, Q codes, etc.

Last updated April 8, 2009
© 2009, MARITIMES SCANNING SITE, all rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET

The phonetic alphabet shown is that promulgated by the ICAO and subsequently adopted by many other international organizations.   Note that these are basically English words as English is the default international language for aeronautics, shipping, and for military use.    The spellings for Juliett and Alfa are concessions to non-English speakers in order to facilitate standardized pronunciation.   Having said that, it remains true that there is considerable variation in pronunciation just as there are within English itself; but at least two actual mispronunciations are common:    "kwebec" instead of "kebec"  and "gulf" instead of "golf"

INTERNATIONAL MORSE CODE

This code has fallen out of general use for communications with the advent of newer technologies but is still used by amateur radio operators and is as well still employed for the identification of aero and marine beacons and other radio navigation facilities.   Additionally it is often used by automated station identification systems in the land fixed and mobile services.  For example the Morse code renditions of the official call signs of sites in the NS TMR may be heard transmitted from time to time if you listen in conventional mode.  These are not heard in trunking mode. 

In this table special character letters are omitted  for the time being.

COMMON PROCEDURAL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS USED IN RADIO

These could be considered parts of codes but are more commonly thought of as individual items rather than parts of a system. 

CW indicates it is used in radiotelegraphy.  W indicates a sort of shorthand in written expression.  V indicates used by voice.

This list is only of a few common expressions and excludes all technical terms and abbreviations.

* In amateur radio it implies calling anyone who wants to answer.

**sent as one character, not three letters:   ...---...

TEN CODES

Ten codes are used in the land-based radio services including emergency services, government and business, as well as in the CB personal use band.  These vary considerably from agency to agency; however some are almost consistent in usage such as 10-4 and 10-20.   Some users think of them as a sort of private jargon or code that helps to keep meanings of transmissions secret or secure but this is in general not true at all.    Many of the 10-codes are well known, and most others are of little consequence if outsiders overhear and understand them.   The main purpose of 10 codes was originally to reduce time on the air used in expressing common phrases.  The ``Ten`` prefix supposedly comes from the original user agency, the tenth precinct in an American police department.  The prefix is a device to force users to not say the important part first before the intended listener has their ears tuned in to the transmission.    For a good explanation of all this and a more complete chart, go to this wikipedia article 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-code

The use of Ten codes has become so common that there is now a problem in that various agencies have developed their own versions so that in interagency operations there may be dangerous consequences or at least confusion and chaos.     In addition it can fairly be said that in most cases it would nowadays be better and clearer and perhaps even shorter to use plain language.

Here are some of the more common ones in use in the Maritimes but this list does not pertain to any particular agency;