Radio Communication Guide

[Scorpion]

After giving a presentation on basic radio communication skills at a recent Stormblade MILSIM Open, I've received a few PMs requesting a guide like this one. So please, for all those current and former military, chime in with anything I missed

Updated 6.26.2009

BASIC RADIO TRANSMISSION UNDERSTANDING
* Messages should be short and to the point.
* Messages should be spoken clearly and quickly, but not rushed to avoid confusion on the other end.
* Conversations, or first transmissions, should always begin with an ID of the person/unit you are speaking to and an ID of yourself(the sender).
* Messages should always conclude with a confirmation, or "end transmission."

To illustrate these above guidelines I will give you a short conversation over radio as it would normally happen under a MILSIM event or in most real world situations. NOTE- For Veterans I am going to make these long winded so all newbies can get the gist, I am well aware of the various shortcuts that can be taken to save time. Remember this is a beginner’s course.




"Command this is Alpha, how copy"
"This is Command, go ahead Alpha"
"Command, I observe 2 vehicles, 200yrds NE of my position, moving south, appear to be troop transport, please advise, over"
"Alpha, we copy 2 troop carriers, 200yrds NE of you, moving south. Can you ID the vehicles as friendly, over"
"Command, negative, the vehicles are hostile, over"
"Copy alpha, stand by for further orders, over"
"Solid copy command, Alpha, out"




OPENING A RADIO CONVERSATION/TRANMISSION

"Command this is Alpha, how copy?"
- Alpha, the transmission sender is ID'ing who he is talking to(Command).
- Alpha then ID's himself as the message sender so the receiver(Command) knows who to respond to.
- Alpha then asks if Command can hear him clearly with "how copy".
NOTE- You can use many different confirmations such as "How copy", "Do you read", "Are you receiving". But remember, the shortest and most clear way is the best.

"This is Command, go ahead Alpha"
- Command, the transmission receiver is confirming that they did indeed hear Alpha's request to transmit, and they have ID'ed themselves as Command so Alpha knows who to respond to.
Note - You can use many different confirmations such as "This is Command, send it", "Alpha go ahead", "Alpha send traffic", "Roger alpha, send it". But remember, the shorted and most clear way is the best.

RELAYING MESSAGE / SENDING INFORMATION

NOTE- When relaying messages or anytime during a transmission other than OPENING OR CLOSING, conclude your transmission with "over". This tells the person you are speaking you that you are finished speaking, and that they may now respond to you. This also takes away any guessing from the receiving person if you have lost radio contact or your messages were cut short.

NOTE- "NEVER SAY "REPEAT!" If you do not hear a part of a message or it's broken or partial tell the sender, "say again" or "say again last", or "your last was broken, send again", or "did not copy last, re-send. Repeat is NOT the same as "Say again". DO NOT CONFUSE THIS.


"Command, I observe 2 vehicles, 200yrds NE of my position, moving south, appear to be troop transport, please advise, over"
- Alpha is telling command what he sees in as much detail as he can while not giving too much information. He explains what he sees, how many, where they are, and what they are doing. Then he asks what Command wants to do with the information he has given them.

"Alpha, we copy 2 troop carriers, 200yrds NE of you, moving south. Can you ID the vehicles as friendly, over"
- Command informs Alpha they heard what Alpha sent and say it back to him. Then they tell Alpha they need to know more, they ask if the vehicles are hostile.

"Command, negative, the vehicles are hostile, over"
- Alpha confirms the vehicles are hostile, and then waits for Command to report back.

"Copy alpha, stand by for further orders"
- Command confirms what Alpha is telling him and informs Alpha to stand by, or wait, for further orders to be issued to him.

CLOSING TRANSMISSION
NOTE- When closing a transmission, always use the word "out" to conclude your last message. YOU MUST END ALL final transmissions with this or else the person you are speaking with will assume you have more to say.

"Solid copy command, Alpha out"
- Alpha confirms Command's last transmission with "solid copy" and then signs off the radio traffic with "alpha out". When you say "out" at the end of your transmission this signals the other person that you are finished communicating with them. ONLY the unit/person who BEGINS the initial transmission says "out" to close the transmision. The receiving unit/person NEVER says "out" or attempts to conclude the transmission.


NOTES

YOU MUST REMAIN CALM when speaking on the radio or you will cause more harm than good by confusing the person you are speaking with, or by sending partial transmissions. Properly phrased, correctly stated, and quickly conveyed radio traffic WILL make or break any operation. Good, clear communication is the single most essential part of any operation. No amount of weaponry, tactics, or know-how can offset a lack of good communication during combat.

BONUS
Here is a faster way of stating the same information as above, but with a more advanced understanding of radio communication.

"Command, Alpha"
"Send it Alpha"
"Command, we observe 2 vehicles, 200yrds NE of my position, moving south, appear to be troop transport, over"
"Alpha, we copy, are the vehicles friendly, over"
"Negative command"
"Copy, stand by for further orders"
"Alpha, out"

As you can see this is a very abbreviated version of the transmission above. It can be sent this way between small groups of units, or at most airsoft events where the radio operators already know everyone they are talking to and will be able to ID themselves quickly. DO NOT ATTEMPT this type if transmission if you are not familiar with proper radio commands and keywords. You will only get confused, and confuse those you are speaking to.


Knowing your alphabet and numbers can also help in spelling words out and or ID'ing units on the radio traffic. Here is it for review...

A Alpha (AL-FA)
B Bravo
C Charlie
D Delta
E Echo (EK-O)
F Foxtrot (FOX-TROT)
G Gulf
H Hotel
I India (IN-D-AA)
J Juliet (JUL-E-ET)
K Kilo (KI-LO)
L Lima (LI-MA)
M Mike
N November
O Oscar
P Papa
Q Quebec (KEH-BEK)
R Romeo (ROM-E-O)
S Sierra
T Tango
U Uniform
V Victor
W Whiskey
X Xray
Y Yankee
Z Zulu

1 (WUN)
2 (TOO)
3 (TREE)
4 (FOW-ER)
5 (FIFE)
6 (SICKS)
7 (SEV-EN)
8 (AIT)
9 (NIN-ER)
0 (ZE-RO)


Following letters and numbers there are also various shortcut commands you can issue when in transmission with another person/unit. Here are a few that apply to Airsoft and general use....(Credit- BishopMP)

BREAK= Indicates the seperation of the text from other portions of the message.
SAY AGAIN LAST= Receiver requests sender to repeat last segment of (or whole) transmission.
CORRECTION= Sender corrects info in message.
DISREGARD= Transmission is in error. disregard it.
I READ BACK= Sender is requesting receiver to read back the following in transmission.
I SAY AGAIN= Sender is repeating transmission or portion indicated.
I SPELL= I will spell the next word phonetically.
ROGER= I have received your last transmission satisfactorily.
WAIT= I must pause for a few seconds.
WAIT OUT= I must pause for longer than a few seconds.
WAIT "#"= I must pause for "#" of minutes. (example, "wait 1", implies receiver to wait 1 minute)
WILCO= I have received your signal, understand it, and will comply. (to be used only by the addressee, since the meaning of ROGER is included in that of WILCO, the two prowords and NEVER used together.)


Various commands - Advanced Knowledge (Credit - Miyagi, torque, Snipe)

*To call for total radio silence until Priority messages/traffic is sent to those who need it most, use any of the following commands. Note - Only a command or top tier element/RTO should be calling for these codes as this is understood to STOP all radio traffic, not just the traffic on your direct channel.*

"FLASH FLASH FLASH "
"SILENCE ON THE NET"
"RADIO DARK"


*To ascertain how someone is hearing you here is a layout of terms and meaning*

Signal Strength -------------- Signal Clarity
Loud..................................Clear
Good..................................Readable
Weak.................................Unreadable
Very Weak..........................Distorted
Fading With Interference......Intermittent

*With any transmission you should follow the basic SALUTE report guidelines*

Situation - The current status of yourself/unit and the persons/objects you are observing.
Activity - The actions the persons/objects you are observing are undertaking.
Location - The specific location you and the object/persons you observe are located.
Time - The current time.
Equipment - The equipment being used by the people/objects you are observing.



There are many finer points to sending and receiving radio traffic in game, and I'll reserve this space to add them at a later date. Any and all veterans, if you have more to add to a beginner’s course, PM me. Also Mods, please sticky this one so it's not lost.

[nhviper]

Scorpion you deserve a high five for this! I have no idea how many times I've had to have people repeat what they say or I just plain ignore it because I can't decypher what people are blabbing over the radio. Hopefully everyone will read this and use it (at least to some extent) at all games. Thank you for this guide.

[UrbanMarine]

More of the basics with technical. Nice post Scorpion!

See pages 88-96
http://www.armymars.net/ArmyMARS/MAR...o-ops-hdbk.pdf

[mac50]

Good job. Only things I can add is that abbreviations for Foxtrot, Yankee,Victor and Zulu are not used. ALso when ending a message , only the unit that started it needs to say out when done. The receivng unit doesn't say anything at the end of the transmission

[Vader]

Great post, Scorp!

You definitely walk the walk when it comes to this stuff. Every time I'm near you guys out there, I'm amazed at how well your team communicates.

[Miyagi]

Where is the word "break"?

[bishopMP]

good stuff. few pointers.

G is 'golf', not 'gulf'.

dont forget the numbers too.

1= wun
2=too
3=tree
4=fow-er
5=fife
6=sicks
7-sev-en
8=ait
9=nin-er
0=ze-ro

and as 'break' was mentioned before, other commands suitable for airsoft...

BREAK= indicates the seperation of the text from other portions of the message.
REPEAT LAST= receiver requests sender to repeat last segment of (or whole) transmission.
CORRECTION= sender corrects info in message.
DISREGARD= transmission is in error. disregard it.
I READ BACK= sender is requesting receiver to read back the following in transmission.
I SAY AGAIN= sender is repeating transmission or portion indicated.
I SPELL= spell the next word phonetically.
ROGER= i have received your last transmission satisfactorily.
WAIT= i must pause for a few seconds.
WAIT OUT= i must pause for longer than a few seconds.
WAIT #= i must pause for ___ minutes. (example, "wait 1", implies receiver to wait 1 minute for further)
WILCO= i have received you signal, understand it, and will comply.
(to be used only by the addressee, since the meaning of ROGER is included in that of WILCO, the two prowords and NEVER used together.)

if you want to add this, you may, and delete this post to lessen confusion.

cheers

[Locutus]

REPEAT LAST

Negative. This actually says that the last artillery strike should be repeated. So unless that is actually what you mean to say, you should not use the word "REPEAT".

[strikers_blade]

Originally Posted by Locutus

Negative. This actually says that the last artillery strike should be repeated. So unless that is actually what you mean to say, you should not use the word "REPEAT".

That is why you can hear me sometime on the radio saying "Boom"...
As Locutus said, unless you are using artillery such as Red dragon or Springfield, you should never have to say "repeat".

[MinioN]

Blade you just say boom at any old time you want. It is what you do. Good starters guide Scorp.

But don't forget BREAK is also the chance for someone to ask a question or interupt the transmission.

Any while Blade loves to just say “boom” for repeat I laugh to myself and tend to say:
“Unable to comply no fire missions have been designated or sent to this sector over”
I love being a smart @$$ 

MinioN

[snipe]

Don't forget the SALUTE report!

Size
Activity
Location
Uniform
Time
Equipment

[Miyagi]

FLASH FLASH FLASH or SILENCE ON THE NET= all transmissions are to cease until priority traffic has been transmitted

[cj93]

You forgot "Requesting radio silence".

[mac50]

Quebec is pronounced "KAYbec"

[sventhewarrior]

Well, I would like to say thank you to all of you guys, on behalf of myself, and probably all the other newbies who I'm sure were just as confused and/or misinformed as me.

I know most games don't seem to follow most of those rules, but I think that's mostly out of ignorance. The newbies don't know any better, and the vets have to dumb it down a bit so that the newbies can understand them. And I know I've misused the word "repeat" on many occasions, though no one ever Boomed me for it.

This should help. Thanks a lot.

[Torque]

Originally Posted by cj93

You forgot "Requesting radio silence".

I prefer the following:

RADIO DARK: Do not use the radio unless instructed otherwise.
GO LOUD: Operational silence no longer needed. Units may open up with loud weapons and make other noise/light.

Also for acknowledging signal strength:

Signal Strength -------------- Signal Clarity
Loud..................................Clear
Good..................................Readable
Weak.................................Unreadable
Very Weak..........................Distorted
Fading With Interference......Intermittent

[D-Boy]

Torque, wouldn't that just be the HAVOC rule?

[Pvt. Rodger Young]

Willlco!, I love using that Idk why

[Doc_Thompson]

This is a pretty good Commo guide, well done. Haha you are very much correct though most of the time in infantry units we cut most of the etiquette to save for time and what not. Oh, if anyone wants to know how to do a proper radio functions check it goes something to the effect of "alpha1 this is alpha2, radio check over." "alpha2 this is alpha1, I read you Lima Charlie over" "roger out" which basically means loud and clear. Oh and another Abbrev. used is Tango Mike, basically means thank you much. I don't know if anyone hit on this, but please don't say over and out, or roger wilco. That's just gay, and you should be castrated for it

[sirmac33]

Like the Doc said, we've used Lema Charlie for loud and clear, and Tango Yankee for thank you. Oh, and you forgot the U - Uniform in the SALUTE report.

[Doc_Thompson]

Would anyone be interested in a 9-line medevac request spin off from this? I don't know how far some of these milsim games go haha, i haven't played in years. But if anyone is let me know and I will post a thread. ;P