Thread: who came up with this alphabet?

All you salt dogs out there,

Who in the world came up with this crazy phonetic
alphabet We are out here at our driving range learning
traffic stops and myself and the rest of my former military
people are pulling out our hair over this craziness.

Sorry just had to vent

Viper
(week 12of23 3months to go!)

Originally Posted by viper24

Who in the world came up with this crazy phonetic
alphabet

You mean the one that works under lousy radio conditions?

ICAO. International Civil Aviation Organization. A long time ago.

yep that would be the one

i mean nora, ocean???

thanks now i know who to hunt down and slap

Originally Posted by viper24

yep that would be the one

i mean nora, ocean???

No that's not the one. And it won't work under bad conditions. ICAO will.

Somebody probably asked their secretary to write up a phonetic alphabet while they were out at lunch.

After she wrote up the firearms policy....................................

"after she wrote up the firearms policy".

That is hilarious.

Anyway, I am military also and when I first started, my PD was dispatched by the county. Man, them dispatchers would give me crap everyday because I was always using the military phonetics.

Ida, Union, Ocean? C'mon, do we have to be that different from the military?

I am used to and actually much prefer the military alphapbet myself. Thankfully we can use whatever we want at my PD but I do get razzed for the military alpahabet use. I am trying to learn the civilian alphabet but I still revert to the military alphabet for some situations.

Originally Posted by rzaruba

No that's not the one. And it won't work under bad conditions. ICAO will.

Somebody probably asked their secretary to write up a phonetic alphabet while they were out at lunch.

After she wrote up the firearms policy....................................

ICAO is the military alphabet isn't it? What is the other one???

Originally Posted by viper24

i mean nora, ocean???

and

Originally Posted by cophopeful

Ida, Union, Ocean?

Ya wanna know what really gets dispatchers going? Just make stuff up for the alphabet pick random words with the right letter. They love that.

Originally Posted by PSU_Alum

ICAO is the military alphabet isn't it? What is the other one???


and

May be slightly different for different places/jurisdictions.

A - Adam
B - Boy
C - Charles
D - David
E - Edward
F - Frank
G - George
H - Henry
I - Ida
J - John
K - King
L - Lincoln
M - Mary
N - Nora
O - Ocean
P - Paul
Q - Queen
R - Robert
S - Sam
T - Tom
U - Union
V - Victor
W - William
X - Xray
Y - Yellow/Young
Z - Zebra

Vs.

A - Alpha
B - Bravo
C - Charlie
D - Delta
E - Echo
F - Foxtrot
G - Golf
H - Hotel
I - India
J - Juliet
K - Kilo
L - Lima
M - Mike
N - November
O - Oscar
P - Papa
Q - Quebec
R - Romeo
S - Sierra
T - Tango
U - Uniform
V - Victor
W - Whiskey
X - Xray
Y - Yankee
Z - Zulu

Originally Posted by silverr6

Ya wanna know what really gets dispatchers going? Just make stuff up for the alphabet pick random words with the right letter. They love that.

DV3 to central...I'll be 10-6 with Tennessee Sally Dog Rainbow 123


then there was the day I checked out "Ten Sex" on a traffic stop

Originally Posted by silverr6

Ya wanna know what really gets dispatchers going? Just make stuff up for the alphabet pick random words with the right letter. They love that.

Do not listen to silverr6 unless you want to be ranking dispatch's list! (silverr6, I know you were kidding). I had a rookie that was fresh out of the military who occasionally slipped and used military phonetics. I would let that go because I had a hard time learning the LE ones too, since I learned the military alphabet through aviation. But... one day he really slipped and let a "niner" go out over the air. He caught major sh*t for that one. It was pretty funny.

Does anyone else spell out things, like license plates, in phonetics to themselves when they are bored or sitting in traffic, or I am just strange .
BTW what is the real reason for the phonetics? Somebody mentioned it might work under bad radio conditions, if so, why?

Not sure if it's the official reason or not, but I think we've all been on the receiving end of a phone call with somebody who was hard to understand, be it an accent, bad connection, soft spoken, or background noise. The interference possibilities are limitless. It's harder to make a mistake if somebody says Boy or Bravo instead of B, which could be misheard for D, P, or heck, probably even M if you're having a really bad day.

Originally Posted by pantless

Does anyone else spell out things, like license plates, in phonetics to themselves when they are bored or sitting in traffic, or I am just strange .

No, you're not strange I did the same thing too when I was learning the LE alphabet. It's the only way I could break the habit and get the military alphabet out of my head. I still do it when I'm driving long distances to keep myself awake.

Originally Posted by pantless

Does anyone else spell out things, like license plates, in phonetics to themselves when they are bored or sitting in traffic, or I am just strange ?

I have an 8 year old and 10 year old, my wife and I have found it is an easy way to spell in front of them. "Honey, I think we all need a Nora Adam Paul when we get home from this lunch. What do you think?" The kids, who love to say out loud what we spell, instead react with a "What?"

(My wife, who is not even in law enforcement, now knows it good enough I can rattle off a lot of characters quickly and she can keep up.)