Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta alphabets
Brian Kelk
Here is a collection of alphabets of the Alpha Bravo
Charlie Delta kind, variously known as radio alphabets,
phonetic alphabets and spelling alphabets. There are a
number of distinct ones for English, and also alphabets
for:
French, German, Dutch, Flemish, Italian, Swedish,
Finnish and Russian.
This posting supersedes the one of 11th August. There have
been some additions and corrections.
My thanks to the many contributors, not all of whom get
a mention below.
I can make no guarantee of accuracy of this information;
indeed please send me any corrections or additions.
Comments in square brackets are my own.
Brian Kelk bc...@cl.cam.ac.uk
25 September 1993
***** ENGLISH *****
The NATO phonetic alphabet:
Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India
Juliet Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo
Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu
[The same alphabet, with the minor changes Alfa and Juliett,
is approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation
and the FAA]
From a Swedish (also from a Dutch) telephone directory:
Alfred Benjamin Charles David Edward Frederick George Harry
Isaac Jack King London Mary Nellie Oliver Peter Queen Robert
Samuel Tommy Uncle Victor William Xray Yellow Zebra.
The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) version (1948):
Adam Baker Charlie David Edward Frank George Henry Ida John
king Lewis Mary Nancy Otto Peter queen Robert Susan Thomas
union Victor William x-ray young zebra
[also Adam Boy (?)]
From a book entitled "The Complete Morse Instructor..." (1944):
able baker charlie dog easy fox george how item jig king love
mike nan oboe peter queen roger sugar tare uncle victor william
x-ray yoke zebra
[This one seems to have undergone quite a lot of evolution,
with different branches of the U.S. armed forces using
different versions. Entries also cited: affirm, cast, hypo,
inter, negat, option, over, prep]
Sometimes used by radio hams:
America Boston Canada Denmark England France Germany Honolulu
India Japan Kilowatt London Mexico Norway Ontario or Ocean
Pacific Quebec Radio Santiago or Spain Tokyo United Victoria
Washington Xray Yokohama Zanzibar
[Much variation: Amsterdam, Brazil, Baltimore, Chile, Finland,
Greece, Guatemala etc]
From a Dutch telephone directory:
Amsterdam Baltimore Casablanca Danemark Edison Florida Gallipoli
Havana Italia Jerusalem Kilogramme Liverpool Madagascar New York
Oslo Paris Quebec Roma Santiago Tripoli Uppsala Valencia
Washington Xantippe Yokohama Zurich
[Perhaps 'international' more than 'English']
***** FRENCH *****
Contributor: Erik Tjong Kim Sang <er...@let.rug.nl>
anatole bernard c'ecile denise 'emile fran5cois g'erard
henri isidore jean kl'eber louis marcel nicole oscar pierre
quital robert suzanne th'er`ese ursule victor wagon xavier
yvonne zo'e
***** GERMAN *****
[two slightly different versions]
Contributor: mr...@eso.org (Michael Rosa)
Anton Berta Caesar Dora Emil Friedrich Gustav Heinrich Ida
Julius Karl Ludwig Martha Nordpol Otto Paula Quelle Richard
Siegfried Theodor Ulrich Viktor Wilhelm Xanthippe Ypsilon
Zeppelin
Umlaut: A"rger O"dipus U"bel
More recent replacements: Konrad Zacharias
Contributor: Erik Tjong Kim Sang <er...@let.rug.nl>
anton bertha c"asar dora emil friederich gustav heinrich ida
julius kaufmann ludwig martha nordpol otto paula quelle
richard samuel theodor ulrich viktor wilhelm xanthippe
ypsilon zacharias
"a "arger
ch charlotte
"o "okonom
sch schule
"u "ubermut
***** DUTCH and FLEMISH *****
Contributor: Erik Tjong Kim Sang <er...@let.rug.nl>
Dutch Flemish
a anna arthur
b bernhard brussel
c cornelis carolina
d dirk desire
e eduard emiel
f ferdinand frederik
g gerard gustaaf
h hendrik hendrik
i izaak isidoor
j jan jozef
k karel kilogram
l lodewijk leopold
m marie maria
n nico napoleon
o otto oscar
p pieter piano
q quotient qualite
r rudolf robert
s simon sofie
t teunis telefoon
u utrecht ursula
v victor victor
w willem waterloo
x xantippe xavier
ij ijmuiden -
y ypsilon yvonne
z zaandam zola
***** ITALIAN *****
Contributor: eb...@sed.csc.com (Elizabeth Buie)
eb...@starlab.csc.com
Ancona, Bologna, Como, Domodossola, Empoli, Firenze, Genova,
Hacca, Imola, Jolly, Kappa, Livorno, Milano, Napoli, Otranto,
Pisa/Palermo, Quartomiglio, Roma, Savona/Siena, Torino,
Udine, Venezia, Wagner, Xilofono, York, Zara.
***** SWEDISH *****
Contributors: si...@dront.nada.kth.se (Simon Tardell)
Jonas Wallgren <j...@ida.liu.se>
Adam, Bertil, Cesar, David, Erik, Filip, Gustav, Helge,
Ivar, Johan, Kalle, Ludvig, Martin, Niklas, Olof, Petter,
Quintus, Rudolf, Sigurd, Tore, Urban, Viktor, Wilhelm,
Xerxes, Yngve, Z{ta, ]ke, [rlig, \sten.
where { is a with dots
] A with ring
[ A with dots
\ O with dots
NB that W does not belong to the Swedish alphabet
(it is merely considered a graphical variant of V).
***** FINNISH *****
Contributor: Jukka Rahkonen <jrah...@viikki.helsinki.fi>
Aarne Bertta Celsius Daavid Eemeli Faarao Gideon Heikki Iivari
Jussi Kalle Lauri Matti Niilo Otto Paavo Kuu Risto Sakari Tyyne
Urho Ville Viski [ks{ Yrj| Tseta ]ke [iti \ljy
Uppercase Lowercase
] } a with circle (Swedish)
[ { a with dots
\ | o with dots
***** RUSSIAN *****
Contributor: t...@systemtechnik.tu-ilmenau.de (Thomas Planke)
Aleksej Boris Vasilij Grigorij Dmitrij Elena Zhenja Zoya
Ivan Ivan_Kratkij Kilowatt Leonid Maria Nikolai Olga Pavel
Roman Sergej Tatjana Uljana Fjodor Hariton Zaplja Chelovek
Shura Schuka Tviordiy_Znak Igrek Miagkiy_Znak Emilija Yuri
Jakow
***** END *****
Brian Kelk
Cambridge
U.K.
bc...@cl.cam.ac.uk
David M Weeks
>The NATO phonetic alphabet:
>Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India
>Juliet Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo
>Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu
>[The same alphabet, with the minor changes Alfa and Juliett, > is approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation
> and the FAA]
. . .
>The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) version (1948):
>Adam Baker Charlie David Edward Frank George Henry Ida John
>king Lewis Mary Nancy Otto Peter queen Robert Susan Thomas
>union Victor William x-ray young zebra
. . .
>Sometimes used by radio hams:
>America Boston Canada Denmark England France Germany Honolulu
>India Japan Kilowatt London Mexico Norway Ontario or Ocean
>Pacific Quebec Radio Santiago or Spain Tokyo United Victoria
>Washington Xray Yokohama Zanzibar
>[Much variation: Amsterdam, Brazil, Baltimore, Chile, Finland,
> Greece, Guatemala etc]
Just for the record, the ARRL (following the ITU) adopted the
NATO/ICAO alphabet as its official standard many years ago, and
as far as I know still urges all amateurs to use it. Last I knew,
they specifically recommended against the much-varied geographical
list, for two reasons. First, it can cause confusion when working
international stations. Second, the amount of variation with which
it is used defeats the whole purpose of a phonetic alphabet, namely
standardization and easy recognizability under difficult conditions.
David Weeks
(dwe...@world.std.com)
Denis McKeon
>
>Here is a collection of alphabets of the Alpha Bravo
>Charlie Delta kind, variously known as radio alphabets,
>phonetic alphabets and spelling alphabets.
And presented here in jest is a partial cruel, or counter-intuitive alphabet,
for use with COCOT and AOS operators and other officious busybodies -
the sort of people who insist that they can't refund the change you lost
in their telephone without having your last three addresses,
grandmother's maiden name, SSN, credit report, NCIC number, etc.
And then they'll send you a credit slip good for your next call
with Snake Navel Telephone and Used Auto Parts. To make them earn
that quarter, simply use the cruel alphabet to spell every string.
Aesthetic
Ctenoid
Gnosis
Honor
Know
Mnemonic
Oedipus
Psoriasis
Qatar
Tchaikovsky
Xerxes
Yclept
Note - for maximum confusion, spell each word by saying:
"<letter> as in <word>" (M as in Mnemonic).
Warning - use at your own risk - insert smilies as needed. (In fact,
maybe you should just use this on your friends, who might understand.)
I've set "followup-to: poster" and will gladly accept additions,
corrections, and suggestions, and of course will post a summary,
except of the suggestions that I depart for, uh, Snake Navel forthwith.
Hmmh - forthwith ....
Wonderful
Tubular
Threnody
Forthwith
Fife and Drum Corps
Sick Headache
Svenstrup
Ate
Nyeah-Nyeah
Tentacle
--
Denis McKeon
gal...@chtm.eece.unm.edu
Jim Bromley, W5GYJ
And I thought I would add my own to the collection:
Azden Butternut Cushcraft Daiwa Eimac Fluke Gonset Heathkit
Icom Johnson Kenwood Larsen Mosley Nye Outbacker Palomar
Qualcomm Rohn Standard Ten-tec Uniden Vaco Wacom Xcelite Yaesu
Zilog
Jim, W5GYJ
Bernd Reh (DA Drechsel)
Here some other stupid ideas of mine:
1.) A definitely useless alphabet:
and,band,Candy,dandy,eel,fan,gang,hand,Ian,January,kill,land,Mandy, Nanny,
oyster,pan,random,sand,tan,under,van,when,xanadu,yoh,zany
2.) An offensive alphabet:
asshole,bitch,cunt,dyslexia,easy,fuck,ginky,hate...
So please change the topic...
Bernd
|--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| Here comes one and one makes one. | Bernd Reh |
| The glorious union, well, it could be love | University of Kaiserslautern, |
| or just be lust but it will be fun. | Federal Republic of Germany |
| It will be wonderful. | |
| Kate Bush | E-Mail: r...@rhrk.uni-kl.de |
|--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------|