NATO Phonetic Alphabet
The NATO spelling alphabet also known as the NATO phonetic alphabet, the ICAO phonetic or spelling alphabet, the ITU phonetic alphabet, and the international radio telephony spelling alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet in the world. In order to get your boating VHF license you will need to master it.
The spelling alphabet allows accurate spelling over sometimes very inferior radio connections.
There are slight variations of pronunciation of the various words, however they are slight and the words are readily recognizable.
Not only are the letters standardized, but the pronunciation of numbers has been set out to be easily recognizable
A few key words have been added to the Radio Vocabulary to simplify communications.
These words such as Mayday, PanPan and Security have special meetings. Over is another as is Out. 'Over and Out' is NOT recognized.
The Nato Spelling Alphabet
| Letter Number | Telephony | Phonetic Pronunciation |
| A | Alfa | AL-FAH |
| B | Bravo | BRAH-VOH |
| C | Charlie | CHAR-LEE |
| D | Delta | DELL-TAH |
| E | Echo | ECK-OH |
| F | Foxtrot | FOKS-TROT |
| G | Golf | GOLF |
| H | Hotel | HOH-TEL |
| I | India | IN-DEE-AH |
| J | Juliet | JEW-LEE-ETT |
| K | Kilo | KEY-LOH |
| L | Lima | LEE-MAH |
| M | Mike | MIKE |
| N | November | NO-VEM-BER |
| O | Oscar | OS-CAH |
| P | Papa | PAH-PAH |
| Q | Quebec | KEH-BECK |
| R | Romeo | ROW-ME-OH |
| S | Sierra | SEE-AIR-RAH |
| T | Tango | TANG-GO |
| U | Uniform | YOU-NEE-FORM |
| V | Victor | VIK-TAH |
| W | Wiskey | WISS-KEY |
| X | Xray | ECKS-RAY |
| Y | Yankee | YANG-KEY |
| Z | Zulu | ZOO-LOO |
| 1 | One | WUN |
| 2 | Two | TOO |
| 3 | Three | TREE |
| 4 | Four | FOW-ER |
| 5 | Five | FIFE |
| 6 | Six | SIX |
| 7 | Seven | SEV-EN |
| 8 | Eight | AIT |
| 9 | Nine | NIN-ER |
| 0 | Zero | ZEE-RO |
I try to be accurate and check my information, but mistakes happen.
email me if you find mistakes, I'll fix them and we'll all benefit: Christine
Radio Phonetic Alphabet
Good Wikipedia Article on various versions and history of the phonetic alphabet.My Ten Essential Boating Knots
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Small Print
This information is for general knowledge. I make mistakes. Use your head and do your research.