Five by five
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In voice procedure (the techniques used to facilitate spoken communication over two-way radios) a station may request a report on the quality and strength of signal they are broadcasting. In the military of the NATO countries, and other organizations, the signal quality is reported on two scales; the first is for signal strength, and the second for signal clarity. Both these scales range from one to five, where one is the worst and five is the best. The listening station reports these numbers separated with the word "by". Five by five therefore means a signal that has excellent strength and perfect clarity — the most understandable signal possible.
Five by five by extension has come to mean "I understand you perfectly" in situations other than radio communication, the way Loud and Clear entered slang, post-WW2.
[edit] Example of a radio readability transmission
This is an example of how the system might be used, using British military voice procedure. Station call sign Alpha One wishes to know how well another station, Alpha Two is receiving him.
- Alpha One: Hello Alpha Two, this is Alpha One. How do you read me? Over.
- Alpha Two: Alpha One. I read you five by five. Over.
[edit] Colloquial Use in Popular Culture
- The phrase "In the pipe, five by five" is used by the dropship pilot, Ferro, in the movie Aliens to report that the drop is proceeding as planned. It was later used by the Terran dropship in the Blizzard Entertainment PC game StarCraft as one of many quotes from Aliens.
- The term was used in the movie Clear and Present Danger when the Special Ops team communicated to the CIA Operations Commander.
- The term "five by five" was popularized by the character Faith (played by Eliza Dushku) who was a "Slayer" in the WB television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel. Faith Lehane, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, used it frequently as slang meaning that things were good. "Five by Five" was also the title of an Angel episode which prominently featured Faith.
- Used also in several episodes of the TV series Alias, e.g., the fourth season episode "Nightingale" (Marshal says, "Copy, five by five, Phoenix standing by" in response to a mission update) and the fifth season episode "Solo" (Marshall says five by five again).
- The phrase was frequently used by EarthForce personnel on the TV series Babylon 5, presumably due to the characters' military background.
- Another instance was in the Gene Roddenberry series, Andromeda. In the second season episode "All Too Human", Trance Gemini uses the phrase to indicate that the ship is battle-ready.
- The phrase "five by five" — and sometimes "five by" for short — is also used repeatedly by the police troopers in Stephen King's 2002 novel, From A Buick 8.
- The term was used liberally in the film Event Horizon.
- The phrase is heard in The Twilight Zone episode "The Parallel", from the fourth season (March 1963), when two officers discuss a patient's condition, indicating he is healthy.
- In the movie Contact, Jodie Foster's character, Dr.Ellie Arroway, uses the term to signify clear communication between her space pod and mission control.
- In Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves, at the start of the game Sly says to Bently, "Alright, I'm five by five," indicating everything is set for the mission.
- In the video game Halo, in The Maw, Echo 4-19 says, "I read you five by five," as she approaches Master Chief for pick-up.
- In JAG episode 1.09, "Boot", Lt. Meg Austin uses the phrase "five by five, sir" in response to a command by Lt. Harm Rabb.
