Voice procedure

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Voice procedure includes various techniques used to clarify, simplify and standardize spoken communications over two-way radios, in use by the military, in civil aviation, police and fire dispatching systems, citizens' band radio (CB), etc.

Voice procedure is intended to maximise clarity of spoken communication and reduce misunderstanding. It consists of signalling protocol such as the use of abbreviated codes like the CB radio ten-code, Q codes in amateur radio and aviation, police codes, etc., and jargon.

Some elements of voice procedure are understood across many applications, but significant variations exist. The military of the NATO countries have similar procedures in order to make cooperation easier, and pseudo-military organisations often base their procedures on them, so some commonality exists there. On the other hand, some elements of police codes are not necessarily standardized even within the same jurisdiction, and using the less familiar codes can defeat the purpose of good communication.

1 Words in voice procedure
2 Example usage
3 Notes
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Words in voice procedure

Some words with specialised meanings are used in radio communication throughout the English-speaking world, and in international radio communications, where English is the lingua franca.

Over — I have finished talking and I am listening for your reply. Short for "Over to you."
Out or Clear — I have finished talking to you and do not expect a reply.
Roger — Information received.
Copy — I understand what you just said (after receiving information).
Wilco — Will Comply (after receiving new directions).

"Over and out" is an incorrect combination, since the two statements contradict each other.

"Roger" was the U.S. military designation for the letter R (as in received) from 1927 to 1957.^[1]

[edit] Example usage

The Federal Aviation Administration uses the term phraseology to describe voice procedure or communications protocols used over telecommunications circuits. An example is air traffic control radio communications. Standardized wording is used and the person receiving the message may repeat critical parts of the message back to the sender. This is especially true of safety-critical messages. ^[2] Consider this example of an exchange between a controller and an aircraft:

Aircraft: Binary Tower, Hexidecimal three foxtrot heavy, in position and holding on Taxiway Bravo.
Tower: Hexidecimal three foxtrot heavy, Binary Tower, runway one eight left, clear for immediate departure.
Aircraft: Roger, three foxtrot heavy, cleared for immediate departure from one eight left.

On telecommunications circuits, disambiguation is a critical function of voice procedure. Was the pilot to climb to eleven thousand or seven thousand? To reduce ambiguity, critical information may be broken down and read as separate letters and numbers. The runway number you visually read as eighteen, when read over a voice circuit as part of an instruction, becomes one eight. In some cases a phonetic alphabet is used. Instead of the letters AB, the words Alpha Bravo are used. Main Street becomes Mike Alpha India November street, clearly separating it from Drain Street and Wayne Street.

Over fire service radios, phraseology may include words that indicate the priority of a message, for example: ^[3]

Ladder Forty Four to Manhattan, Urgent!

Words may be repeated to modify them from traditional use in order to a describe a critical message: ^[4]

Evacuate! Evacuate! Evacuate!

Railroads have similar processes. When instructions are read to a locomotive engineer, they are preceded by the engineer's name, direction of travel, and the train or locomotive number. This reduces the possibility that a set of instructions will be acted on by the wrong locomotive engineer:

Five Sixty Six West, Engineer Jones, okay to proceed two blocks west to Ravendale.

Phraseology on telecommunications circuits may employ special phrases like ten codes, Sigalert, Quick Alert! or road service towing abbreviations such as T6. This jargon may abbreviate critical data and alert listeners by identifying the priority of a message. It may also reduce errors caused by ambiguities involving rhyming, or similar-sounding, words.

[edit] Notes

^ SDSTAFF Robin (2007-02-27). Why do pilots say "roger" on the radio?. The Straight Dope.
^ See: "Section 2: Radio Communications Phraseology and Techniques," Aeronautical Information Manual, US Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. Any year AIM will serve as an example. Another example is "Completing the Loop: Two-Way Communication," Special Report: Improving Firefighter Communications, USFA-TR-099/January 1999, (Emmitsburg, Maryland: U.S. Fire Administration, 1999) pp. 27.
^ See, "Problem Reporting," Special Report: Improving Firefighter Communications, USFA-TR-099/January 1999, (Emmitsburg, Maryland: U.S. Fire Administration, 1999) pp. 25-26. FDNY has implemented these ideas and they were observed on publicly-released FDNY 9-11-01 logging recorder audio CDs. Portions of these CDs were broadcast on news programs.
^ For an example of fire procedures, look at "Communications Procedures," XII-A-4.JH.970314, (Los Gatos, California, Santa Clara County Fire Department, Training Division, 03/14/1997).