General Category > General Airsoft
Radio Manual
Boba Fett:
I wrote this manual for my airsoft team, who's getting into using 2-way radios for communication. I took a lot of the information I learned in classes from Civil Air Patrol, as a whole lot of it applies. For the record I am licensed to operate radios on frequencies given to the USAF Axillary, so apparently they thought I learned all this stuff. haha here it is, I hope someone finds it useful!
RADIO ETIQUETTE by Clayton Collier
Radios are a critical part of many operations in the world, as well as airsoft. However, without rules and guidelines, radios can be ineffective and confusing. These rules and guidelines have been compiled into a non-standard set of notes known as “Radio Etiquette”. This is a personally compiled version, written by and for the Claatekk Industries Airsoft team. Let’s jump right in!
Always wait a second or two after keying the microphone before you begin speaking. This will give your transmitter a chance to turn on before your information is transmitted. Failure to do this results in the first word or two in of the sentence being clipped off, and can be confusing for those listening to you. Also avoid yelling into the microphone or headset, or having it too close to your mouth, as this will distort your voice. Radios work best if you speak at a volume used in normal conversation. If your transmission is broken or weak, yelling into the microphone is a normal reaction but will only make matters worse. Any information worth transmitting by radio should be relevant to the mission and understood by the recipient. Speak slowly and in plain English, without "10-codes" or jargon. Speaking slowly not only facilitates understanding of your message, but will be appreciated by anyone who may be keeping a written record of mission communications.
Never use a mission frequency to hold a non-mission related conversation, the mission frequency must remain open as much as possible to permit the transfer of important mission-related information. For the same reason, keep mission-related communications to the minimum length necessary. Consider whether the information you are about to transmit, is really important before using up battery power to tell other operators about it. It is interesting to note that compared to just being on, a radio consumes about 6 times as much power to receive and about 50 times as much power to transmit. So it’s always a very good idea to carry spare batteries!
The key is to avoid unnecessary transmissions. When you do find yourself involved in a lengthy dialog on the mission frequency, it is good practice to pause momentarily after every few sentences. This allows someone with really important information to break in. This new information might render the conversation in progress moot. If you need to “break” in with extremely urgent information, say "break, break, break" during a pause in the other transmission and identify yourself. Likewise, you should stop talking when you hear the three rapid “breaks”. The only thing on the frequency after three breaks should be silence, awaiting transmission of the urgent information from the operator “breaking” in.
Use the Phonetic Alphabet, as enunciation tends to be lost on the radio and individual letters can be miss-communicated over the radio. Using the phonetic alphabet will reduce communication mistakes.
Letter Code Word Spoken as
A Alpha AL fuh
B Bravo BRAH voh
C Charlie CHAR lee
D Delta DELL tuh
E Echo ECK oh
F Foxtrot FAWKS trawt
G Golf GOLF
H Hotel hoh TEL
I India IN dee uh
J Juliet JOO lee ETT
K Kilo KEE loh
L Lima LEE muh
M Mike MIKE
N November noh VEM bur
O Oscar OSS cur
P Papa PAW paw
Q Quebec kuh BECK
R Romeo ROW mee oh
S Sierra see AIR ruh
T Tango TANG go
U Uniform YOU nee form
V Victor VIK tur
W Whiskey Wiss kee
X X-Ray ECKS ray
Y Yankee YANG key
Z Zulu ZOO loo
Use the Phonetic Numbers as well, so understanding is better, just like the letters. Use these when transferring more than three numbers in a row(BY THEMSELVES), or when radio interference makes understanding difficult. Before saying a line of numbers by themselves, say the prep word “Numbers-”, immediately followed by the numbers themselves.
0 ZERO
1 WUN
2 TOO
3 TREE
4 FO-WUR
5 FIFE
6 SICKS
7 SEF-IN
8 ATE
9 NINER
Use standard expressions. Using standard expressions reduce the amount of time transmitting on frequencies and reduces confusion. It is critical to memorize these terms, as well as their contexts(see examples)!
Expression Meaning
Go Ahead Pass your message, I’m listening
Copy Your Message was received and understood
Say Again Retransmit your last sent message
Standby Your message acknowledged but I am unable to reply or deal with it at this time. Will resume communication momentarily.
Affirmative Yes
Negative No
Over My message is finished, I’m waiting for reply
Out Conversation finished, I’m leaving
Do You Copy Do you understand, please acknowledge
En Route Resources heading to incident
Unreadable Used when your signal I received is unclear or not understood
Disregard Don’t pay attention to my last message
Correction I made a mistake in what I’m saying, correction following immediately
Fire Inbound Fire support is heading towards the designated position
Codename Meaning
Tango Enemy
Package Important object(I. E. VIP or document)
POI Point(location) of interest
LZ Landing zone, or point of insertion
EXAMPLE SECTION
Here is a sample section for comprehension of the previously covered material. The “characters” are Big Dog, the base, Katana, the fire support, and Tornado, a ground team. Pointers are in parentheses.
This is Big Dog to Katana, come in, over.
This is Katana, go ahead, over.(notice the over after go ahead)
Are you in fire support position? Over.
Affirmative. Grid coordinates Bravo-five-six. Over.
Good job, Katana. Stay on alert do you copy? Over.
I copy, over.
Big Dog out.(notice that usually the party who called first ends the transmission)
Katana out.
Tornado to Big Dog, come in, over.(notice that “this is” is not required)
This is Big Dog, go ahead, over.
We have reached the LZ, permission to insert into mission? Over.
Permission granted, good luck, over.
Thanks, Tornado out.
Big Dog out.
(Time passes)
Tornado to Big Dog, we have contact! Over!
This is Big Dog, be advised that there is at least one enemy vehicle in your immediate vicinity! Over.
Thanks for the tip Big Dog. Tornado out.
Big Dog out.
Tornado to Katana, come in, over!
This is Katana, go ahead. Over.
We need immediate fire support at coordinates Lima-seven-two! Over!
Fire inbound to coordinates Lima-seven-two, over.(notice how the receiver of information quickly repeats the information)
Good shooting, Katana. Tango vehicle destroyed. Thanks, Tornado out.
You’re welcome, Katana out.
(Time passes)
Tornado to Katana, come in, over.
This is Katana, go ahead, over.
We need a spread of fire from coordinates Oscar-four-three through Quebec-six-five. Correction, Oscar-four-three through Romeo-six-two. Do you copy? Over
Copy that, Tornado. Coordinates Oscar-four-three through Romeo-six-two, fire inbound. Over.
Break! Break! Break! Big Dog to Tornado! Package is in danger of destruction, get in there now! Over!
Copy that Big Dog! Going in hard and fast! Continue fire support Katana! Standby Big Dog! Over.
Copy that! Big Dog standing by, over.
Katana out.
We have the package and are heading to extraction. Current coordinates November-five-seven. Over.
Say again, over.
We have the package and are heading to extraction. Current coordinates November-five-seven. Over.(notice he repeated his last message as closely as he could remember)
Copy that, Tornado, transport is en route to extraction. Over.
Good deal, Tornado out.
Big Dog out.
(Time passes)
Big Dog to Tornado, come in over.
This is Tornado, go ahead.
What are your coordinates? Over.
We are at coordinates Golf-six-niner, over.
Hold your current position, transport en route to coordinates Golf-six-niner, over.
Holding our current position, over.
Be advised, previous extraction point was compromised, Big Dog out.(notice that unimportant information is left out until after the orders are issued)
Good call Big Dog, Tornado out.
Big Dog to Katana, come in, over.
This is Katana, go ahead Big Dog. Over.
We need fire support at previous extraction point, grid coordinates Uniform-one-eight, over.
Fire support inbound to coordinates Uniform-five-five, over.
Disregard, over!(notice how he cancelled his whole last message just to make the correction)
Copy that, over.
Grid coordinates Uniform-one-eight, over.
Fire inbound to Uniform-one-eight, over.
Thank you Katana, Big Dog out.
No problem, Katana out.
Big Dog to all units. Mission is successful, good job. Return to staging area. Big Dog out.(if sending a notice to multiple operators at once, always end the message with “out”, if they have questions they can call you)
Joe:
Stickied.
If more folks followed this then radios would actually be useful.
Good work, Boba Fett.
Dragon:
At one time, I was a radio stickler ... mostly because I would get frowned at by HAM operators if I was "radio incorrect".
Since my years in the actual army, where unlike the movies portray, not everyone has a radio, is trained to use a radio ( beyond a 2 hour class on one in basic. ) ... and most of the forces don't properly use one either.
Still, ... we use the radios out on the field. Mostly I use my admin radios to communicate from one team to the other.
Rarely we get to use our radios as a "team" or mission radio. Most of that is because, .. I would have to carry two radios, or get a brand where you can easily save channels and frequencies to switch back and forth quickly. I'm fine with doing either, it's just not been practical yet.
We do use a more relaxed com speak out on our field... but the rare times we get to use actual team comms, we do stick to more "official" methods for clarity.
I find having, even just admin radios, very useful.
This was a great article, mind if I copy paste it for our guys on D-9?
Joe:
Dragon, I have no problem with that. I can't speak for Boba Fett.
It's these sort of articles that improve the sport as a whole.
Now, if we can just get players to turn off the VOX!
My two cents.
Renagade:
Can Copy this over to Midmos Forum My players need this LOL
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version