Can anybody fill out the military radio alphabet for me? I know I’ve seen variations; are these inter-service or maybe time related variations?
A - Abel
B - Baker
C - Charlie
D - Dog (Delta)
E - ?
F - Frank
G - Geronimo
H - ?
I - Indian
J - ?
K - ?
L - Lima
M - Mary
N - ?
O - ?
P - ?
Q - ?
R - ?
S - ?
T - tango
U - ?
V - ?
W - Whiskey
X - ?
Y - ?
Z - Zulu
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima (pronounced Leeema),Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebeck, Romeo, Sam, Tango, Uncle, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu
This is the Army version. I don’t know if the others have the same one.
Dawnbird’s list is the one currently used by the US Armed Forces, as well as all US air traffic (and lots of international flights too). The only difference, I’m told, is that the FAA standard lists S as Sierra.
The standard has been changed over the years, which is why the radio operators in black-and-white war movies say Abel for A.
same as dawnbird, but
S- Sierra
U - Uniform
oh yeah,
Q-Quebec
hehehee just the Canadian version…rest of the alphabet are same
“E” is “easy” as in Sgt Rock and Easy Company.
The 1999 FAA handbook states that the alphabet is as follows:
Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-ray
Yankee
Zulu
Basically, the composite of what everyone else said. Now, what the options are in other fields of the military, and police forces may vary and these may change over time, but this is the curent FAA, pilots usage in the USA.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is
yours to draw…
Omniscient; BAG
You caught me Hannu, it’s been a while since basic.
In the Marines, about 10 years ago, we used the same one listed by Omniscient.
Let’s see if I can remember the civilian one used by the local police…
Adam
Boy
Charles
David
Edward
Frank
George
Henry
Ida
John
King
Lincoln
Mary
Nora
Ocean
Paul
Queen?
Robert
Sam
Tom
Union
Victor?
William
X-ray?
Young
Zebra
I’m not a cop, but we use this one where I work. It’s real annoying to have a name that is used for a letter (Sam in my case).
Within some police departments, they use the Abel, Baker, Charlie series instead of the military and FAA version. Why they prefer one over the other, I have no idea. Maybe they want to make sure they don’t get confused with a bunch of low browed militant Marines.
I think you got most of them right, but the system I learned had a few differences:
K as in knife
P as in pneumonia
H as in preparation (thanks, Lawrence Block)
Those interested in information about phonetic alphabets may find this site of interest: http://www.nor.com.au/community/sarc/phonetic.htm .
Of course, prior to the establishment of NATO, there was no standard phonetic alphabet in use in Europe.
The current military phonetic alphabet is the NATO version, which itself is the ICAO version. It’s also widely used by Ham Radio operators and even some of the voice dictation computer programs.
The idea of using words instead of letters is to ensure the recipient of your message receives your message as many letters and some numbers have very similar names. My favourites for the numbers are 3 “Tree” and 9 “Nine-er.” Of course that made watching “Wathership Down” a bit funny what with the main character’s name being Fiver.
Cheers!
-Chip
The movie title above should be “Watership Down.” That is: Whiskey Alpha Tango Echo Romeo Sierra Hotel Papa." 
“Able Baker Charlie to Roger Fox Dogs!
Able Baker Charlie to Roger Fox Dogs!”
“Hey, man… somebody’s really talking bad about Roger…”
Cheech & Chong
I know that the British (and therefore the Canadian) Army had a different alpha code, developed first during WWI, to assist in communicating over the trench phones. It was still in place in WWII.
I can only remember bits, for example:
Ack
Beer
Fox
King
Nan
Emma
Oboe
Pip (or Peter)
Queen
etc…
My late grandfather (Canadian Army Medical Corps, 1916-19) habitually spoke of “ack emma” and “pip emma” when referring to morning or afternoon.
“A friend will help you move house. A best friend will help you move a body.”–Alexi Sayle