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Hall ARES Basic Emcomm 001 Course (Section 5) PDF Print E-mail

Learning Unit 5 - Communications Guidelines


Objectives: Following completion of this Learning Unit, you will be able to define the terms

Formal Traffic, Informal Traffic, and ITU Phonetics. You will also learn how to use these properly.


Information:

I Basic Communication Guidelines

Let's face it, there are hundreds of people that can talk the ears off of a brass monkey. When they finish speaking you ask yourself "what did they actually say?" Within Emergency Communication you will have two different levels of communication. The first is in passing traffic on behalf of a served agency. Under those conditions you pass traffic exactly as written. You change nothing. In some instances you will not understand what the message means. That is fine. Your job is to get the message to the destination as quickly as possible, not to understand it. When you receive a message from a served agency, read it. If there is any part you cannot read, ask for clarification before accepting the message.


You can't accurately transcribe what you cannot read. When you transcribe a message from a served agency, make no changes! It does not matter if you do not understand the technical meaning. It does matter that you pass traffic exactly as written. Review the last sentence. Pass traffic exactly as written. If you are the author, make your corrections before you are ready to send it. If the message was initiated by someone else, don't change it!


The second type of communication is where you originate the message, it is not written and where a written response is not required. In that situation you control what the text of the message will be. Therefore phrasing is up to you. Plan your communications at least as well as you would prepare if you knew you would be quoted. Whenever reasonable, write down what you will say before you say it. A loud voice cannot compete with a clear voice, even if it's a whisper - B.N. Kaufman in Emergency Communication said it is important to say as little as possible, yet convey all of the meaning.


Amateur means Avocational as opposed to Vocational - unpaid but not untrained, not undedicated, or not inexperienced; amateur in the very best sense of the Olympic tradition.


Current technology is allowing more options for sending data files such as word documents, spreadsheets, test messages, emails, photos and video through our radios.  While this technology is not as seamless as a fax machine or as easy to implement as you home email account.  It does allow for verifiable 100% accurate messages transmitted and received much quicker than by voice.  Whenever possible, learn some of these modes and implement them during training and disasters.  Currently Hall County ARES is endorsing NBEMS for analog FM modes, D-RATS for D-Star systems and NBEMS again along with WinLink for H.F.


II. Standard ITU Phonetics

While it may take less effort to speak into a microphone and listen than to operate CW, it does take some care to quickly and accurately convey exact information. Speak distinctly at all times. If information is to be copied manually, pace your speech accordingly. For critical information, or under noisy conditions, spell words with standard ITU phonetics. ITU phonetics were chosen so that each word sounds completely different from all others. A list of ITU phonetics is available in The ARRL Handbook and the ARRL Logbooks. A compressed copy follows:


A- alfa (AL-fa)                                N - november (no-VEM- ber)

B - bravo (BRAH-voh)                   O - oscar (OSS-cah)

C - charlie (CHAR-lee)                   P - papa (PAH-PAH)

D - delta (DELL-tah)                      Q - quebec (kay- BECK)

E - echo (ECK-oh)                         R - romeo (ROW-me-oh)

F - foxtrot (FOKS-trot)                   S - sierra (SEE-air-rah)

G - golf (GOLF)                             T - tango (TANG-go)

H - hotel (HOH-tell)                       U - uniform (YOU-ni- form)

I - india (IN-dee-ah)                       V - victor (VIK-tah)

J - juliet (JU-lee-ett)                      W - whiskey (WISS-key)

K - kilo (KEY-loh)                          X-Ray (X-RAY)

L - lima (LEE-mah)                        Y - yankee (YANG-key)

M - mike (MIKE)                            Z - zulu (ZOO-loo)


III. Numbers

Numbers are pronounced individually. The number 60 is pronounced six zero, not sixty. The number 509 is pronounced five zero nine, not five hundred nine and not five oh nine.

Getting the message through:

To improve communications you need to improve the difference between the signal and the noise levels (signal to noise ratio) to achieve reliable communications. For our purposes here, noise is defined as any impediment to transmission or reception of information (messages). What form can this "noise" take? Some of the more common ones are:

  • Static and background noise on the air
  • Equipment or voice sounds around you
  • Inappropriate amount of light
  • "Loose cannon" tempers
  • Improper transmission speed
  • Improperly formatted messages

 

What can you do to maximize message throughput?

Here are some of the more common ways to handle impediments.


Slow Down! Hams, in general, tend to handle communications as quickly as they can. This does NOT produce the maximum throughput during a net. While this may seem counterintuitive, it has been proven again and again that a three or four second break between transmissions will actually result in information being passed more quickly.


Static and background noise on the air.  Ensure you have the proper antenna for the job.
An NVIS will work very well for 40 and 75 meter SSB when your communications range is up to about three hundred miles where a vertical will not. Conversely, a vertical will work quite well for VHF/UHF.


Choose the best band for the job. VHF/UHF are very good for short distances (less than 50 miles) but are useless for distances over one hundred miles. The antennas are quite small.  HF propagation differs by band. What distance do you wish to cover? Antennas are quite large.


Make sure your equipment is grounded.

Equipment or voice sounds around you. Use a headset to minimize noise you will hear from the area you are in. Use a noise canceling microphone to minimize transmitted noise. When ever possible, locate your station away from the source of noise.


Inappropriate amount of light. Many people do not think of light as a potential problem. Think what happens when you have too much light when you try to read a computer screen or too little light when you try to read printed information.  Stay out of direct sunlight if at all possible.  Try not to be in shade while having to look directly into the sunshine.  Ensure there will be sufficient light for you to work at night.


"Loose cannon" tempers. These are very hard to deal with. Your best bet is to ask assistance from your supervisor. A team working calmly toward a common goal will frequently defuse the situation.


Improper transmission speed.  Practice sending at the appropriate rate where the other party can copy. That means you shouldn't ramble off the message text at high speed, but pace yourself to the same speed that the other party is copying (about 15 WPM). That translates to about one word every four seconds. As you speak, imagine that you're writing the word in your mind. After a while, you'll get the hang of talking 15 WPM. If you do this right, you'll never get a request to repeat a section.


When asking for part or all of the message to be repeated, get into the habit of saying "Say Again" instead of "Repeat". Repeat is used in the military to fire another salvo of artillery.