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Radio Communications - Phraseology

Reference

Standard Pro-Words

Letters and numbers should be transmitted using the standard phonetic process outlined below. Standard pro-words should be used when appropriate.

Standard Pro-Word	Description
“Affirmative/Affirm”	Yes, correct.
“All stations”	General call to all stations / units on a network.
“Cancel”	Ignore my previous instruction or request.
“Clear”	This is the end of my transmission. No reply is expected.
“Clear to you”	Used by FireCom. End of my transmission to you, will now transmit to another call sign.
“Confirm”	Verify this statement.
“Copy”	Message received and understood.
“Correction”	My last message was incorrect. The correct message is...
“Disregard”	Ignore my previous statement or request.
“ETA”	Estimated time of arrival.
“ETD”	Estimated time of departure.
“Figures”	The figures that follow are numbers (other than a grid, time, wind, etc).
“Go ahead”	I am ready to receive your transmission.
“Grid”	Numerical map grid reference to follow..
“I say again”	I am repeating my last transmission.
“Incident call”	Report of a new incident requiring response.
“More to follow”	If there is a need to transmit a long message and it needs to be broken down into segments.
“Negative”	No, incorrect, permission not granted.
“Nothing heard”	I have not received a reply.
“Over”	Transmission is complete, reply expected.
“Proceeding”	An appliance is proceeding under normal road conditions to an incident or activity.
“Responding”	An appliance is responding under lights and siren to an incident.
“Read back”	Please repeat back to me all or part of the message I just gave you.
“Roger”	Message received and understood.
“Say again”	Repeat your last transmission to me.
“SitRep”	I am about to transmit a Situation Report to you.
“Stand by”	I must pause. I will call you back when ready.
Understood	Message understood.
“Wilco”	Message received, understood and I will comply.

Radio Checking Pro-Words

Plain language terms shall apply here with simple easy to understand words being used.

Term	Description
Loud:	Your transmission is good and loud – strong signal and easily
Weak:	Your transmission is low or weak – weak signal and just able to understand
Clear:	Your speech is easy to understand
Readable:	Your speech is understandable but just
Unreadable:	We know you are there but cannot understand what you are saying – very poor signal and message not understood
Nothing Heard:	We can’t hear you at all – no response or signal heard

Numbered systems are not to be used as it is not understood by all operators across the Organisation. The following terms will, in most cases, suffice for reception reports:

Normally these words would be grouped in two parts, such as “Loud and Clear” or “Weak and Readable” or “Weak and Unreadable” or “Nothing Heard”.

Phonetic Numbers

When saying numbers on the radio, use the following. Pronunciation is exaggerated slightly:

Number	Word	Pronunciation
0	Zero	Zero
1	One	Wun
2	Two	Too
3	Three	TH-ree
4	Four	FOW-er
5	Five	Fi-ve
6	Six	Siks
7	Seven	Sev-en
8	Eight	Ate
9	Nine	Niner
100	Hundred	Hun-dred
1000	Thousand	TH-ousand

Phonetic Alphabet

When saying letters on the radio, use the following. Pronunciation is exaggerated slightly:

Letter	Word	Pronunciation	Letter	Word	Pronunciation
A	Alpha	AL-fah	N	November	No-VEM-ber
B	Bravo	BRAH-vo	O	Oscar	OSS-kah
C	Charlie	CHAR-lee	P	Papa	Pah-PAH
D	Delta	DELL-tah	Q	Quebec	KEW-beck
E	Echo	ECK-oh	R	Romeo	ROH-me-oh
F	Foxtrot	Foks-trot	S	Sierra	See-AIR-ah
G	Golf	Golf	T	Tango	TANG-go
H	Hotel	HOT-tel	U	Uniform	You-nee-form
I	India	In-dee-ah	V	Victor	VIK-tah
J	Juliett	Jew-LEE-ett	W	Whiskey	WISS-kee
K	Kilo	KEY-loh	X	X-Ray	Ecks-ray
L	Lima	LEE-mah	Y	Yankee	YANG-key
M	Mike	Mike	Z	Zulu	ZOO-loo

Content Owner: State Operations
Date Approved: 14 Sep 2024
Review Required: 14 Sep 2027
Version: 1.0

If you have any questions or feedback on Operational Doctrine, please email Ops.Performance@rfs.nsw.gov.au.