At 07:30 AM 10/14/2009, Samudra Haque wrote: >on a satellite QSO, is it traditional to say "A, B, C" instead of >"Alfa Bravo Charlie" for brevity when referring to call signs and grid >locators ?
That can backfire and waste time, due to people not understanding the letters. For example, my callsign under adverse conditions could be mis heard as (heard most of the following on terrestrial repeaters or IRLP/Echolink, let alone on the birds!): VK3JEB VK3JD VK3JB VK3JEV VK3JV And the list goes on.... ;) The overhead in asking for clarification or getting a correction outweighs the overhead of using phonetics in most cases. Once callsigns are confirmed, you can drop the phonetics (though usually by then, the QSO is over, so someone else can have a go ;) ). Phonetics are also more likely to survive brief bursts of QRM or brief fades. 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb