Basic Communications Guide

[Sam41]

This guide basically explains how to speak professionally and properly while using a radio as a squad leader or platoon. 

 

 

TRANSMISSION	EXPLANATION	EXAMPLE
"THIS IS…"	This means "This transmission is coming from ____."	"THIS IS ____ REQUESTING FIRE MISSION. OVER"
"REPEAT"	The word "REPEAT" will be used by itself. It shall ONLY be used with    reference to a fire mission and NEVER for regular transmissions.	"REPEAT FIRE MISSION."
"STAND BY FOR…"	Used to alert the receiver of the message that important information is about    to follow, such as a 9-line call, evac, fire mission, or salute report.	"PLATOON THIS IS BRAVO SQUAD, STAND BY FOR 9-LINE. OVER"
"DISREGARD…"	This means "This transmission is/has an error." During the transmission of a message and before the transmission of the termination word "OVER" or  "OUT," the operator may cancel the transmission by saying "DISREGARD. OUT." May also be used in conjunction with "ALL BEFORE"/"ALL AFTER."	"DISREGARD MY LAST." / "DISREGARD ALL AFTER…. ALL BEFORE…OVER"
"CORRECTION"	This means "An error has been made in the last transmission." Used in conjunction with "DISREGARD…"	"DISREGARD MY LAST. CORRECTION…."
"SAY AGAIN"	This is used when the operator misses all or part of the transmission. Sometimes used in conjunction with "ALL BEFORE/ALL AFTER"	"THIS IS BRAVO SQUAD. SAY AGAIN ALL AFTER….ALL BEFORE…."
"I SAY AGAIN"	Used on it's own to add emphasis or in reply to "SAY AGAIN."	"I SAY AGAIN, BRAVO SQUAD MOVE TO MARKER FOXTROT 1. OVER."
"ALL BEFORE"/ "ALL AFTER"	If the operator misses a portion of the message, these words will be used in conjunction with "DISREGARD" and "SAY AGAIN."	"THIS IS PLATOON, BRAVO SQUAD MOVE TO MARKER FOXTROT 1 AND SET UP DEFENSIVE PERIMETER"….."THIS IS BRAVO. SAY AGAIN ALL AFTER BRAVO, ALL BEFORE DEFENSIVE PERIMETER. OVER."
"READ BACK"	This means "Say again the entire transmission" [or any part indicated ("ALL BEFORE"/"ALL AFTER")] This is used at the end of a transmission when the original sender wants to make sure that the receiver of the message received exactly everything and that it was received properly.	"….REQUESTING READ BACK. OVER"
"CORRECT" / "WRONG"	This is used in response to a read back. It is met with the reply "ROGER."  There will be 3 transmissions in total. The read back itself, the reply  "CORRECT" / "WRONG," and then the reply "ROGER"	"READ BACK CORRECT/WRONG."
"COPY"/"SOLID COPY"	This means "I acknowledge and completely understand the information you have passed."	"BRAVO COPY"
"ROGER"	This means "I have received your last transmission satisfactorily" and can    have a follow-up afterwards.	"ROGER"
"MESSAGE"	This means a message that requires recording is about to follow and to be prepared."	"MESSAGE. ENEMY TROOPS MOVE WEST AT GRID 464328. OVER."
"I SPELL"	This means "I shall spell the next word phonetically." Usually used when spelling out something such as a name or intel.	"I SPELL FOXTROT ALPHA GOLF. OVER."
"OVER"	This means "This is the end of the transmission to you and a reply is   required." A reply is required to this message. It is used to end most   messages.	"PLATOON THIS IS BRAVO, OVER."
"OUT"	This mean "this is the end of my transmission to you and a reply is not required." "OVER" and "OUT" can never be used in the same transmission because they contradict each other.	"BRAVO COPY. OUT."

 

 

[Silberjojo]

You could also include that the "proper" way of beginning a transmission is: 

"Alpha, This is Bravo, Over"

as opposed to

"Bravo to Alpha"

 

Correct me if this is wrong lol

[Doctadoone]

15 minutes ago, Silberjojo said:

You could also include that the "proper" way of beginning a transmission is: 

"Alpha, This is Bravo, Over"

as opposed to

"Bravo to Alpha"

 

Correct me if this is wrong lol

 

As long as it gets the message across, to me it's correct. The first one is more formal and seems less urgent, and usually, awaits a response before transmitting the message for Alpha. The lower one seems more informal and more urgent but it gets the point across. Sometimes if I need to transmit quickly I'll just use the tone of my voice to convey the conjunctions. Something akin to "Alpha? Bravo." which with the tone of voice is usually identifiable as "Alpha, this is Bravo."

[Urist McGLORY]

Every now and then I butcher some of these, but not to a detrimental degree, for example, I assume it's customary to go "alpha this is platoon, message over" and wait? Sometimes I just skip the wait on go ahead. 

[Sam41]

Both are correct technically. Here's a real life example from the firing range. When we're on the firing line and need to talk to the pits (the area down below that pulls the targets for us) the transmission is usually "line to pits" "go for pits/send it"

[Silberjojo]

4 hours ago, Doctadoone said:

awaits a response before transmitting

This is also a thing. If the mesage is not urgent, wait for the other side to respond so you know they are listening. 

[ChaosShadoWolfe]

Personally, I tend to skip the "over" portions due to it being redundant in most cases. In general, it's a one-way street of communica, usually to either indicate hostile presence, or report in, and while "over" is required there, it generally speaks for itself the moment it is relayed. Usually, with information, a simple confirmation is satisfactory to end the transmission. What I generally hear over LR too is the word "Interrogative" as an indicator that a question will be asked regarding additional information. Furthermore, I tend to hold myself to "strictly business" long range comms to begin with. "Alpha to Platoon, 5 EI Foot mobile at marker. Requesting permission to take out the threat." something along those lines would be common for me, or when a squad needs to identify a target for either pin-point elimination or to confirm a kill, "Bravo to Platoon, requesting details regarding Target." It generally gets the point across that it's urgent and immediately relays what I need to accomplish my task. Short Range is the same with me, though I am a bit more loose on there from time to time. Either confirmation of an order, requesting reconsideration of an order or suggesting of an action is quite common with me as I tend to think on my feet and offer my unschooled opinion on the subject, usually with either a confirmation or a decline which is sufficient to, at least afterwards, tell the SL that I warned him if his orders turned out wrong.

 

TL;DR I keep comms short and to the point, no regulation BS but with a degree of respect for a higher ranking officer. Keep to the basic guidelines of how to do basic comms and you should be fine.

[Guest]

Can you SL without having to know all this crap or is this becoming mandatory?.

[NeilZar]

6 minutes ago, Guest said:

is this becoming mandatory?

no

[Woody]

12 hours ago, Silberjojo said:

You could also include that the "proper" way of beginning a transmission is: 

"Alpha, This is Bravo, Over"

as opposed to

"Bravo to Alpha"

 

Correct me if this is wrong lol

If I am a flight lead (Zephyr flight), I usually say the reciever's callsign (Nomad) and then mine. 

"Nomad Zephyr" 

That works pretty great.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, NeilZar said:

no

Grand.

[Silberjojo]

12 hours ago, ChaosShadoWolfe said:

What I generally hear over LR too is the word "Interrogative" as an indicator that a question will be asked

I really only use this when I feel like I can't convey that the next thing I say will be a Question.

[Don_prince]

On 14-6-2017 at 03:52, Sam41 said:

 

"OUT"

This mean "this is the end of my transmission to you and a reply is not required." "OVER" and "OUT" can never be used in the same transmission because they contradict each other.

"BRAVO COPY. OUT."

  

OVER AND OUT is a naval term. You can beat me but its a part of me... This is why you will hear me say OVER AND OUT. And yes I know its incorrect, but I am drilled to say it...

[Crackerkiller]

On 6/22/2017 at 13:38, Sam41 said:

Both are correct technically. Here's a real life example from the firing range. When we're on the firing line and need to talk to the pits (the area down below that pulls the targets for us) the transmission is usually "line to pits" "go for pits/send it"

Not both correct you'd get butchered for saying to irl. Lol

[Digby Tatham-Warter]

Over and Out are never ever ever conjoined. Ever.

Over is I've finished speaking and I await a reply. Out is I've finished speaking and I no longer expect a reply.

Over and Out is basically I've finished speaking and I await a reply, but I'm not listening to you. Unsurprisingly, it's extraordinarily rude. 

Also it's always Callsign, this is Callsign. i.e. Alpha, this is Bravo. It's never the other way round for reasons of confusion.

[Digby Tatham-Warter]

The general rule of Comms is if it's a closed net and you can all understand each other, it doesn't matter so much. i.e short range section nets

If it's an official request or information is passing from one level of command to another, proper comms discipline needs to be observed as it will need writing up afterwards in the AAR (IRL) and given the propensity in a modern military context the enemy are probably listening into your comms traffic. As such, if we propose to Sim things, proper comms discipline is important as it allows me as a Platoon Leader/Tank Commander to work out A) what orders I have been given/are giving will be understood and B) I'm not being ordered to do something by someone without the proper authority.

The only thing that stops me from ignoring transmissions that use awful discipline in our ops until the proper codification is used is the realization that the person I'm speaking to may not know the proper discipline, and so I can't be that picky. Even so, if you want to exercise a command role, it's best to learn the textbook way of doing things before you freeball it.

[Not Connor]

Sort of what you want to be saying as an example would be 

"1-6, this is 1-3 I'm seeing enemy movement to our north, north west about 700 meters away, permission to engage/marked on map, over"

You want to cut out as much unnecessary information as you can, the more clutter there is the harder it is for everyone else to tell what is happening.  Over and out is kind of a hollywood thing as far as I can remember, like lock and load, or anything like that. But really there isn't much to know when it comes to comms, basically just keep it short and sweet we have 5-6 squads on LR during first when usually a platoon element will only have like 3-4. If you want to ask for a medic from a squad close to you or LAT or something like that try to get onto their SR so you can considerate easier while not potentially stopping another element from reporting something that might be more important than hey send a medic over whenever you want to. 

[Silberjojo]

31 minutes ago, Not Connor said:

If you want to ask for a medic from a squad close to you or LAT or something like that try to get onto their SR so you can considerate easier

Do it over the LR so PLT and the other Squads know where your medic is. Also:
"1-3, This is 1-6, Requesting your medic on [my Position], Over."

[Not Connor]

Just now, Silberjojo said:

Do it over the LR so PLT and the other Squads know where your medic is. Also:
"1-3, This is 1-6, Requesting your medic on [my Position], Over."

Only one change i would make to that Silber, and that is OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Whisper]

Greetings,

I have used 'HELLO' when communicating between elements, as an introductory prefix. For example.

Platoon: HELLO 1'1 THIS IS 1'0, RADIO CHECK, OVER

1st Squad: HELLO 1'0 THIS IS 1'1, LOUD and CLEAR, OUT

Might just be a British thing.

Regards,

 

Whisper.

[Silberjojo]

19 hours ago, Whisper said:

Platoon: HELLO 1'1 THIS IS 1'0, RADIO CHECK, OVER

1st Squad: HELLO 1'0 THIS IS 1'1, LOUD and CLEAR, OUT

Ive also been saying "Yo Alpha, this Platoon" a lot lately

[Guest]

Would "dickhead in alpha,  this is bravo sl" suffice?

[Sam41]

Nice to see a guide on how to help newer people has gone to shit. Congrats guys. 

[juseless]

Well, if the new guys take it sirius they will disregard the bad answers and focus on your guide and the actual informative answers.

For example I took the advice from Digby about "Callsign, this is Callsign" to heart because it states it really clearly who is called by whom. Makes sure there are no misunderstandings.

[Glad1us]

When PL has multiple massages of different subjects and/or to multiple I would also add "break"

When PL has multiple massages of different subjects and/or to multiple squads.

Situation: Alpha is fighting in town A while Charlie is in town B PL says "Alpha get to the extraction point. break. Charlie get to the overwatch point and wait for orders.