The Phonetic Alphabet

I’m not sure where I found this originally, it was some time back.

 

 

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

International

Alpha

Bravo

Charlie

Delta

Echo

Foxtrot

Golf

Hotel

India

British

Andrew

Benjamin

Charlie

David

Edward

Frederick

George

Harry

Isaac

American

Abel

Baker

Charlie

Dog

Easy

Fox

George

How

Item

 

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

International

Juliet

Kilo

Lima

Mike

November

Oscar

Papa

Quebec

Romeo

British

Jack

King

Lucy

Mary

Nelly

Oliver

Peter

Queenie

Robert

American

Jig

King

Love

Mike

Nan

Oboe

Peter

Queen

Roger

 

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

 

International

Sierra

Tango

Uniform

Victor

Whiskey

X-ray

Yankee

Zulu

 

British

Sugar

Tommy

Uncle

Victor

William

Xmas

Yellow

Zebra

 

American

Sugar

Tare

Uncle

Victor

William

X (Eks)

Yoke

Zebra

 

 

The phonetic alphabet was developed to overcome the difficulty of transmitting information by means of electronic communication where voice quality was very poor. By using highly dissimilar sounding words to indicate letters, it is simple to distinguish between them. For example, whilst it is difficult to distinguish a spoken f from an s, it is impossible to confuse the words foxtrot and sierra even under very poor conditions.

In the early years of radio, different countries developed their own versions of the phonetic alphabet, then as the world opened up, an international system was adopted which is now in use across most of the globe. It is shown below alongside earlier methods which were developed by the British and American military.


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