Is it worth getting a radio?

[Chock]

Re the use of November and Golf...

 

The reason some of the words used in the phonetic alphabet seem a little odd and random, is largely to do with the fact that it has evolved into a system which is used internationally, from one which was originally used principally by the Brits and the Yanks, who would prefer common english words. But some of these create confusion to French and Spanish speakers. There are actually some clues to this fact when you look at how it is written out, for example, Juliett is spelled with two Ts on the end of it (which means the old BBC TV series, 'Juliet Bravo' was a typo ironically). Similarly, Alfa is not spelled with a PH as we might expect. These differences are to avoid difficulties in Spanish and French. French speakers would be inclined to regard a single T on the end of 'Juliet' silent, as they do with most words ending in T. Nor could they spell it 'Juliette', because Spanish speakers would pronounce the TE as TUH, thus it is spelled JULIETT. Afla is spelled with an F to avoid Spanish speakers treating the H in PH as a silent letter which would make them say it as ALPA if it was spelled Alpha, so Alfa it is. Which means the oil platform, Piper Alpha which famously exploded in 1988, also had a typo in its name.

 

So why November? When the phonetic alphabet we are all familiar with today was being finalised in 1951 by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Authority), they tested it on English, French and Spanish speakers, since these are the principal languages it was deemed likely to be used in. It was found that some of the original choices for letters led to confusion too, these were originally the letters C, M, N, U and X, which were represented by: Coco, Metro, Nectar, Union and eXtra. These make sense to English speakers but cause pronunciation difficulties and can result in confusion over their meanings to native French and Spanish speakers. So, C, M, N, U and X were changed to Charlie, Mike, November, Uniform and X-Ray, since these words are all relatively similar in meaning, or at least widely understood in both French and Spanish. November was picked because it is similar in Spanish and French and it was found that Nectar could be confused with Victor if reception was poor, which was far more likely to be the case in 1951 when radios were a lot less reliable than they are today.

 

Nowadays, with the fact that countries in Asia all have airlines, which few of them did back in 1951, the present phonetic alphabet causes a few issues with Asian languages and Dialects. We are all familiar with some of these difficulties these days of course, such as Chinese speakers having difficulty pronouncing Rs, usually turning them into Ls, and not easily being able to form words beginning ST, but back in 1951 of course, the Brits, Yanks, French and Spanish didn't really give a crap about people in Asia, whom they regarded mostly as second class citizens, so they went ahead with their choice of words for the phonetic alphabet. Nevertheless, these difficulties do lead to some localised variations in other parts of the world, for example, Lima and Quebec are probably not the best choices for letters these days, not least because Lima actually means Five in some Indonesian dialects, so ironically, they use the word London for L in quite a lot of Asian countries.

 

So even though some of the words in the phonetic alphabet - or should that be 'alfabet' - seem bizarre, there is sort of a good reason for most of them.

[Ian_Gere]

I'm sorry, but i just cannot help myself...

 

In fact, to avoid confusion, US forces don't even use the word Maverick on the radio when they really are launching a Maverick missile, they use the codeword 'Rifle'!

What, in case anyone might mistakenly think they were launching Tom Cruise?

[Ian_Gere]

The thing which bugs me most about airsoft radio use, and the reason why I hardly ever bother to take one with me anymore, is people who just will not get it through their heads that if you press to talk and begin speaking immediately, the beginning of the message is cut off and that if you er, ahhh, ansluryerwordstergevarinyeraccentreallyquickleeaherunahstickerrrrrrahhfewumsnarsinbetweenaswellthenyermayaswellahnotfuckinbovver. "Say again please" "Who are you talking to?" "Say again please" ... oh bugger it, whatever the info was it's probably no longer relevant...

[Chock]

I'm sorry, but i just cannot help myself...

What, in case anyone might mistakenly think they were launching Tom Cruise?

 

Nope, that'd be a Tomahawk, aka a Cruise Missile. Or possibly ass bandits at six o'clock

[Baz JJ]

At the Okto Eight game this weekend just gone, we had a very good radio net in place and provided a 4W licenced set for every four men, with dedicated frequencies for each force.

 

Correct RT procedure was maintained from the command side and it was interesting because originally there was a reluctance for people to become the radioman for their squad. However, in one case, we illustrated (not deliberately) that one team were at a disadvantage because they didn't know where the other half of their team were and people started to warm to radios.

 

They started to see the benefit when used properly and they picked up the procedures and started to learn in the field what was useful and what wasnt.

[jeffery7466]

As far as headsets/earpieces go, if you're after practicality above all else then a speaker mic with an aux out to a bouncer style earpiece is the way forward. The earpiece won't impede your hearing, the mic will work and has a nice big button so it's easy to use with gloves on. Most importantly though, if you buy the same manufacturer as your radio you're guaranteed compatibility. If you go down the airsoft repro route then all you can guarantee is shonky wiring and compatibility issues.

 

What about using something like this?

http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/04/60/14/29/0004601429871_500X500.jpg

 

So that I don't have to buy two separate things, and my voice may also be transmitted better, as the mic will be closer to the mouth.

Please share your experience

[jcheeseright]

while all-in one solutions like that are cheaper, they're also really fragile (due to being really cheap!) and also quite annoying... wearing that hard plastic thing over your ear all day will start out fine, progress to uncomfortable and then be downright painful. The speaker mic on the other hand just clips on to your kit, if the earpiece becomes uncomfortable, just take it off and turn the volume down

[Ian_Gere]

Personally I find the Z-Tactical Bowman EVO II headset to work well. By the end of the day my ear has been a little painful due to being squashed, but it wears off in an hour or so, and it's worth it for decent quality audio in a robust design. The EVO III gives more options, but with the removeable mic boom, its something to go wrong - to get terminals bent, to get water inside, to get yanked out and trodden into mud, or lost, etc. and besides the less unsoldered contacts in an audio chain, the better the sound quality. On top of that, replacing the boom with a throat mic is a very bad idea, unless you can afford a genuine military one, because the replicas are truly shite for intelligibility.