Manitoulin

THE USE OF THE PHONETIC ALPHABET

 

In the 1950’s, the phonetic alphabet was developed to be intelligible and pronounceable to all North American Treaty Organization (NATO) allies in the heat of battle. It has replaced other phonetic alphabets that were used in past years. The phonetic alphabet is used for clarification during communication, especially during radio procedures. It is used to spell out letters in place of saying only the letter itself. By using the phonetic alphabet, there is less chance for confusion during communication. For example, the letters “D” and “E” sound similar and could easily be mistaken for one another. When using the phonetic alphabet, “Delta” and “Echo” are easy to distinguish. The phonetic alphabet is used internationally by marine communities, aircraft, amateur radio operators and the military.