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Phonetic Alphabet Question

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Old 8th September 2003 | 04:10
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GT3
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Phonetic Alphabet Question

Whilst trying to improve on perfection i was wondering how the letter P is pronounced?

is it pa - pa as it is spelt or par - par as a national airline pronounces it?
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Old 8th September 2003 | 04:19
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From: Cheshire, UK
.. probably depends on whether you went to Oxford or Cambrigde... Glass/Glarss... Class/Clarss... etc

I use the phonetics in my professional capacity and have always used Pa Pa... though on an entirely different frequency to most of you chaps

Is there a definitive list/pronunciation table ???
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Old 8th September 2003 | 04:31
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Being an northern chappy it's definitely pA pA for me
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Old 8th September 2003 | 04:39
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From: The frequency jungle
I allways use:
Sahara
and
Unicorn
and have never been corrected by anybody??!!?
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Old 8th September 2003 | 06:22
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GT3

How many Rs are there in Papa? Ergo....


P7
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Old 8th September 2003 | 09:26
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I heard a station calling Singapore on HF one morning for a preflight check. After a suitable wait I intercepted him, and the conversation went something like this:

"Singapore Radio, Poppa Kilo Poppa Echo Poppa, plefright check 6556."

"Station calling Singapore this is Perth, readability 4, confirm callsign Pa-pah Kilo Pa-pah Echo Pa-pah."

"Negative Perth, this is Poppa Kilo Poppa Echo Poppa..."
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Old 9th September 2003 | 01:02
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My [admittedly old] ITU book says:

P - PAPA - "pah-pah"

... but then it also says:

Q - QUEBEC - "keh-beck"

and how many folk say that?
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Old 9th September 2003 | 03:51
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From: Gatwick
1261 has a copy of the ITU book! I wonder what it says for the pronunciation of 'F'... I hear "Fox" with no "trot" almost all the time these days, so much so that I now do it myself except on the initial call...

"So-and-so radar, Golf Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot"

"Golf Echo Fox, so-and-so radar, pass your message"

"Golf Echo Fox is an aeroplane with two wings, currently flying through the sky, somewhere over England, quite low, routing directly in front of as many other aeroplanes as possible, request radar vectors towards other aircraft."

Since "Fox" is so common, and I certainly find it easier to say (does everybody?), how long before the Big Book gets updated. My guess is never

Cheers,

MD.
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Old 9th September 2003 | 04:58
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From: Texas
Q - QUEBEC - "keh-beck"

and how many folk say that?
Erm...
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Old 9th September 2003 | 08:26
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From: LGW
Fox 54

ModernDinosaur, I am sure your abbreviation of Foxtrot is in fairly common useage amongst most of us in the right situations. However, the book was already updated a few decades ago when the old Fox (with Able, Baker, Charlie, etc) was changed to its present form, back in the mid-'50s.

It works well on a clear VHF channel but the addition of the extra syllable was to distinguish it from (eg) Golf on a poor and barely intelligible HF freq. As the latter gives way to Sat-Data Com in the coming years, perhaps the phonetic will revert officially to just Fox, on the odd occasion that anyone actually performs air-ground verbal comms!

Meanwhile, one or two of us may continue to tease well-known senior members of the ATCO community with the occasional request for a confirmation the Queen Nan How, on first contact
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Old 9th September 2003 | 14:35
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... but then it also says:Q - QUEBEC - "keh-beck" and how many folk say that?
Me too. 27 years now if the math is right...

Dave
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Old 9th September 2003 | 22:44
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How infinitely BORING!!!!!!!!
 
Old 9th September 2003 | 23:13
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From: Caloundra, QLD, Australia
Is that a B for Bravo Boring? Or should it be B for Brah-voh Boring?
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Old 10th September 2003 | 01:48
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From: Wivenhoe, not too far from the Clacton VOR
DrSyn. Not to mention the Fox Easy, assuming anyone still uses it.
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Old 10th September 2003 | 03:14
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From: Hamilton, New Zealand
I've always said PaPa because thats how I was taught (here in New Zealand).

Foxtrot is definitly better than just plain old Fox
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Old 10th September 2003 | 05:24
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Where you are nz_phoenix, E is Icko
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Old 10th September 2003 | 12:28
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From: 24 27 45.66N 54 22 42.28E
Have to admit I say "Keh-Bec" and also was taught to say "Pa-Pa". As far as the "Fox" vs "Foxtrot" argument, I usually use Foxtrot as thats the way I was taught in Australia, but when I have FC201, FC301, FC501, and FC701 all on frequency at the same time, I do get lazy and call them Fox-Charlie. Shoot me!
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Old 10th September 2003 | 17:14
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From: Aix en Provence, France
I learned to say only "fox " in French ATC school (year 1994!)
I think everybody say it like that here!
(yesterday I had a "Hector Lima " callsign )
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Old 10th September 2003 | 20:37
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From: Somewhere out there
Do those who attended Oxbridge use Michael instead of Mike?

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Old 10th September 2003 | 20:47
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From: North Wales
I always use "kwebeck" and I think that foxtrot is infinately better that "fox"

And i think that verbal communications will not be phased out - also that they won't use satilite comms, I belive they will use microwave digital transmissions in the 4-5 GHz band.

WF.
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