Your first contact on voice can feel like stepping onto a stage. The good news: amateur radio QSOs follow a simple, friendly pattern, and once you have done a few it becomes second nature. It all starts with the phonetic alphabet.
The phonetic alphabet
Letters such as B, D, E, G, P and T all sound alike through noise and fading. The international (ITU/NATO) phonetic alphabet replaces each letter with a word that cannot be mistaken:
| A–I | J–R | S–Z |
|---|---|---|
| A – Alfa | J – Juliett | S – Sierra |
| B – Bravo | K – Kilo | T – Tango |
| C – Charlie | L – Lima | U – Uniform |
| D – Delta | M – Mike | V – Victor |
| E – Echo | N – November | W – Whiskey |
| F – Foxtrot | O – Oscar | X – X-ray |
| G – Golf | P – Papa | Y – Yankee |
| H – Hotel | Q – Quebec | Z – Zulu |
| I – India | R – Romeo |
So M6OER becomes Mike Six Oscar Echo Romeo. Practise your own callsign out loud until it rolls off the tongue – you will say it thousands of times.
Before you call: listen and ask
- Tune around and listen for a while. Get a feel for how others make contacts.
- Find a clear frequency in the phone part of the band (check your band plan).
- Ask “Is this frequency in use? This is M6OER” – and listen again. Do this twice; someone might be there whom you cannot hear.
Calling CQ
CQ CQ CQ, this is Mike Six Oscar Echo Romeo,
M6OER calling CQ and listening.Keep CQ calls short and repeat them every few seconds. Long calls do not help – people tune past while you are still talking.
A typical first QSO
- They answer: “M6OER, this is G4ABC, Golf Four Alfa Bravo Charlie.”
- You reply: “G4ABC, thanks for the call. Your signal is five-nine. My name is … and my QTH is Salisbury. How copy? G4ABC, this is M6OER.”
- They give you a report, name and QTH – write them down in your log.
- Closing: “Thanks for the contact, 73 and hope to hear you again. G4ABC, this is M6OER, clear.”
Little things that help
- Say both callsigns at the start and end of the contact and every so often in between – regular identification is a UK licence requirement, and it helps everyone follow along.
- Speak a little slower than normal, close to the microphone, without shouting.
- If you miss something, just ask: “Sorry, could you repeat your name?” Everybody has been there.
- Log the time in UTC, not local time.
If you would like a test QSO, use the Contact page and we can arrange a sked. 73!