Description
Code that replaces each Latin letter by a spoken code word beginning with that letter, e.g., Alfa for A and Zulu for Z [1]. The code words were selected to minimize confusions among them in communication under degraded conditions [2].
The ITU Radio Regulations pair the code with a figure code, which replaces digits by code words such as Nadazero for 0 and Unaone for 1 [1].
Protection
Under radio jamming, over 90% of code words were understood at a Diagnostic Rhyme Test score just below 70, the level generally required for ordinary use [3]. Under jamming, single-syllable code words are more susceptible to confusion than longer ones [3].Realizations
Radiocommunication: the ITU Radio Regulations prescribe the code for spelling out call signs, service abbreviations, and words [1].Notes
See Ref. [4] for confusions among the code words under narrow-band digital speech processing with bit errors.Member of code lists
Primary Hierarchy
References
- [1]
International Telecommunication Union, “Radio Regulations”, Edition of 2024, Vol. 2, App. 14 (Phonetic alphabet and figure code) URL
- [2]
A. Schmidt-Nielsen, “Intelligibility of ICAO spelling alphabet words as a function of LPC narrow-band processing and bit error rate”, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 80, S20 (1986) DOI
- [3]
Astrid. Schmidt-Nielsen, “Spelling Alphabet and Diagnostic Rhyme Test Intelligibility of Jammed Speech”, Military Psychology 3, 89 (1991) DOI
- [4]
A. Schmidt-Nielsen, “The effect of narrow-band digital processing and bit error rate on the intelligibility of ICAO spelling alphabet words”, IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing 35, 1101 (1987) DOI
Page edit log
- Victor V. Albert (2026-10-29) — most recent
Cite as:
“NATO phonetic alphabet”, The Error Correction Zoo (V. V. Albert & P. Faist, eds.), 2026. https://errorcorrectionzoo.org/c/nato_phonetic_alphabet, arXiv:2606.11484