[amsat-bb] Re: FM satellite operations again again over Europe

[Tony Langdon]

At 07:30 AM 10/14/2009, Samudra Haque wrote:
>on a satellite QSO, is it traditional to say "A, B, C" instead of
>"Alfa Bravo Charlie" for brevity when referring to call signs and grid
>locators ?

That can backfire and waste time, due to people not understanding the 
letters.  For example, my callsign under adverse conditions could be 
mis heard as (heard most of the following on terrestrial repeaters or 
IRLP/Echolink, let alone on the birds!):

VK3JEB
VK3JD
VK3JB
VK3JEV
VK3JV

And the list goes on.... ;)  The overhead in asking for clarification 
or getting a correction outweighs the overhead of using phonetics in 
most cases.  Once callsigns are confirmed, you can drop the phonetics 
(though usually by then, the QSO is over, so someone else can have a 
go ;) ).  Phonetics are also more likely to survive brief bursts of 
QRM or brief fades.

73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL
http://vkradio.com