Radio Slang for Aircraft, Mecha and Convoys

[bobharly]

I am planning on using some of this stuff in my game and thought I would share. These lists are simplified and shortened to capture the flavor of Radio: Basic and Military Tactics in a variety of communications situations.

Radio Code and Slang

Ten-Code
Examples of ten-codes
• 10-1 Bad reception
• 10-4 I acknowledge/Affirmative
• 10-9 Say again
• 10-20 Advise to location
• 10-21 Call (by Phone) _______.
• 10-33 Emergency: all units stand by
• 10-36 Correct time

RST for Amateur Radio

Readability
The R stands for "Readability". Readability is a qualitative assessment of how easy or difficult it is to correctly copy the information being sent during the transmission Readability is measured on a scale of 1 to 5.[6]
Strength
The S stands for "Strength". Strength is an assessment of how powerful the received signal is at the receiving location. "Strength" is measured on a scale of 1 to 9.[6]
Tone
The T stands for "Tone". Tone is only used in Morse code and digital transmissions and is therefore omitted during voice operations. Tone is measured on a scale of 1 to 9.[6]

Q-Codes Amateur Radio

First Twelve Q Codes Listed in the 1912 International Radiotelegraph Convention Regulations
Code Question Answer or Notice
QRA What ship or coast station is that? This is ____.
QRB What is your distance? My distance is ____.
QRC What is your true bearing? My true bearing is ____ degrees.
QRD Where are you bound for? I am bound for ____.
QRF Where are you bound from? I am bound from ____.
QRG What line do you belong to? I belong to the ____ Line.
QRH What is your wavelength in meters? My wavelength is ____ meters.
QRJ How many words have you to send? I have ____ words to send.
QRK How do you receive me? I am receiving (1–5). 1 is unreadable and 5 is perfect.
QRL Are you busy? I am busy.
QRM Are you being interfered with? I am being interfered with.
QRN Are the atmospherics strong? Atmospherics (noise) are very strong.

American/N.A.T.O. Military (Shortened for Game Use: More available)

Aborting/Abort/Aborted
Directive/informative call to cease action/attack/event/mission.

Authenticate
To request or provide a response for a coded challenge.

Bandit
An aircraft identified as enemy, in accordance with theater ID criteria. The term does not necessarily imply direction or authority to engage.

Blind
No visual contact with friendly aircraft/ground position; opposite of visual.

Blue on blue
Friendly fire, inadvertent hostile engagement between allies.

Bogey
A radar or visual air contact whose identity is unknown.

Break (direction)
Directive to perform an immediate maximum performance turn in the direction indicated; assumes a defensive situation.

Bugout
Separation from that particular engagement/attack/operation; no intent to (direction) re-engage/return.

Cease fire
Do not open fire and/or discontinue firing; complete intercept if weapons are in flight; continue to track.

Chattermark
Begin using briefed radio procedures to counter communications jamming.

Clean
1. No radar contacts on aircraft of interest.
2. No visible battle damage
3. Aircraft not carrying external stores.

Cleared hot
Ordnance release is authorized.

Closing
Decreasing in range.

Commit/committed
Fighter intent to engage/intercept; controller continues to provide information.

Deadstick
Lost all propulsive power due to engine shutoff - see Deadstick landing

Declare
Inquiry as to the identification of a specified track(s), target(s), or correlated group.

Deploy
Directive to maneuver to briefed positioning.

Divert
Proceed to alternate mission or base.

Engaged
Maneuvering with the intent to kill; this implies visual/radar acquisition of target.

Estimate
Provides estimate of the size, range, height, or other parameter of a specified contact; implies degradation.

Friendly
A positively identified friendly contact.

Furball
A turning fight involving multiple aircraft with known bandits and friendlies mixed.

Gadget
Radar or emitter equipment.

Go clear
Use unencrypted voice communications.

Go secure
Use encrypted voice communications.

Grandslam
All hostile aircraft of a designated track (or against which a mission was tasked) are shot down.

Heads up
Alert of an activity of interest.

Hold fire
An emergency fire control order used to stop firing on a designated target, to include destruction of any missiles in flight.

Home plate
Home airfield or carrier.

Hostile
A contact identified as enemy upon which clearance to fire is authorized in accordance with theater rules of engagement.

Id (pronounced eye dee)
1. Directive to identify the target.
2. Identification accomplished, followed by type.

Lost contact
Radar contact lost. (drop track is recommended.)

Monitor
Maintain radar awareness on or assume responsibility for specified group.

Mother
Parent ship.

Music
Electronic radar jamming. (On air interdiction (AI) radar, electronic deceptive jamming.)

Roger
Radio transmission received; does not indicate compliance or reaction.

Scramble
Takeoff as quickly as possible.

Shadow
Follow indicated target.

Smoke
Smoke marker used to mark a position.

Status
Request for tactical situation.

Unable
Cannot comply as requested/directed.

What state
Report amount of fuel and missiles remaining. Ammunition and oxygen are reported only when specifically requested or critical.

Wilco
Will comply

CB popular terms (Similar to 10 Code)

"01"
The first stop on a load, or first pick up location.
"02, 03, 04, etc."
The stops in order of their occurrence on a load. 02 would be second stop, 03 is the third, and so on.

"4-10"
A reversal of the ten code "10-4", when asking if someone agrees with something said, or to ask if one's transmission was received. ("That was a nasty wreck. Four-ten?")

"5 by 5"
5 by 5 indicates that you can hear another CB broadcaster perfectly. An exceptionally clear/strong transmission is described as "wall-to-wall and treetop tall".

"10-4"(sometimes simply "4")
Acknowledged. Can also be used to denote or emphasize the agreement ("That's a big 10-4.")

"10-6"
Busy, Stand By [6]

"10-7"
Out of commission.

"10-8"
In service, taking calls

"10-9"
Repeat. Usually used to ask for a repeat.

"10-10"
CB operator will stop broadcasting, but will continue to listen ("I'm 10-10 on the side.")

"10-20" (more often simply "20")
Denotes location, as in identifying one's location ("My 20 is on Main Street and First"), asking the receiver what their current location or destination is ("What's your 20?"), or inquiring about the location of a third person ("Ok, people, I need a 20 on Little Timmy and fast").

"10-33"
An emergency situation ("You got a 10-33 at yardstick (milepost) 136, they got 4-wheelers (autos) all piled up"). Also used for radio checks, as C.W. McCall noted in "Round the World with Rubber Duck": "'Breaker 1-9er for a 10-33,' what we got was the cotton-pickin' BBC."

"3s and 8s"
Love and Kisses

"10-36"
The correct time ("Can I get a 10-36?")

"10-51"
"I'm headed your way." ("I'm 51 to you.")

"10-100" (polite)
Taking a bathroom break, especially on the side of the road. Referencing the use of showing one finger to denote the need to urinate.

"10-200"
Police needed at (location)

"10 In The Wind"
Listening to the CB while driving. Also known as "10-10 in the wind".

"99"
The final stop or destination of a load.

"Affirmative"
Yes.[7]

"Angry Kangaroo"
A truck with one (or both) of its headlights out

"Bear Bait"
An erratic or speeding driver.[8]

"Break / Breaker"
Telling other CB users that you'd like to start a transmission on a channel. May be followed by either the channel number, indicating that anyone may acknowledge (e.g. "Breaker One-niner" refers to channel 19, the most widely used among truck drivers), or by a specific "handle", which is requesting a particular individual to respond.)

"Choke and Puke"
Truck stop

"Copy That" or "Copy"
acknowledgement "I heard you" or "I Understand"

"Cotton-pickin'"
a polite way of showing disgust

"Double-Nickels"
Refers to a speed limit of 55 mph.

"Eat 'em Up"
A restaurant.

"Four, Foe"
Refers to 10-4, dropping the 10, also: 'Yeah, Four", "foe", "yeah, foe"(slang for "four").

"Flag in five mile wind"
45 MPH zone.

"Green Stamps"
Cash money (refers to S & H Green Stamps).

"Go-Go Juice"
Gasoline or diesel fuel.

"Groceries"
A meal.

"Turtle Race"
Zone slower than 45 MPH.

"Starsky and Hutch"
Team Drivers.

"Fingerprint"
To "Fingerprint" your load would indicate that you will have to load or unload the cargo yourself.

"Three Sisters"
Three big hills on I-80E between SLC Utah and Fort Bridger Wyoming.

"Good Buddy"
In the 1970s, this was the stereotypical term for a friend or acquaintance on a CB radio.[1][2][7]

"Good Numbers / 3s and 8s"
used to wish a fellow traveler good luck.

"Handle"
The nickname a CB user uses in CB transmissions. Other CB users will refer to the user by this nickname. To say "What's your handle?" is to ask another user for their CB nickname.[7]

"Hundred Mile Coffee"
Very strong coffee

"Jabber / Jabbering Idiot / Babble / Babbling Idiot"
Someone using foreign language, e.g. Italian, on the CB.

"Kojak with a Kodak"
Law enforcement with a radar gun.

"Lot Lizard"
A prostitute in a rest area.

"Credit Card Machine"
Narrow Two Lane Bridge.

"Fighter Pilot"
Someone changing lanes often.

"Pickle Park"
Rest Area

"Cash box"
Toll Booth

"Turkey Hearse"
Truck with load of turkeys headed for slaughter.

"Rubber necker"
looking at something on the side of the road causing a backup.

"4 wheeler"
any vehicle with 4 wheels

"Seat Cover"
An attractive woman in a vehicle, especially when scantily-clad.

"Semi-Pro"
Pickup drivers hanging out with truckers on highways and elsewhere.

"On Your Donkey"
Used to warn of a tailgater, as in, "You got a meat wagon on your donkey"

"Outdoor TV"
A drive-in theatre.

"Suicide Jockey"
A driver who is hauling dangerous goods such as explosives.

"Sandbagging"
Not participating in conversation but listening only, despite having the capability of speaking. This is not the same as listening in using a simple receiver, as the person sandbagging can transmit using the two-way radio, but chooses not to.[9][10] It is done to monitor people for entertainment or for gathering information about the actions of others. Often, CBer's will sandbag to listen to others' responses to their previous input to a conversation, sometimes referred to a "reading the mail."[11]

[eliakon]

Thank you. This was very useful, and highly relevant to my interests.

[Zer0 Kay]

Very popular Brevity Code use in film (BTW easy to find code definitions by searching for Brevity codes)
Independence Day

President: Eagle one fox two

Translation: Eagle one is the call sign. As we can see from the list below the President is announcing he is launching IR missile, likely a Sidewinder.

It is noted that this is done to avoid friendly fire but it also allows the brass tracking the battle are aware of the munitions used in order to track assets. After all they could simply call out call sign and foxtrot for the area in front of them to be cleared, is it necessary for your wingman to know what type of sensor is being used or just to get the he'll out of the way?

Fox One - Indicates launch of a semi-active radar-guided missile (such as the AIM-7 Sparrow).

Fox Two - Indicates launch of an infrared-guided missile (such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder).

Fox Three - Indicates launch of an active radar-guided missile (such as the AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-54 Phoenix).

Fox Four - Historical term indicating air-to-air or air-to-surface cannon fire. The term in current usage is Guns, Guns, Guns.

[eliakon]

For those who want even more of this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiserv ... evity_code

And you can adapt...
Fox 1 Mini-Missiles
Fox 2 Short Range Missiles
Fox 3 Medium Missiles
Fox 4 Long Range Missiles

And bam, it now fits in Rifts and your CS units can chatter to each other with out needing to worry about what the guidance package is.

[bobharly]

Brevity codes look cool!

My idea was to get players to actually use their Radio Basic skill to communicate during combat without having lengthy discussions.

[Zer0 Kay]

Lol make them learn phonetic alphabet.

Some @$$ on the other end of the radio.

Player: This is double you, three six nine requesting landing clearance.

Coot: Say again

Player: This is double you, three six nine permission to land.

Coot: Say again

Player: Can you hear me

Coot: Say again

Player: (sighs and face palms)... fine, how read?

Coot: Loud and clear

Player: finally... this is double you, three six nine...

Coot: Say again are you delta three six or not?

Player: (Whisky Tango Foxtrot, staring daggers at GM)

GM:(shrugs) what? You may have rolled a successful radio basic but your not doing it.

Coot: Delta three six you are not clear to land turn to heading 265 or you will be fired upon.

Player: (ARGH FINE) THIS IS WHISKY THREE SIX NINER REQUESTING PERMISSION TO LAND.

Coot: (shuffling paper) copy whisky three six niner, permission granted runway 8... that'd be the one marked 08 that you'll by chance be heading toward azimuth 080 on your little skinny thingy with all the numbers.

Player: I KNOW. (Stares at GM, and mouths ima gonna keel you).

GM: (false innocence) what? And who's Ima?

[Zer0 Kay]

For those who want even more of this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiserv ... evity_code

And you can adapt...
Fox 1 Mini-Missiles
Fox 2 Short Range Missiles
Fox 3 Medium Missiles
Fox 4 Long Range Missiles

And bam, it now fits in Rifts and your CS units can chatter to each other with out needing to worry about what the guidance package is.

LOL AND that guy that's WAY ahead of the group.
Dude: did he say Fox 2? That's good...

BOOM

Codude: nope must have been fox 4.

Dude: damn