Radio Etiquette

[melchi]

Authors writing stuff with modern military tactics please make radio conversations with these rules in mind.

Proper radio communication uses something called 3 legged method.

1.) The two parties do a hand shake over the air.
2.) The message is relayed from one party to the other.
3.) The message is repeated back so the person who said it knows that it got received correctly.

Bad example:

person 1 : "This is Joe to command, we have contact!"
Command: "Copy that, permission to engage."
Person 1: "We'll show them hell."

So there are problems here:
1.) The person never waited to see if command was listening so he could have been talking to who knows.
2.) Command never relayed the message.

Better:
Person 1: "This is Joe to command"
Command: "Go ahead."
Person 1: "We have contact"
Command: "Copy, Joe has contact"
Person 1: "We'll show them hell."
Command: "Show them hell Joe"

Yeah it takes longer, but talking on the radio like it is a phone is really unprofessional. It can be done and work, but anyone that has any experience with proper radio etiquette is going to think that they are not acting professionally.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

[georgelee5786]

It goes further with some shows and books. Soldiers interact with no respect for superior officers or established protocol. It's annoying.

 

[EliseValkyria]

I would like to give my small opinion on the subject.

The truth is that the Radio Etiquette Radio can work? Yes and no.

Does it give realism to the scene? Yes, of course.

Does it help to improve a work? It depends a lot, if your novel aims to be a highly realistic work with a military background.

Should you always do it? it is not advisable. Unless such a thing has a real proposition as such behind it.

Some time ago I wrote a couple of chapters in my novel where I narrated an air combat, almost half of those chapters were just radio conversations, repeating everything twice would be tiresome and unnecessary.

It could work in specific moments to reveal a person having military, or maybe to reflect an "Oh fuck, shit got serious" moment, but I don't think it's a good idea to use it all the time.

Why?

Because as I once heard, an author's job is to "tell an interesting story, cutting through the mundane and mundane". Readers take for granted that various things happen in the background even subconsciously, they take for granted that some things happen that are not being actively narrated unless it has weight to convey a message as such. It is for the same reason that usually in stories it is not mentioned when the protagonists go to the bathroom or go to the supermarket to do the house shopping, people just assume that it happened at some point outside the chapter.

I'm not saying it should never be used, just that it should be used with a reason behind it. Because otherwise you are wasting readers' time repeating information that could have been spent on telling something else.

Think of it like a movie where you have an imposed time limit that you cannot pass, that limit is the attention of the "bottom of the barrel" readers, would you rather spend that valuable time repeating information all the time? Or spend it on something else that might excite them more and keeping them reading the novel?

 

[J_Chemist]

Me whenever some bozo fucks up how to talk on the radio properly:

Correct:
RTO: "Hammer 6-6R, this is Reaper 3-3R, troops in contact, Over."
Command: "Reaper 3-3R, Hammer 6-6R. Roger, troops in contact, Over."
RTO: "Grid November-Zulu, 5-5-2-6, 3-4-6-2, Over."
Command: "Roger. Grid November-Zulu 5-5-2-6, 3-4-6-2. Do you require additional support? Over."
RTO: "Negative. Handling it. Over."
Command: "Roger, 3-3R. QRF standing by. Guns are hot if needed. Hammer Out."

Words change based off the unique situation but for the most part, that's a proper conversation.

• RTO rings the phone and calls Command, identifies themself, notifies of TIC.
• Command ACKs.
• RTO feeds 8 digit grid so Command can smack it up on the map and has their general location.
• Command works to deconflict with other friendlies in the area to ensure it's not BOB and checks for other assets in the region. Command also verifies if the engaged unit will need support.
• RTO declares no need at the moment, but things change.
• Command alerts RTO that assets are available if needed. In the background, they'll also notify the FDC to get the guns in that direction, ready for a fire mission if the FO calls in. Command hangs up the phone.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Lesson, don't do modern stuff.

 

[melchi]

I would like to give my small opinion on the subject.

The truth is that the Radio Etiquette Radio can work? Yes and no.

Does it give realism to the scene? Yes, of course.

Does it help to improve a work? It depends a lot, if your novel aims to be a highly realistic work with a military background.

Should you always do it? it is not advisable. Unless such a thing has a real proposition as such behind it.

Some time ago I wrote a couple of chapters in my novel where I narrated an air combat, almost half of those chapters were just radio conversations, repeating everything twice would be tiresome and unnecessary.

It could work in specific moments to reveal a person having military, or maybe to reflect an "Oh fuck, shit got serious" moment, but I don't think it's a good idea to use it all the time.

Why?

Because as I once heard, an author's job is to "tell an interesting story, cutting through the mundane and mundane". Readers take for granted that various things happen in the background even subconsciously, they take for granted that some things happen that are not being actively narrated unless it has weight to convey a message as such. It is for the same reason that usually in stories it is not mentioned when the protagonists go to the bathroom or go to the supermarket to do the house shopping, people just assume that it happened at some point outside the chapter.

I'm not saying it should never be used, just that it should be used with a reason behind it. Because otherwise you are wasting readers' time repeating information that could have been spent on telling something else.

Think of it like a movie where you have an imposed time limit that you cannot pass, that limit is the attention of the "bottom of the barrel" readers, would you rather spend that valuable time repeating information all the time? Or spend it on something else that might excite them more and keeping them reading the novel?

IDK, I don't really accept this. Yeah being more concise is writing is important but in radio communication that is also true. If the message is somewhat long then repeating the important things back in a single sentence is also common. By necessity, the communication should be as short as possible to avoid confusion. Everyone has to share the same line.

Yeah, using the phonetic alphabet is proper but in a novel that isn't needed, people often are lazy and would say AMD instead of alpha mike delta.