Phone Contest Phonetics

Copying errors are rife on CW. We expect it. After all, CW is an acquired skill later in life unlike speech which we all learn at a very young age. Also, we've evolved to handle speech well, not the rapid patterns of monotone dots and dashes. 

A high dot-to-dash ratio in many characters and words is a common cause of errors, both sending and receiving. I have spoken about my mostly futile attempts not to have my call miscopied as VE3UN and similar errors during contests.

Copying errors on phone are just as common but of a different character. Techniques to minimize errors are as old as radiotelephony. There is lots of noise and interference to contend with, distortions due to limited audio bandwidth and dynamic range, and audio transduction imperfections (microphones and speakers/headphones).

One of the oldest techniques to reduce errors is phonetics. We use them for call signs and other critical information that must be spelled out character by character, when accuracy is more important than speed. There are standard phonetics, such as the ICAO alphabet, among others. Inventing cute phonetics may be amusing, just don't try it in a contest if you want a good rate.

Stick with the standard phonetics which have been time tested to be effective. Not perfect, just better than alternatives. These have several important advantages:

• Unambiguous: phonetics are distinctive and therefore unlikely to be confused with other letters
• Multi-lingual: pronouncable and understandable to native speakers of most European languages, and many others
• Noise resistant: they have a distinctive "punch" that do better under conditions of QRM and QRN, and when the SNR is poor

One advantage they do not have is brevity. That matters for contesters. Some phonetics (e.g. Uniform) have 3 syllables. There is a trade off between brevity and effectiveness. As contesters, there is an advantage to call signs that are quickly voiced using phonetics. Yet there are only two in the ICAO alphabet that have just one syllable: Golf and Mike.

You might find it interesting to compare a call sign lengths in syllables. Obviously the fewer characters in a call sign the better, so let's compare with 5 character calls:

• Victor Echo 3 Victor Norway: 9
• November November 1 Sierra Sierra: 13
• Golf 3 Mike Mike Golf: 5

Of the numerals, only 7 and 0 have more than one syllable. This is unlike CW where the numerals can be the longest characters to send. However, that single syllable can be dangerous since they are less likely to be copied correctly than 2 and 3 syllable phonetics. Repetition may be required. Extending a numeral to 2 syllables -- e.gl Niner -- will confuse many operators, especially non-English speakers.

Deviations from a standard alphabet are effective in select cases. One example is to use Zed rather than Zulu. Nevertheless, an unexpected phonetic can result in a request for repeats. It can be very worthwhile to experiment with phonetics in your next phone contest to determine whether they are effective or not. You'll have to do it in a DX contest to ensure you get a mix of operators with a variety of native languages.

When one phonetic doesn't work it can be helpful to alternate or substitute others. Victor and Echo work well for me in the prefix, while Victor and Norway in suffix often do not. I can stretch each to 3 syllables by voicing Victoria and/or November instead. Again, experimentation is key. 

What works for one contester may not work for another due to pitch (e.g. YL ops), accent, and the native language of the copying station. In an earlier article I noted that ocho for 8 is more effective with South American Spanish speakers, but oddly not for operators in Spain.

To speed up my call I have tried V E 3 Victor Norway in several contests both for running and S & P. Since the prefix is pretty common I judged this to be an effective contraction. It isn't; requests for repeats increased to an unacceptable level. I no longer use it. 

Simply speaking faster increases copying errors. The same is true on CW. Depending on your call sign and the contest exchange there may be opportunities to speed up all or parts of these messages. It is easy to program in CW function keys, and perhaps that will eventually be done for SSB and TTS messages.

Stations like PJ2T can skip phonetics entirely since they are so well known and a desirable multiplier in most DX contests. It's hard to do better than 4 syllables for an unambiguous call sign. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we must stick with phonetics.

The topic of phonetics came to me as I was reading about the TTS (text to speech) feature that is soon to be rolled out as a new feature in N1MM Logger+. There are a variety of voicing issues being addressed. One of those is phonetics. The ICAO alphabet is being implemented but there could be others in the future. 

When we begin operating SSB contests like we've become accustomed to for CW it is very likely that scores will increase due to less mental strain operating SO2R and even 2BSIQ. But it won't happen quickly or smoothly. There will still be many times that the operator will have to step in, far more than for CW. It'll be interesting to watch. 

Inevitably I'll try it for myself. First, the smaller contests and then we'll see. I may try it for the first time in the upcoming contest season.