Radio Communications

General Concept

Generally speaking, when utilizing the radio the two key things to keep in mind for every transmission are to ensure that it is clear and concise.

Radio calls that are mumbled are no good for anyone, and if you are reciting a novel over the net - this will clog it up for someone else to use and call out something that may be critical in nature, ie: SMOKE IN THE AIR.

Radio Call Pattern

For the most part, all radio calls will follow the same basic pattern:

Hey YOU, its ME, << whatever it is you are trying to convey >>

There are some notable examples where this may not apply, for instance:

--- 351.500 ---

CHEVY 1-2 SMOKE IN THE AIR
EVADE
EVADE //

This is simply a call out on the tactical frequency, 351.500 MHz, to CHEVY 1-2 that someone is seeing a missile heading towards them and instructing them to evade. For instnaces like this, going through the HEY YOU ITS ME process is simply too long and could result in the loss of CHEVY 1-2.

Uncontrolled Airfield Example

For example. taxing in at uncontrolled airfield:

--- 145.00 ---

ANDERSON TRAFFIC, CHEVY 1-1 //
  TAXING TO "06L" VIA "APRON", "ALPHA" //
ANDERSON TRAFFIC //

In this example, you CHEVY 1-1 is talking to an airfield traffic, ANDERSON TRAFFIC, via CTAF frequency 145.000 MHz AM. In the transmission, you are declaring your intent to taxi to the active runway 06L via the apron and alpha taxiway. Given that in this example, Anderson AFB is "uncontrolled", you are declaring your intent and are able to proceed immediately unless someone else responds - remember from the airfield operations, other planes or vehicles in motion have priority over a stationary plane waiting to taxi.

AWACS Example

Another example, calling AWACS:

--- 354.500 ---
OVERLORD, CHEVY 1-1 //
  BOGEY DOPE //

In this example, you CHEVY 1-1 is asking OVERLORD or the AWACS controller, for a BOGEY DOPE - meaning a BRAA to the nearest threat.

BRAA what now?

BRAA, similar to BOGEY DOPE, or SMOKE IN THE AIR, or WILCO are all examples of radio brevity callouts. As the name suggests, a brevity call out, is a commonly known term that is short and easy to say over the radio that generally means something that would take longer to say on the radio and therefore clog up the airwaves. We have a full working list of brevity call outs that can be found here: Google Sheet - Radio Brevity & Definitions{:target="_blank"}

Some common brevity you may here are:

• BINGO - out of fuel
• BRAA - Give me the BEARING, RANGE, ALTITUDE and ASPECT of a target in relation to a friendly.
• BOGEY - an enemy aircraft
• ANGELS - Altitude in feet from sea level (MSL)

Take a look at the Google sheet for a fairly exhaustive list.

Common Radio Freqencies

The following is a listing of common frequencies used throughout the Task Force. It is expected that all Task Force members will be using these frequencies while operating on the 24/7 servers as well as during any organized event (campaign, training, etc...):

Speciality Radio Frequencies

The following frequencies are used primarily for operations, specifically public events, to allow for decluttering of radio waves.

Revisions