"zero" versus "oscar" versus "sierra"

Ron Garret ) wrote:

It happens that there's another airplane at my airport with the exact
same identifier identifier except that it ends in "SP". In the air it
turns out that "zero poppa" and "sierra poppa" sound an awful lot alike
(try it), which has occasionally led to confusion when both planes are
in the pattern.

I trained in a C172 that ended in 0LP (Zero Lima Poppa). Most times
when I used the abbreviated callsign, the controller would almost always
hear "Zero Juliet Poppa" and call back to ask which call sign it was.

Those two also sound similar over the radio when 0LP is spoken a bit too
fast.

--
Peter

As a former disc jockey, let me give you a hint. By and large, the
understandability of a communication is not really dependent upon how fast
the words are spoken.

To avoid miscommunication, you want to strongly "attack" each word, make
sure you say the entire word with no trailing off at the end, and make sure
you leave a slight space between words.

Fast or slow, "zerolimapappa" will never be as intelligible as "ZEEro -
LEEma - PAppa".

A couple of more hints. Spend a little time "over pronouncing" words, where
you make sure you are saying every syllable. It will sound really "stilted"
for a while, but if you keep practicing, in a short time you will develop a
natural rhythm. Listen to a good radio or television announcer and you will
see what I'm talking about.

And try to more or less snap out the word, like they do in the military when
they say something like: "Yes - Sir".

I'm a Suthunah, and when I got into radio I first had to learn how nawmul
people tawk when they're talking sloppy, then put a little polish on it. It
took me about six months total to do it. bit it's really not that hard to
do, just make it a point to be constantly conscious of how you are
pronouncing and pacing words, and you'll pick it up in no time...




"Peter R." wrote in message
...
Ron Garret ) wrote:

It happens that there's another airplane at my airport with the exact
same identifier identifier except that it ends in "SP". In the air it
turns out that "zero poppa" and "sierra poppa" sound an awful lot alike
(try it), which has occasionally led to confusion when both planes are
in the pattern.

I trained in a C172 that ended in 0LP (Zero Lima Poppa). Most times
when I used the abbreviated callsign, the controller would almost always
hear "Zero Juliet Poppa" and call back to ask which call sign it was.

Those two also sound similar over the radio when 0LP is spoken a bit too
fast.

--
Peter

Bill Denton ) wrote:

As a former disc jockey, let me give you a hint. By and large, the
understandability of a communication is not really dependent upon how fast
the words are spoken.
snip

I'll give it a try. Thanks for that, Bill.

--
Peter

In article ,
Bill Denton wrote:
Fast or slow, "zerolimapappa" will never be as intelligible as "ZEEro -
LEEma - PAppa".

When I bought N8674P I found that I was getting a lot of incorrect
readbacks from ATC. This prompted me to use a very crisp, deliberate
style like you describe. My experience was that it was pretty much a
wash. If you slow down too much it seems to be harder for the controller
to recall the sign. I get the best results with a crisp enunciation but
at full speed.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/