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London ARES - Training Sessions

Index (when in doubt, do a control-F search)

Identifying
ProWords
Tactical Callsigns

ProWords

(This material adapted from the EMO training and tools web page)

Pro Words are concise standardized short forms that are used to make emergency nets clear and efficient. The words are carefully chosen to avoid ambiguity or confusion with similar terminology that might be used in the same circumstances. We are adopting the EMO standard usage, which is:

ACKNOWLEDGE	Let me know that you have received and understood this message
AFFIRMATIVE	Yes, permission granted, or I agree
ALL STATIONS	This message is for all stations on the net
BREAK	DO NOT USE - no standard meaning. Use PAUSE or EMERGENCY instead
CONFIRM	My version is ... is this correct?
CORRECTION or WRONG	An error has been made in this transmission. the corrected version is ...
DISREGARD	Consider this transmission as not sent
EMERGENCY	Request to transmit based on critical emergency (Do not use BREAK))
FIGURES	I am going to send numbers
GO AHEAD	Proceed with your message
HOW DO YOU READ	How do you hear my transmission
I SAY AGAIN	Use "I SAY AGAIN" rather than "I REPEAT"
I SPELL	I am going to spell and word/name
MAYDAY	Spoken word for emergency distress communications
MAYDAY RELAY	I am relaying a MAYDAY call
MONITOR	Listen on channel/frequency ...
NEGATIVE	No, or permission not granted, or I disagree
OVER	I am finished and I require an answer
OUT	I am finished and do not expect a reply
OUT TO YOU	I am finished talking to you, and wish to talk to another station
PAN PAN	Spoken word for an urgency communication
PAUSE	I'm stopping transmitting briefly to allow the repeater to cycle or to allow other stations to interrupt (Don't use BREAK)
Q signals  (QSL, QSY, etc)	Do Not use on phone nets
RADIO CHECK	I am testing my radio
READ BACK	Read back the entire message as received
ROGER	I have received your last transmission (does not mean yes)
SAY AGAIN	re-send your last transmission (Do not use REPEAT)
SAY AGAIN ALL AFTER / BEFORE...	Request that you resend the portion of the message following or preceding the specified word or phrase.
SIGNAL CHECK	How do you read me
SECURITY	Spoken word for safety communications
SEELONCE (SILENCE)	The spoken word to impose radio silence
STANDBY	I must pause for up to 15 seconds
THAT IS CORRECT	self explanitory
VERIFY	Check text with originator of message and re-send
WAIT OUT	I can not receive your message at this time - the net may continue (more than 15 seconds delay)
WILCO	Instructions received, understood, and will be complied with
WORDS TWICE	Communications are difficult. I am sending (or requesting that you send) each word twice

Tactical Callsigns

Tactical Callsigns are symbolic names used to refer to a location, an organizational unit or a function.  In emergency nets, it is usually less important to communicate with a particular individual than it is to talk to whoever is at a particular location or whoever is performing a specific role. Tactical callsigns usually stay consistent even though individual operators may take breaks, end their shift, or be assigned other tasks temporarily. For efficiency, tactical callsigns are usually descriptive but brief - usually one to three syllables.  Examples would be:

• NET - for the network controller
• SHELTER TWO - for an evacuation shelter
• STAGING - for a staging area
• RED CROSS - for a station a Red Cross Headquarters
• PS - for station communicating with Police services

Station Identification

Identification of the stations participating in an emergency net is needed for 2 main reasons:

1. To confirm that all stations are present, monitoring, and able to transmit
2. To meet the identification requirements for licensed amateur operators.

One way this can be done is as follows:

• Net controller states: "Identify by tactical callsign"
• Net controller identifies himself
• Net controller names each tactical callsign in turn
• The named station repeats the tactical callsign, then states personal callsign(s) of operator(s)

Example Dialog:

Speaker	Statement
NET:	Identify by Tactical Callsign
NET:	NET, VA3DAE
NET:	SHELTER TWO
SHELTER TWO:	SHELTER TWO, VE3AAA, VE3BBB
NET:	STAGING
STAGING:	STAGING, VA3CCC
NET:	RED CROSS
RED CROSS:	RED CROSS, VA3DDD, VA3EEE
NET:	PS
PS:	PS, VE3FFF

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