voice procedure exercises - Communications Reserve Unit

VOICE PROCEDURE EXERCISES
08/03/14 These voice procedure exercises are designed to provide EMCOMM members with
the information needed to handle a high volume of traffic as fast and
accurately as possible. These are the most important exercises to perform. Most of the time, even during emergencies, things will move at a relatively
leisurely pace. The local repeater(s) will be up and every station will be
full quieting. Most of time! However... What happens when everything is so busy, even two frequencies would not
handle the traffic? Or the repeater(s) are down or don't have the coverage
needed? Or the signal paths are weak and/or noisy (especially HF). This
is a worse case situation. These worse case situations occur often enough
to justify training for them. Procedure words (prowords) will go a long way to ensure that the traffic
gets through even in worst case situations. The following exercises will
familiarize operators with the operating procedures that are the accepted
procedures in the ARRL and even MARS and CAP. The proword(s) of interest in an exercise are defined and demonstrated.
They are CAPITALIZED in BOLD and UNDERLINED so that they stand out from the
other prowords which are used to demonstrate realism. All prowords and
tactical call signs are CAPITALIZED so they stand out as well. Tactical
call signs are used to instill realism and provide practice in using them
in conjunction with the Amateur call signs. Other procedures are ones that need to be followed by each operator when
they have to fill a certain position (EMCOMM Lead, Net Control, etc...) or
have certain responsibilities. NOTE: The station called is always the first identified and the calling
station is second. The individual amateur stations need to identify only
themselves with their amateur call sign. We will start with the phonetic pronunciation of the letters and figures
(numbers). They are all distinct so that there will be no misunderstanding
of what is being said. We will use the International Phonetic Alphabet
that is taught by the ARRL and MARS. This alphabet is used by all federal
and some state and local agencies. There are others used by other state
and local agencies and they serve the same purpose. PHONETIC ALPAHEBET (Alpha) PRONUNCIATION LETTER WORD PRONUNCIATION A ALPHA AL-FAH
B BRAVO BRAH-VOH
C CHARLIE CHAR-LEE
D DELTA DELL-TAH
E ECHO ECK-0H
F FOXTROT FOKS-TROT
G GOLF GOLF
H HOTEL HO-TELL
I INDIA IN-DEE-AH
J JULIET JEW-LEE-ETT
K KILO KEY-LOH
L LIMA LEE-MAH
M MIKE MIKE
N NOVEMBER NO-VEM-BER
O OSCAR OSS-KER
P PAPA PAP-PAH
Q QUEBEC KAY-BECK
R ROMEO ROW-ME-OH
S SIERRA SEE-AIR-RAH
T TANGO TANG-GO
U UNIFORM YOU-NEE-FORM
V VICTOR VIK-TOR
W WHISKEY WISS-KEY
X X-RAY ECKS-RAY
Y YANKEE YANG-KEY
Z ZULU ZOO-LOO FIGURE (Number) PRONUNCIATION 0 ZEE-ROW
1 WUN
2 TOO
3 THA-REE
4 FO-WER
5 FIFE
6 SIX
7 SE-VEN
8 AIT
9 NIN-ER There will be times where the traffic that we are asked to send may be from
a standard form. Most probably ICS forms. Many of these forms will have
numbered blocks with required information in them. This can actually make
things easier for the operators. And example is the ICS 209 (Incident
Status Summary) where they are sent at least twice a day from an ICP to and
EOC and/or other required locations. Some times there are very few changes
in the report. Maybe, on a fire, there will more acreage burned or more
containment. Those blocks will have updates to them. Perhaps this
occurred on a different shift than the last report and therefore will be
signed by someone else with a different position title. If the previous
report was taken by voice and entered on a computer and saved then that
message can be retrieved. Once that is done then all that needs to be
changed is those entries that require it. And then save this message under
a different title so it can be found again. This takes a lot less time that
resending and copying the whole message all over again. For the text of messages, in some cases using, just the paragraph, line and
word numbers can locate a word or phrase that the receiving station may
have missed. But with practice utilizing both the phonetic alphabet and prowords will
allow operators to copy traffic very well.
PROWORDS EXERCISE ON PROWORDS - THIS IS, OUT, OVER AND CLOSE The prowords THIS IS, OUT, OVER and CLOSE are used very often and are
probably the most common, and are used by every possible professional or
amateur communications organization. They are the prowords to use to keep
the one way conversations from getting confused and information from
getting lost. THIS IS means that this transmission is from the station whose call sign
immediately follows. OVER is the proword used when one operator is
finished with his transmission and wants the other operator know that it's
their turn. OUT lets everyone on frequency know that an operator is
finished with, and is terminating the contact. CLOSE is used when the
station is going off of the air. Example: NORTH RELAY: SANTA LUSIA EOC, THIS IS NORTH RELAY. OVER. SANTA LUSIA EOC: THIS IS SANTA LUSIA EOC. OVER. NORTH RELAY: What is your public safety communications
situation
status. OVER. SANTA LUSIA EOC: All public safety communications are down. OVER. NORTH RELAY: ROGER. N6???. OUT. SANTA LUSIA EOC: WA6!!!. OUT. NORTH RELAY: CALIFORNIA, THIS IS NORTH RELAY. OVER. CALIFORNIA: THIS IS CALIFORNIA. Go ahead NORTH RELAY.
OVER. NORTH RELAY: SANTA LUSIA EOC reports that all public safety
communications are down.
OVER. CALIFORNIA: ROGER. I will notify the State Operation
Center. OVER. NORTH RELAY: ROGER. My replacement has called and ready to
take over my operations. His
call sign is W5$$$. I wish to
CLOSE my station. OVER. CALIFORNIA: Roger RELAY change. AFFIRMATIVE, you may CLOSE.
Thanks for your help. OVER. NORTH RELAY: ROGER. THIS IS N6???. Station CLOSED. OUT. CALIFORNIA: W6EMA. OUT. Notice that every thing flows smoothly. There is no doubt who is talking,
whose turn it is or that the contact is finished. It is also obvious that a
station has gone off of the air.
EXERCISE ON PROWORDS - AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE AND ROGER The proword AFFIRMATIVE is used to say yes. NEGATIVE means no. They are
distinctive sounding and their meaning is clear. The proword ROGER does
not mean "yes" nor does it signify agreement.
It means I have received the last transmission and it is understood. Example: UNIT 1: UNIT too, THIS IS UNIT wun. OVER. UNIT 2: THIS IS UNIT too. OVER. UNIT 1: Are you ready to copy traffic. OVER. UNIT 2: NEGATIVE. I have power problems. WAIT. OVER. UNIT 1: ROGER. KC6???. OUT. UNIT 2: K4!!!. OUT. UNIT 2: UNIT wun, THIS IS UNIT too. OVER. UNIT 1: THIS IS UNIT wun. Are you ready for my traffic
now. OVER. UNIT 2: AFFIRMATIVE. OVER. UNIT 1: ROGER. Traffic follows.
EXERCISE ON PROWORD - DRILL One of the most difficult, as well as the most important, prowords to
remember to use is DRILL. If not used during an exercise, actual panic
could result. Our frequencies are monitored by many amateurs
and the media who, if unaware of an exercise, may take the received
information as real emergency traffic and notify official agencies and even
the public. This has happened. DRILL is used on the first and last line
of the text portion of a piece of traffic. Both 'DRILL's are included in
the group or word or check count (if used) along with the text. The proword EXERCISE (or the word DRILL) should also be used to announce to
anyone listening that the activities on the radio are, in fact, an exercise
or drill and not the real thing. Remember that only one of the two
stations may be heard by any one listener. Example: SANTA LUSIA MCP: This is an EXERCISE. SANTA LUSIA MCP: CALIFORNIA, THIS IS SANTA LUSIA MCP. OVER. CALIFORNIA: THIS IS CALIFORNIA. OVER. SANTA LUSIA MCP: I have traffic for the ICP. OVER. CALIFORNIA: Call your station. This is a DRILL. OVER. SANTA LUSIA MCP: ROGER. N4??. OUT. CALIFORNIA: W6EMA. OUT. SANTA LUSIA MCP: FLOOD ICP, THIS IS SANTA LUSIA MCP. OVER. FLOOD ICP: THIS IS FLOOD ICP. OVER. SANTA LUSIA MCP: I have traffic for OPS. OVER. FLOOD ICP: Send your traffic. OVER. SANTA LUSIA MCP: ROGER, traffic follows. BREAK. DRILL. The levee has broken and there is much damage. More information to follow. DRILL. BREAK. OVER. FLOOD ICP: I copy your traffic. OVER. SANTA LUSIA MCP: ROGER. N4??. This is an EXERCISE. OUT. FLOOD ICP: This is an EXERCISE. N6!!!. OUT. SANTA LUSIA MCP: CALIFORNIA, THIS IS SANTA LUSIA MCP. OVER. CALIFORNIA: THIS IS CALIFORNIA. OVER. SANTA LUSIA MCP: I have completed my traffic. OVER. CALIFORNIA: ROGER. This is a EXERCISE. OVER. SANTA LUSIA MCP: This is an EXERCISE. N4??. OUT. CALIFORNIA: W6EMA. OUT.
EXERCISE ON PROWORD - BREAK BREAK is used just before and after the text of a piece of traffic or
message. After saying BREAK, let up o