Chapter 8 — COMMUNICATIONS 



meaning of the signal as quickly as the captain 

 of a U.S. Navy destroyer. Two letters and a 

 numeral thus overcome the language barrier 

 and make a brief message as well. 



Another means of reducing transmission time, 

 and providing a degree of security, is through 

 the use of brevity code words. In general, these 

 code words are used to convey contact and 

 related information. Communication publication 

 ACP 165 contains the operational brevity code. 



At the end of the text, the word BREAK is 

 used again to separate the text from the ending. 



Ending 



The ending of a radiotelephone message con- 

 sists of one of two words — OVER or OUT. When 

 OVER is used, the sender is telling the receiver 

 to go ahead and transmit, or "Tliis is the end 

 of my transmission to you and a response is 

 necessary." With the use of OUT, the sender 

 in effect is telling the receiver: "This is the 

 end of my transmission to you and no respoLise 

 is required." In motion pictures and television 

 productions, you are likely to see military 

 personnel say "Over and out," taut there is 

 never a need for their combined use In this 

 manner. 



CALL SIGNS 



In radiotelephone procedure, ships have call 

 signs that are common, easily pronoimced words 

 or expressions. The radiotelephone call sign 

 of one siiip, for example, is BLUE STAR; another 

 is BEANSTALK; still another is EL TORO. AU 

 U.S. Navy ships are assigned a voice call sign. 

 If you need to know the voice call sign of any 

 Navy sliip, you can find it in the communication 

 publication JANAP 119. 



PROWORDS 



Radiotelephone procedure also requires the 

 use of standard procedural words, called pro- 

 words. Although prowords are not code words 

 as such, they say a great deal with the utmost 

 brevity. The words OVER and OUT, mentioned 

 earlier, are prowords. Besides OVER and OUT, 

 two other prowords that are never used together 

 axe ROGER and WILCO. ROGER is used as a 



receipt. It merely means that you have received 

 the message — not that you understand it or will 

 carry out any orders contained in it. WILCO is 

 the answer to the proword ACKNOWLEDGE, and 

 means that you will comply with any instructions 

 or orders contained in the message. For this 

 reason, the proword WILCO must never be used 

 without specific permission from a personhavlng 

 the authority to grant such permission. 



Following is a list of the more common 

 prowords, the meaning and usage of which you 

 should memorize. This list is not complete, as 

 are the ones in communication publications. It 

 consists mainly of the prowords you are most 

 likely to hear and use on the underwater tele- 

 phone. Should you be interested in seeing a 

 more complete list of prowords, check DNC 5 

 or ACP 125. 



Proword Meaning 



ALL AFTER All after. 



ALL BEFORE. ... All before. 



BREAK The text is separated at 



this point. Do not con- 

 fuse the separated 

 portions. 



CORRECTION. ... An error in my transmis- 

 sion has been made. I 

 now correct it. 



DISREGARD This entire transmission is 



THIS in error. Disregard it. 



TRANSMISSION 



FIGURES Figures ornumerals follow. 



FROM This message is originated 



by . 



I SAY AGAIN .... I repeat the entire trans- 

 mission (or portions 

 indicated). 



I SPELL I shall spell the next word 



with the standard phone- 

 tic alphabet. 



OUT This is the end of my 



transmissioa No re- 

 ceipt is required. 



OVER Go ahead with your trans- 

 mission at this time. 

 (Or, This is the end of 

 my transmission for 

 which a response is 

 required.) 



ROGER I have received your last 



transmission satisfac- 

 torily. 



SAY AGAIN Repeat all (or portions in- 

 dicated) of your mes- 

 sage. 



THAT IS You have repeated my mes- 



CORRECT sage or have given in- 



formation correctly. 



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