Radio Communications

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Many of you are now flying Falcon 4.0 in online campaigns. Of course this means that you are now communicating between human pilots pilots, and not with the computer AI. In this article, I want to give you some inside information on how you can communicate best between pilots in a multiplayer tactical engagement or campaign. First of all you must have a program like Roger Wilco, because it is almost impossible to type instructions on your keyboard and dogfight with some Migs at the same time. Although Roger Wilco is a solution, you will however notice that the sound quality is not always perfect. The sound-quality depends on several things...the most important thing is the connection speed at which you are connected to the Internet. Your Internet connection speed depends on the type of modem you have, your provider, amount of user on the Internet, country etc. I heard from Kevin that he has a better connection with me from the US to Europe then with a friend of him who lives a few blocks away. So if you can't change your Internet connection speed, what can you change? Well, the hardware you use is of some importance, especially your soundcard and you CPU speed. Also a headset with a microphone connected to it greatly improves the quality a lot because you don't have the noise of your speakers, or any other interference. If your budget is big enough, then you can improve your soundquality by updating those items.

This article is however not about hardware, but instead about communication techniques. In the air there are several "rules" so that you understand each other better. The first rule is that you keep your radio calls as short as possible. To do this you must think over what you are going to say before you actually push the radio button. If your radio call goes like:"Wingman Joe, I think I see unfriendly aircraft on my radar , few miles away to the left,...I mean that their distant to us is about 20 miles. Can you see them? They are approaching fast. I think we should attack them", then you have a fair chance that you are not understood. Better would be "Falcon12, Falcon11, engage bandits, 10 o'clock, two zero miles" Since this is shorter it can be better remembered. Another advantage is that it is faster. Since you need to respond immediately a few seconds can be the difference between death or alive. Radio time is also valuable time. At the time you are talking, the others on the recieving end must wait. It is very possible that your wingman wants to tell you that there is a SAM-launch but since you are using the radio he can't.

When you receive a radio message that is directed to you then you should give a response. This can be as simple as "Falcon 11, Falcon 12, copy". If your radio channel is not already heavily used then you can repeat the message you just received. This way the person who sent the initial message knows that you received the transmission correctly. If however an action is required then you can say something like "Falcon 11, this is Falcon 12, engaging bandits 10 o' clock, two zero miles."

The next thing to remember is that you first say to who you are talking to and then your own callsign. This makes sure that the person is paying attention and that he knows to who he can respond too. There are however a few exceptions to this rule. The first exception is that there is not enough time to tell the pilot who you are. If you see, for example, a SAM launch a few miles ahead then you don't have time to tell your lead/wingman that you are addressing your message to him and that it is from you. So the call would in that case be: "SAM-launch 12 o'clock" or "SAM-launch North". In case of a SAM-lauch or a missile inbound and you don't know the exact direction because you are not in formation then you simple call: "SAM launch". The appropriate reacting will then be to break hard and jink towards the earth while closing the afterburner and releasing chaff and flares and turning on your jammer. Another exception when you don't start giving two callsigns is when you are talking in general to give some information about yourself. An example is: "Falcon11, bingo fuel". This call is not directed to anybody but it says that you are low on fuel. This kind of information is meant to give the flight-lead a better understanding of the situation so he can take this into account while planning the rest of the flight.

Most calls contain numbers. This can be distances, speeds, altitudes, headings, etc. It is important that you give those numbers in separate figures. So don't say: " Falcon 11, Falcon 12, bandits, bullseye, fifty, fifteen miles, angels thirty" because this can be very easy misunderstood as: "...angels thirteen". The correct call would be: "Falcon 11, falcon 12, bandits, bullseye, zero five zero, one five miles, angels three zero."

In case of direction calls you should first think in what kind of form you want to give them. When you are, for example, talking about a possible threat that is still 50 miles away then you can better use precise directions in bullseye-form. That way your flightmembers know exactly where to point their radars. If you are however only 5 miles from an incoming Mig 29, which you spotted only at the latest moment, then you can better say: "Bandit, 10 o'clock, five miles.". If you give at that moment the bullseye position then your flightmembers are dead before they figured out where to look. When you are in a formation then it is sometimes easier to give a bearing call. An example would be: "Falcon 11, Falcon 12, bogies, bearing zero two five, two zero miles, angles three zero."

Giving your own position to your flightmembers can of course be done with a bullseye coordinates, but sometimes it is easier when you give your position relative to your next waypoint. When you say e.g. that you are still 15 miles from your next waypoint and if you are on course then everybody knows instantly where you are. An example of such a call would be "Falcon 11, this is Falcon 12, my waypoint-position is 15 miles from waypoint 3, angels 2-0." If you are not exactly on course you can add "...five miles right off course." Bullseye positions normally take a little more time to understand. Training yourself with bullseye positions helps of course a lot to get a quicker understanding of the relative position towards your flight.

In the military aviation are also some standard terms for standard situations. This makes it easier to understand what the other person is saying. If you get a message in a form that you can expect, it is more clear, instead for example, when somebody is just describing the situation. A few well-known examples are "buddy spike" or "Bingo fuel". You can find a list of standard radio terms in the back of your manual. There is also a more complete list of terms that can be found in a real military F16 manual. Since we are talking about communicating it is foremost important that the other guy understands what you are saying. So if the other person only knows the terms that are in the Falcon 4.0 manual then it is pointless to use terms from the real F16 manual. If you want the complete F16 manual then you can download it at the Instructor Pilot's page at the Official home page of Falcon 4.0. Look at the flight-school for course material. Sorry for not posting a direct link but I am not sure that would be entirely legal.

In cases you have to spell something you can use the "aviation spelling" from the list below. This spelling is very useful because there is less chance that a message is not well understood.

A= Alpha

B= Bravo

C = Charlie

D = Delta

E = Echo

F = Foxtrot

G = Golf

H = Hotel

I = India

J = Juliet

K = Kilo

L = Lima

M = Mike

N = November

O = Oscar

P = Papa

Q = Quebec

R = Romeo

S = Sierra

T = Tango

U = Uniform

V = Victor

W = Whisky

X = X-ray

Y = Yankee

Z = Zulu

The numbers are spelled normally except for:

4 = Fourer

9 = Niner

When you respond to a radio call then the term "negative" is used as a "no" and the term "affirmitive" is used as a "yes". This is done because it is less confusing in that notation, then when you use the normal terms of 'yes' and 'no'. I guess that they made large studies of this subject so I believe them, and it has become stardard in usage.

In this article I gave a lot of reasons why you better can use "proper" radio procedures. One reason I did not mention yet. When you use correct radio-calls then it makes you feel much more involved in the simulation. It can really distract you from your mission when somebody is talking about the nice flowers in his garden while you try to fly a serious sortie. :)

Thanks for reading,

Edwin "RazorBlade" Versijp.

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