Comms 11 - 12 - Message Formats Flashcards
Review Questions
What effect does the ionosphere have on radio waves?
Refracts them back to the surface.
Review Questions
What is the rule of thumb for HF frequencies?
High sun, high frequency
Low sun, low frequency
Review Questions
Define the Maximum Useable Frequency
The highest frequency that will give a skip distance equal to the distance from the transmitter to the intended receiving point.
What is the purpose of message formats?
Ensures standardization amongst all communicators
Ensures that all necessary information is contained within the message
Allows for quick and easy drafting of messages
What are Prowords?
Procedure words are easily pronounced and recognized words or phrases used to convey a specific predetermined meaning.
What are Prosigns?
Alphanumeric text used to represent a proword on a teletype circuit.
What do Prowords and Prosigns provide?
brevity, clarity and efficiency
What does SAY AGAIN mean? What is its prosign?
Meaning: Repeat all, or the following part of your last transmission
Prosign: IMI
What are the different precedence levels?
ROUTINE
PRIORITY
IMMEDIATE
FLASH
Who is precedence assigned by?
Originator of the message. not the actual person sending it.
Describe precedence Routine and its prosign.
Upon receipt, comm personnel will deliver by start of next business day
Proword R
Describe precedence Priority and its prosign.
Used when the circuit is clear or to break in on a message of lower precedence. Upon receipt, comm personnel will deliver within six hours
Prosign P
Describe precedence Immediate and its prosign.
Breaks in on comms of lower precedence. Upon receipt, comm personnel will deliver within one hour.
Any traffic that comes from an aircraft is considered immediate unless otherwise specified
Prosign O
Describe precedence Flash and its prosign.
Breaks in on all traffic and is normally reserved for a message that contains info vital to national security
Upon receipt of this message, comm personnel will deliver within 10 minutes
Prosign Z
Not normally used in peacetime
Fill in the prosign and time allotted for comm personnel of the following:
ROUTINE
PRIORITY
IMMEDIATE
FLASH
ROUTINE: R / Next business day
PRIORITY: P / 6 hours
IMMEDIATE: O / 1 hour
FLASH: Z / within 10 minutes
Which types of precedence are not used by aircraft for action addressee?
ROUTINE & PRIORITY
Regarding Standard Formats, all NATO messages consist of what three parts?
HEADING
TEXT
ENDING
What is contained in Heading - Line 1?
Used for Radio teletype communication only
Either UU or HH
What is contained in Heading - Line 2 & 3?
Line 2 - The station being called
Line 3 - Prowords THIS IS followed by aircraft callsign
What is contained in Heading - Line 4?
Contains transmission instructions. These can be:
READBACK
RELAY
DO NOT ANSWER
What is indicated by Heading - Line 4 Readback?
Message must be readback by the receiving operator
Prosign G
What is indicated by Heading - Line 4 Relay?
The ground station will have to pass the message onto the addressee.
Used almost always for aircraft messages as most aircraft traffic will be relayed.
Prosign T
What is indicated by Heading - Line 4 Do Not Answer?
You do not want the station called to answer, such as on exercise when stations are radio silent.
For this reason, messages will be transmitted twice
Prosign F
What is contained in Heading - Line 5?
Contains the precedence and the date time group (DTG) of the message
Prosigns are:
ROUTINE - R
PRIORITY - P
IMMEDIATE - O
FLASH - Z
How is the DTG presented in Line 5?
Two digits for the date and four for the time in Zulu, which is preceded by the word TIME
What is contained in Heading - Line 6?
Indicated the originator of the message
Presented as DE and originators callsign
What is contained in Heading - Line 7?
Indicated the action addressee(s), someone who will take some action with the message
Proword TO followed by the c/s of the station
Ex TO 402 Ops
What is contained in Heading - Line 8?
Indicates the info addressee, someone you wish to know the contents of the message but not take any action
Proword INFO followed by the c/s of the station
Ex INFO 17 WING OPS
What is contained in Heading - Line 9?
Indicates exempt addressee, used for those stations in a collective c/s which you do not want to have the message
Proword EXEMPT followed by the c/s
What is contained in Heading - Line 10?
Indicates the group count
In coded messages, the text is broken into groups. This line indicates the number of groups in the text.
What is contained in Heading - Line 11 & 13
Used to separate or break the text from the heading and ending.
Proword BREAK is used, can be shortened to = or BT in log
What is contained in Heading - Line 12?
Is the text of the message
Can be as many lines as necessary, but is only indicated as one in the standard format.
What is contained in Ending - Line 14?
Indicates the time group
This is only used when the authenticating and uses the prowords AUTHENTICATE TIME followed by the time
Not used on this course
What is contained in Ending - Line 15?
Contains the final transmission instructions
Can be one of the following: WAIT CORRECTION AUTHENTICATION IS MORE TO FOLLOW
What is meant by the following in Ending - Line 15?
WAIT
CORRECTION
AUTHENTICATION IS
MORE TO FOLLOW
WAIT - Indicates you will be stopping tx for a short time
CORRECTION - At this point if you notice errors in your message you can correct them
AUTHENTICATION IS - A letter group that corresponds to the time, not used on this course
MORE TO FOLLOW - If you have more traffic after the message
What is contained in the Ending - Line 16?
Ending sign OVER or OUT
Usually OVER, but if DO NOT ANSWER is used, then it would be OUT
The following is the Standard Format Recap for Heading, fill in the blanks
Heading LINE 1 LINE 2 LINE 3 LINE 4 LINE 5 LINE 6 LINE 7 LINE 8 LINE 9 LINE 10
LINE 1 - Classification LINE 2 - Station LINE 3 - Originator LINE 4 - Transmission Instructions LINE 5 - Precedence / Time Group LINE 6 - From LINE 7 - To LINE 8 - Info LINE 9 - Exempt Addressee LINE 10 - Groups
The following is the Standard Format Recap for Text, fill in the blanks
LINE 11
LINE 12
LINE 13
LINE 11 - Break
LINE 12 - Message Text
LINE 13 - Break
The following is the Standard Format Recap for Ending, fill in the blanks
LINE 14
LINE 15
LINE 16
LINE 14 - Authentication Time
LINE 15 - Final Instructions
LINE 16 - Over/ Out
What are the different types of messages?
PLAINDRESS
ABBREVIATED PLAINDRESS
INFORMAL
Describe the PLAINDRESS Message
Another name for standard format, contains all elements in the standard format
Must include the Precedence and DTG
Describe the Abbreviated Plaindress Message
Used during times of operational requirements for speed of of handling message traffic
You can leave out the following
Precedence
DTG
Group Count
All other aspects are the same as the standard format
Describe the Informal Message
Operator to operator traffic, usually more conversational in nature.
Topics include
Weather
Aerodrome information
Scores in sports event
etc…
Describe Message Routing
The ground station receives your message
Message is transmitted via landlines (usually computer)
The addressee receives a hard copy of the message and actions it
Review Questions
What are the basic parts of a message?
Heading
Text
Ending
Review Questions
What are the four precedence levels, from most to least important?
FLASH
IMMEDIATE
PRIORITY
ROUTINE
Review Questions
What must a PLAINDRESS message include?
Precedence
DTG
Review Questions
For an ABBREVIATED PLAINDRESS, what information can be left out? Remains the same?
You can leave out any of the following
Precedence
DTG
Group count
All other aspects are the same
