Two-Way Radio Protocol and SOPs

Walkie talkie lingo, or two-way radio protocol, is the way experienced radio users talk to each other over 2 way radios.

First of all, you need to understand and remember that while the person at the other end is talking over the air, and you can hear him talking on your radio, then there is no way he is going to hear you. Talking on top of his signal isn’t going to help.

Over OR Out

That’s why radio operators routinely use the proword OVER when they have finished talking and just before they release their finger from the PTT (push-to-talk) button. His saying OVER means it is the turn for the other person to transmit and speak.

Well-trained radio operators (or good-mannered ones) will leave a pause of a couple of seconds between one person finishing and he next person starting to talk. This allows somebody else to ‘break in’ to the conversation.

Calling ‘BREAK!’

If the operator saying OVER wasn’t talking to you but to someone else, and only if you have something urgent to say, then you could try get a word in by calling BREAK immediately you hear someone say OVER. If you are lucky the next person should stop the conversation (if he hears you before he has begin to transmit).

He would then transmit and ask who wants to break in. He will say, ‘Go ahead, the breaker’ – or something similar – to invite you to join in the conversation. Perhaps he will say, ‘Station calling. Go ahead.’

But even if he does hear you, he is not obliged to invite you in, unless you say the word URGENT or announce it’s an EMERGENCY.

When you call BREAK! just press transmit, say ‘BREAK’ and release the transmit switch. Never call  ‘Breaker breaker breaker!’ like some people do. It’s just bad manners and unnecessary.

A better way to BREAK in to the conversation is to announce your CALLSIGN after you hear someone say OVER. And hopefully the next guy to speak will hear you when he pauses for a moment before he presses the PTT button to transmit.

Otherwise you could be waiting a long time to get in contact on that channel.

When the two-way radio conversation is over, and you have been the last person to speak, then it is correct to say OUT. It is a waste of time and effort to say ‘OVER AND OUT’ because in radio-speak it should be one meaning or the other, not both.

• OVER means ‘That is it from me, now it is your turn to speak’.
• OUT means ‘The end’ or ‘That is it we have both finished talking’… Or as we used to say back in the days when I was a CBer, we would often say, ‘I’m gone!’ As a Ham I sometimes say ‘Off and clear’.

It is also a good idea to listen on any channel or frequency at the end of a conversation, just in case there is someone else out there who listened to you and now wants to talk to you or the other guy(s). If so, this new radio operator should say ‘This is <his callsign> calling <their callsign>, OVER.’

This technique is known as tail-ending, and is very effective at making contacts when you have a weak signal yourself. It is far more effective than trying to ‘talk over’ the other stations.

On-Air Courtesy

Generally, it is better to listen a lot, and only speak when you have something to say. If you are using the radio for recreation, then you have a lot more leeway. But good manners and reasonable behavior should still be observed.

Just because somebody else is ill-behaved doesn’t mean you should be as well. Getting angry and telling them to shut up or go away doesn’t work. It only displays your frustration to them and feeds their ego. Just ignore them, switch to another frequency (if you have one) or go off the air. They will eventually get bored.

On-Air Professionalism

When using radio for business purposes, or for serious work – such as passing messages – you should follow the procedures that were taught to you by your employer or your organization, keep chit-chat to a minimum, and pronounce things slowly and clearly. Important words that might be misunderstood should be spelled phonetically, and numbers should be called out twice and/or read back by the person taking notes at the other end.

Back Channel

Even airplane pilots and police officers often have a ‘back channel’ – that is a frequency reserved for quick chit chat. Conversations not related to official business are carried out on that back channel, and are kept short as possible so other people can use it too. The working frequency is kept for work.

Call Channel

A call channel is used for calling CQ to find other people to talk to. But once you have found somebody to talk to (holding a QSO), then you should change frequency to some other channel so the call channel is left free for others to use. Call channels can be used to call for an emergency too, so it is important that people just having a chat should take their talk elsewhere. (QSY – to change frequency or channel.)

Also, make sure the frequency you change to is not being used. It is polite to transmit ‘Is this frequency in use?’ and wait a few seconds. If you don’t hear a reply, then it should be okay to start your conversation (QSO) with the other station.

On 40-channel 27-MHz CB radios using the AM mode, the call channel used to be Channel 11 (27.085 MHz), and Channel 9 (27.065 MHz) was the Emergency channel. And when you are highway driving, many use Channel 18 as a calling channel. It is also an unofficial emergency channel too; but ANY channel is allowable in an emergency. But you need to have someone at the other end who is willing to help you.

Remember, there is no guarantee that anybody will hear or be willing to help. Hopefully there are some sensible folk out there who are willing to assist. But if you have a cellphone that works, use that and stay off the two-way radios. Anybody could be listening to what you say; you never know.

You don’t want to invite any bad company when you’re broken down and vulnerable, do you?

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