so ive been licensed for about 4 months now and i mostly do 2m FM on the local repeater but im starting to get into HF a little bit and i notice some people use phonetics like every single transmission and others barely ever use them. im a little confused about when youre actually supposed to use them. like is there a rule or is it just a feel thing

i know the NATO ones, Alpha Bravo Charlie etc, but sometimes i hear people using completely different words and i wasnt sure if thats allowed or if theyre just making stuff up. one guy on 40m said something like America Boston Chicago for his call and i didnt know if that was an older system or what. just trying to figure out when i should be using them and whether i need to stick to the NATO list strictly

yeah the guy you heard on 40m was probably using the old phonetic alphabet, there were a few different ones floating around before NATO standardized everything. some of the older ops still default to what they learned decades ago, its not wrong exactly, just kinda outdated. most people wont give you grief for it

as for when to use them -- theres no hard rule on FM repeaters honestly, if the signal is solid and everyone can hear you fine then saying your call sign normally is totally fine. where phonetics really matter is when signals are weak or theres QRM, like on HF where conditions are always doing something weird. DX contacts especially, if youre trying to work someone in Japan and the band is marginal you absolutely want to spell out your call phonetically or theyre just gonna log something wrong

stick to NATO when you can, it travels the best internationally because operators from other countries learned the same set. but dont stress too much about it on local VHF stuff

honestly i just use them whenever i think theres any chance someone might mishear me. better to spend two extra seconds than have a busted log entry. on the repeater i usually skip them unless somethings going on with the signal but on HF i pretty much always phonetic my call at least once in the exchange