ok so ive been licensed for about 4 months now and i still feel weird about when to use phonetics and when to not bother. like if im calling CQ on 40m do i phonetic my whole callsign every single time or just sometimes? and does it matter if conditions are good? i feel like some guys do it every time no matter what and others never bother and i cant figure out what the actual practice is supposed to be

also i heard someone use "lima" and someone else said "london" for L and i thought there was only one correct version? is there like an official set you have to use or is it just whatever the other person understands

the NATO phonetics are the standard — alpha bravo charlie and so on — and yeah those are what you want to stick to, especially if theres any chance youre working someone where english isnt their first language. the whole point of that alphabet is that those specific words were tested to be recognizable across a ton of different accents and languages. "london" for L works fine if youre just chatting with your buddy locally but in a pileup or on a net it can cause confusion especially if conditions are rough

as for when to use them, general rule ive always gone by is: give your callsign in phonetics at least the first time in any exchange, or anytime you think theres a chance the other op might have gotten it wrong. on a clear local repeater with good signal? you can probably just say the letters normally. on HF with any kind of QSB or noise floor? phonetics every time, no question. some contesters will drop them when running fast but thats a different situation entirely

yeah what he said about NATO being the standard is right. i actually got corrected on this early on when i used "sugar" for S and the net control politely told me to use sierra lol. felt embarrassing at the time but honestly glad they said something

one thing i'll add is some of the older timers on certain nets still use the old "able baker charlie" phonetics from before NATO standardized everything and it can throw you off if you arent expecting it. doesnt come up much but worth knowing it exists