so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and i mostly do 2m FM on local repeaters and a little HF here and there. my question is kind of dumb but when are you actually supposed to use the NATO phonetics vs just saying the letter normally. like if someone asks me to confirm my callsign do i spell it out as November Whiskey three Tango Alpha Lima or can i just say N W 3 T A L or whatever. i see people do both and im not really sure if theres a rule or if its just preference. also i noticed some of the older guys on the local repeater use some totally different words for certain letters, not the standard NATO ones, and it kind of threw me off the first time. is that normal

yeah theres no hard rule on local FM most of the time, people just do what works. the whole point of phonetics is when theres QRM or the signal is weak and letters start sounding alike, like B and D or M and N can totally blend together on a noisy HF path. on a clear 2m FM repeater with full quieting youre fine just rattling off the letters. but if you ever get into HF especially DX or contesting youll want the NATO ones down cold because everyone expects them and using the wrong ones just slows things down for everyone.

as for the old timers using different words, yeah thats a thing. there used to be different phonetic alphabets before NATO standardized everything and some guys who got licensed in the 50s and 60s still say things like Abel Baker Charlie or use some mix. its not really wrong on a casual repeater but youd want to stick to NATO if youre ever working a net or doing anything more formal.

honestly i just use phonetics whenever the band sounds rough or if im not sure the other station copied me. on a clear repeater i usually just say the letters but if theres any doubt i'll go full phonetic. the thing that tripped me up early on was people using non-standard ones, heard a guy say London once instead of Lima and i had no idea what letter he meant for a second lol. stick to NATO and youll be fine, most people will know what you mean