so ive been on HF for maybe 6 months now and i notice some guys use the full NATO phonetics every single time they say their callsign and some guys just say it normally especially on 40m SSB just casually chatting. im not sure when youre actually supposed to use them vs when its overkill. like if im just calling CQ on a clear frequency and someone comes back with a strong signal do i really need to go through the whole alpha bravo charlie thing or can i just say my call normally

also i was in a net last week and the net control kept correcting people when they used non-standard words, someone said F as in Frank and net control came back saying the correct phonetic is Foxtrot. is that a hard rule or just that guys preference. genuinely not sure if im missing something here

the short answer is no, you dont have to use them every single time, but theres a reason they exist. NATO phonetics are standardized so that anyone anywhere in the world regardless of language knows exactly what you mean. Frank, Freddie, Florida — those could all get confused especially when conditions are rough. Foxtrot is Foxtrot, nobody's going to hear that and think anything else.

on a casual ragchew with a strong signal yeah most people just say their call normally and thats fine, nobody's going to come down on you for it. but in nets, especially anything formal or emcomm related, net control is going to expect standard NATO phonetics and honestly they're right to enforce it. the whole point of a net is structured communication and if everyone starts making up their own phonetics it gets messy fast. your net control wasnt being pedantic, that's just good net discipline.

id say get in the habit of using them properly anyway, it becomes second nature pretty quick and then when you actually need them in a pile-up or when signals are rough you just do it automatically without thinking

yeah same thing happened to me when i first got on air, i used N as in Nancy and someone politely told me its November lol. i was kind of embarrassed but its not a big deal, nobody's going to yell at you. the NATO ones are just more universal i guess. i still mess up Golf sometimes and say George out of habit from somewhere