ok so ive been licensed about 4 months now and still kinda confused about this. like i know the NATO phonetics, alpha bravo charlie etc, but when im on the air i never know when im supposed to use them vs just saying the letter. like if someone asks me to repeat my callsign do i always go full phonetic or is it situational. i was on a local 2m net last week and the net control asked for check ins and i just said my call letters normally and nobody said anything but then somebody else on there did full phonetics for theirs and i felt like maybe i was doing it wrong. is there like an unwritten rule about this or does it just depend on conditions

pretty much situational yeah. on a clear local repeater with good signals most people just say their call normally, especially for check ins where theres no confusion. phonetics really shine when the band is noisy, youre doing a contact with someone far away, or if you just said your call and the other person didnt quite catch it. if theyre asking you to repeat it, thats usually when you spell it out phonetically so theres no ambiguity. like the difference between B and D or M and N can totally disappear in QRM. also some nets specifically ask for phonetics, usually the more formal or traffic nets, so it just depends on what kind of net youre on. you werent doing anything wrong on that 2m net, that other guy was probably just being thorough or is the type who always does it out of habit.

yeah i was the same way when i started. i think the thing that helped me was realizing phonetics are just a tool for clarity, not like a rule you have to follow every single time. i still mess up sometimes and mix NATO phonetics with random words which you definitely arent supposed to do on formal nets lol. heard a guy say "K for kangaroo" once on a traffic net and the NCS had to ask him to say it again properly. so at least stick to the standard ones when you do use them