I recently received a care package from the XYL containing recent issues of my favorite amateur radio magazines: WorldRadio, CQ, QST, as well as the FISTS newsletter. One of the QST column's mentioned ON4WW's website and his tips for good amateur radio operating practices. I'd like to highlight them - they make great sense and if everyone observed them, would make our quality radio time just that much more enjoyable.

From: http://www.on4ww.be/OperatingPracticeEnglish.html

1. HAM LANGUAGE
Know the 'Ham Language'. Get acquainted with the correct Amateur Radio Language. Don't say 'Radio four', but 'readibility four'. Master the phonetic alphabet, CW abbreviations, the Q code and the number code (73/88) as if they were a second mother language before getting on the air.
Always use the phonetic alphabet in a correct manner: A is Alfa, and not Alabama.


AD7MI: it always throws me when someone does not use the standard phonetic alphabet. But I will admit, with some DX stations where I have a hard time understanding their pronunciation, a substitution in the phonetic alphabet makes sense. I know the basic Q codes, but do need to brush up a bit.