science

Procedure word

Procedure word is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Procedure word rather than just read about it. In short: Procedure words (abbreviated to prowords) are words or phrases limited to radiotelephony procedure used to facilitate communication by conveying information in a condensed standard verbal format. Prowords are voice versions of the much older procedural signs for Morse code which were first developed in the 1860s for Morse telegraphy, and their meaning is identical.

Key takeaways

Procedure word belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Procedure word to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Procedure word from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Procedure words (abbreviated to prowords) are words or phrases limited to radiotelephony procedure used to facilitate communication by conveying information in a condensed standard verbal format. Prowords are voice versions of the much older procedural signs for Morse code which were first developed in the 1860s for Morse telegraphy, and their meaning is identical. The NATO communications manual ACP-125 contains the most formal and perhaps earliest modern (post-World War II) glossary of prowords, but its definitions have been adopted by many other organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the U.S. Coast Guard, US Civil Air Patrol, US Military Auxiliary Radio System, and others. Prowords are one of several structured parts of radio voice procedures, including brevity codes and plain language radio checks.

Examples According to the U.S. Marine Corps training document FMSO 108, "understanding the following PROWORDS and their respective definitions is the key to clear and concise communication procedures".

This is ... This transmission is from the station whose designator immediately follows. For clarity, the station called should also be named, before the station calling. For example, "Victor Juliet zero, this is Golf Mike Oscar three...," or for brevity, "Victor Juliet zero, Golf Mike Oscar three...." The reverse ("This is GMO3 calling VJ0") is never allowed.

Over "This is the end of my transmission to you and a response is necessary. Go ahead: transmit."

Out "This is the end of my transmission to you, and no answer is required or expected." "Over" and "Out" are never used at the same time, as their meanings are mutually exclusive.

Do you read? A question about whether the receiver can hear and understand the transmission. Example: "Bob, you read me? What is the situation from your position?" Example:

Roger "ROGER" may not be used to mean "yes" with regard to confirming a command; in Air Traffic Control phraseology, it does not signify that a clearance has been given. The term originates from the practice of telegraphers sending an "R" to stand for "received" after successfully getting a message. This was extended into spoken radio during World War II, with the "R" changed to the spelling alphabet equivalent word "Roger". The modern NATO spelling alphabet uses the word "Romeo" for "R" instead of "Roger", and "Romeo" is sometimes used for the same purpose as "Roger", mainly in Australian maritime operations.

Wilco "I understand and will comply." It is used on receipt of an order. "Roger" and "Wilco" used together (e.g. "Roger, Wilco") are redundant, since "Wilco" includes the acknowledgement element of "Roger".

Say again "I have not understood your message, please SAY AGAIN". Usually used with prowords "ALL AFTER" or "ALL BEFORE". Example: radio working between Solent Coastguard and a motor vessel, call-sign EG 93, where part of the initial transmission is unintelligible. Example:

At this juncture, Solent Coastguard would reply, preceding the message with the prowords "I SAY AGAIN":

The word "REPEAT" should not be used in place of "SAY AGAIN", especially on artillery fire control nets, as "REPEAT" is an artillery proword defined in ACP 125 U.S. Supp-2(A) with the wholly different meaning of "request for the same volume of fire to be fired again with or without corrections or changes" (e.g., at the same coordinates as the previous round).

All after... "Please repeat the message you just sent me beginning after the word or phrase said after this proword." Example:

At this juncture, Solent Coastguard would reply, preceding the message after "position" with the prowords "I SAY AGAIN":

All before... "Please repeat the message you just sent me ending before the word or phrase said after this proword."

Wait over "Wait for some time."

Standby "I must pause for a few seconds."

Wait out "I must pause for longer than a few seconds.."

Read back "Please repeat my entire transmission back to me."

I read back "The following is my response to your READ BACK proword."

Correction "I made an error in this transmission. Transmission will continue with the last word correctly sent."

Radio check "What is my signal strength and readability; how do you hear me?" The sender requests a response indicating the strength and readability of their transmission, according to plain language radio check standards:

A response of ROGER is shorthand for the prowords LOUD AND CLEAR. A response of WEAK BUT READABLE ("WEAK READABLE" is also used) indicates a weak signal but I can understand. A response of WEAK AND DISTORTED indicates a weak signal and unreadable. A response of STRONG BUT DISTORTED indicates a strong signal but unreadable. One of the two stations might be slightly off frequency, there might be multipath distortion, or there might be a problem with the audio circuits on one or both of the radios. "5 by 5" is an older term used to assess radio signals, as in 5 out of 5 units for both signal strength and readability. Other terms similar to 5x5 are "LOUD AND CLEAR" or "Lima and Charlie". Example:

Similar example in shorter form:

If the initiating station (Alpha 12 in the example) cannot hear the responding station (X-ray 23 above), then the initiator attempts a radio-check again, or if the responder's signal was not heard, the initiator replies to the responder with "Negative contact, Alpha 12 OUT". The following readability scale is used: 1 = bad (unreadable); 2 = poor (readable now and then); 3 = fair (readable, but with difficulty); 4 = good (readable); 5 = excellent (perfectly readable). Example of correct US Army radio check, for receiver A-11 (Alpha 11) and sender D-12 (Delta 12):

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Procedure word

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Procedure word claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Procedure word before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Procedure word ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Procedure word

In research: Procedure word appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Procedure word in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Procedure word is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Amateur radio, Military communications, Operating signals, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Procedure word outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Procedure word in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Procedure word means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Procedure word out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Procedure word in simple terms?

Why does Procedure word matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Procedure word?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Procedure word.