Convert text into the NATO phonetic alphabet used by military, aviation, and emergency services worldwide. Each letter is mapped to its standard code word with optional Morse code representation.
| Character | NATO | Morse |
|---|---|---|
| H | Hotel | .... |
| e | Echo | . |
| l | Lima | .-.. |
| l | Lima | .-.. |
| o | Oscar | --- |
| W | Whiskey | .-- |
| o | Oscar | --- |
| r | Romeo | .-. |
| l | Lima | .-.. |
| d | Delta | -.. |
.Dit (short signal)-Dah (long signal)(space)Letter gap/Word gapThe NATO phonetic alphabet (formally the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet) is used worldwide by military, aviation, and maritime organizations to spell out letters clearly over radio or telephone communications, avoiding confusion between similar-sounding letters.
Type or paste any text into the input field to see it instantly converted to NATO phonetic alphabet code words. Each letter is replaced with its standard NATO code word - for example, 'HELLO' becomes 'Hotel Echo Lima Lima Oscar'. Numbers are converted to their spoken equivalents (0=Zero, 1=One, ... 9=Niner). The output table shows each character alongside its NATO code word and Morse code equivalent (dots and dashes). Use the Copy button to copy the full phonetic spelling to your clipboard. Toggle options to include or exclude spaces and punctuation in the output.
The NATO phonetic alphabet is essential for clear radio communication in military, aviation, maritime, and emergency services where audio quality may be poor and misunderstanding a single letter could be critical. IT professionals use it when reading out serial numbers, license keys, MAC addresses, or passwords over the phone. Customer service agents spell out confirmation codes and email addresses. Ham radio operators use it as standard practice. The Morse code column is useful for amateur radio enthusiasts, signal processing students, and anyone learning Morse code. The tool is also great for educational purposes in language and communication classes.
The NATO phonetic alphabet (formally the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet) was adopted by NATO in 1956 and is standardized by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and ITU (International Telecommunication Union). Each code word was chosen to be easily pronounceable by speakers of English, French, and Spanish - the three official languages of ICAO. The number words follow the ITU standard where 'nine' is pronounced 'niner' to avoid confusion with 'no' in German/Norwegian. Morse code uses International Morse Code (ITU-R M.1677-1) timing: a dot is one unit, a dash is three units, space between parts of a letter is one unit, between letters is three units, and between words is seven units.
The NATO phonetic alphabet assigns a unique code word to each letter: A=Alpha, B=Bravo, C=Charlie, D=Delta, E=Echo, F=Foxtrot, G=Golf, H=Hotel, I=India, J=Juliet, K=Kilo, L=Lima, M=Mike, N=November, O=Oscar, P=Papa, Q=Quebec, R=Romeo, S=Sierra, T=Tango, U=Uniform, V=Victor, W=Whiskey, X=X-ray, Y=Yankee, Z=Zulu.
The number 9 is pronounced 'niner' (with two syllables) to distinguish it from 'no' in German ('nein') and to avoid confusion with 'five' in noisy radio conditions. This convention is standard across all NATO and ICAO communications.
Yes, the NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet is the international standard used by military forces, police, aviation, maritime, emergency services, and amateur radio operators worldwide. Some local variations exist (e.g., US law enforcement sometimes uses 'Adam, Boy, Charles'), but the NATO version is universally recognized.
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