Formal Radio Telecommunications (RATEL)

GENERAL OVERVIEW

What is RATEL? 

RATEL (Radio Telecommunications) is thea procedureset of procedures used by infantry and air to keep radio communication short and to the point. As a JTAC or NCOan NCO, you must also be able to communicate at short ranges and long ranges between sections, the platoon and air assets. As such knowing RATEL is essential.

The "Wave"

Knowing the basic structure of what is called the “wave” is the first most fundamental skill you must have when operating a radio.

The first initial part is the person you are wanting to speak to. This second part is describing who you are. The Third part is your request or what you are doing, this part is highly interchangeable and can be replaced with anything and the final part is the transmission end. This is interchangeable with either Over or Out. Over signifies that you are waiting for a response and out signifies your transmission is complete and that you do not want a response. Out would be used if you were simply passing on information or giving an order and do not want a response.

The Response

Once you have sent your “wave” you have to wait for a response. The Response is generally structured in this format.

The format goes like this. Who they are transmitting to i.e. you, who they are, what they want you to do and then their transmission end that signifies they are awaiting your response.

This can basically be translated into:

“Hey you, It's me, talk now, I'm waiting.”

Obviously don’t use that over radio but it helps give an idea of what it means.

The Message

Once you have received the response to your “Wave” you must then send your message. For an example we will do a contact report.

“One Actual this is 1-1, We have received contact from grid, wait”

Wait is used to give you time to gather the information needed for the message. 

“Grid 0578, 2655, say again my last, over”

Say again my last is used to ensure that the person receiving your transmission understands what you have stated so far and makes them repeat it so that you can verbally correct them. They will then reply with “1-1, this is, One Actual. Grid 0578, 2645”.

Once they have repeated your message you will then correct them, “Wrong, Grid 0578, 2655”. Once you have corrected them and they have reconfirmed you will then continue your transmission.

“Contact consisted of indirect machine gun fire and mortars, over”

Once you have ended your transmission you will then wait for a response which will generally sound like the following.

“1-1 this is One Actual, Roger, out.”

This response signifies that the person you are transmitting to has received the transmission and understands it. They will then end their transmission with “out” to signify that no response is needed.

SITREP (Situation Report)

Now that we have covered the basic structure of a radio message we will now cover some more advanced radio procedures that as a radio operator you will find yourself having to complete.

The first basic procedure we will cover is the proper format of a SITREP or a Situation Report. The situation report is used by your squad leader to establish the overall picture of what everyone is doing and what you plan on doing to HQ. During briefing your commander may choose to set SITREP intervals for example, every 5 minutes you are to provide a SITREP. Generally SITREP’s are only done on a squad to HQ level however fireteams may sometimes provide one.

The basic five steps of a proper SITREP are as follows:

• What you currently see/where you currently are,
• What you are doing,
• What you have done,
• What you plan on doing/where you are going,
• And what you need. This 5th step can be excluded however if you are short on ammunition or medical supplies you can include this step to ensure you have the correct supplies for your objective.

We will now go through how you work all of those steps into a radio message and how the radio conversation generally starts and ends.

“One Actual this is Sunray, SITREP, over”

“Sunray this is One Actual, we are at grid 1234, 5678, we are moving to grid 4321, 8765, more to follow”

More to follow allows you time to gather information and piece together your message and to cut up the radio message making it easier to understand. Once you have done that you do not need to reopen the transmission.

“We just cleared the town of Staszow at grid 1233, 1332, we plan to move to Hanover at grid 6666, 7777 and clear it out, more to follow”

“We require air support to weaken the fortifications around the town, over.”

ACE Report

When your section has just been in contact and there is a lull in the battle it is always a good idea to conduct an ACE (Ammunition, Casualties and Equipment) report. ACE reports have four different levels.

                          Ammunition                                           Casualties                                                 Equipment

Colour	Definition	Colour	Definition	Colour	Definition
Green	You have plenty of ammunition remaining.	Green	No injuries sustained.	Green	No significant impact on equipment.
Yellow	You have half of your ammunition supply.	Yellow	Minor injuries sustained.	Yellow	Approx half of equipment used.
Red	Dangerously low.	Red	Severe injuries sustained with casualties.	Red	Running Low on equipment.
Black	Completely out.	Black	Mass casualty.	Black	No equipment remaining.

We will now cover the radio procedure for conducting an ACE report to higher ups such your platoon commander.

“Sunray, this is, One Actual, SITREP, over”

“One Actual this is Sunray, send it, over”

“Ammunition, red, resupply needed urgently, casualties yellow, minor injuries sustained from prior contact, equipment Black, no AT left need an urgent resupply. Overall we are not combat effective, over.”

“One Actual this is Sunray, send grid for supply drop, over.”

It is up to you when you complete an ACE report but they are an essential toolskill forand painting a clear picturecrucial to HQany whatofficer's your situation is. This can also be used from fireteam leader to squad leader and so on so that all commanders all the way up the chain are fully aware of the situation.success.

Useful Phraseology / Pro Words

Anatomy of a Transmission

Knowing the basic structure of a transmission is the first, most fundamental skill you must have when operating a radio. It consists of four major parts; recipient, sender, message, and close.

1. The callsign of the RECIPIENT (who you're directing this transmission to)
2. The callsign of the SENDER (announce who you are)
3. The MESSAGE (flexible; could be a request to converse, an acknowledgement, or an entire report)
4. The CLOSE (usually either over OR out - obviously, never both - but sometimes wait or wait out)

This format is used every time you key your radio; some contextual examples of its usage can be found below.

Anatomy of a Conversation

The Wave

A conversation is an exchange of multiple transmissions between two elements on the same frequency. A conversation opens with a wave - wherein the sender signals the recipient and indicates a request to converse. The wave is important to establish that both the sender and recipient are ready to continue; the demands of the operation at hand frequently dictate limits on when officers can dedicate attention to a conversation. In a high-pressure situation, the sender might have to repeat their wave after a short time to get the recipient's attention.

The Response

The recipient returns a response, confirming unambiguously that they, the recipient, are ready to carry out the conversation and you should proceed with your next transmission.

The Rest

After the sender has received the response, they can send another transmission containing a message - an order, an interrogative, a request, or something else. The recipient replies as appropriate, and each goes back and forth following the close of the other's last transmission. It is the initial sender's responsibility to terminate the conversation; once they have what they need, they must close their final transmission with the pro-word "out" to indicate that the conversation is done and other elements can then use the net.

It's important to think through what you want to converse about before you ever send a wave - you and your recipient will almost never be the only two elements on the frequency, and one frequency will only support one conversation at a time, so to keep information flowing it's important to be concise.

The Readback

An important part of radio communication is the readback. This is the part where - especially when receiving orders or important information - you re-summarize what you've heard and state any figures or specifics, to ensure that you've received the correct details.

It's important to grant the opportunity for the sender to re-transmit their message and correct any mistaken communication; especially, for example, where a single missed grid digit might result in a CAS run missing the enemy force (or hitting your own instead!).

Example: Contact Report

1-2: "1-1, this is 1-2. Contact report, over."

1-1: "1-2, this is 1-1, send your contact report, over."

1-2: "1-1, this is 1-2, we're in contact from grid, wait..."

A short pause, as indicated by the pro-word "wait".

1-2: "Grid zero five seven eight, two six five five. Say again my last, over."

"Say again my last" is a way to specifically request a readback from the recipient.

1-1: "1-2, this is 1-1. I copy grid 0578,2645, over."

1-2: "1-1, this is 1-2, wrong grid. I repeat: 0578,2655, over."

1-1: "1-2, this is 1-1. Grid 0578,2655, over."

1-2: "1-1, this is 1-2. Good copy. Contact from that grid consisted of indirect machine gun fire and mortars, over."

1-1: "1-2, this is 1-1. Acknowledged, machine guns and mortar fire, over."

1-2: "1-2 out."

Example: Orders

1-1: "All teams, this is 1-1. Check in, new orders, over."

When addressing multiple recipients, the recipients should respond in order of command seniority.

1-2: "1-1, this is 1-2, ready for orders, over."

1-3: "1-1, this is 1-3, send orders, over."

1-1: "All teams, this is 1-1, new orders are to form a section base line and progress from the 1-A mark to the 1-B mark. 1-2 is to take the left wing and 1-3 the right wing. I repeat: Section base line from 1-A to 1-B. How copy, over?"

1-1 uses "how copy" to request a readback from all teams to ensure they have interpreted the orders correctly.

1-2: "1-1, this is 1-2, forming section base line facing 1-B mark, we've got the left wing, over."

1-3: "1-1, this is 1-3, section base line, we're on the right, moving to 1-B mark, over."

1-1: "All teams, this is 1-1, begin your movement. Out."

SITREP (Situation Report)

Now that we have covered the basic structure of a radio message, we will now cover some more advanced radio procedures that as a radio operator you will find yourself having to complete.

The first basic procedure we will cover is the proper format of a SITREP, or a Situation Report. The situation report is used by a commander to establish the overall picture of what each element is currently doing, what they need, and what they are planning to do next. During briefing your commander may choose to set SITREP intervals - for example, establishing a SITREP every 5 minutes. SITREPs are usually provided by section elements to HQ, but a section leader might request SITREPs from their fire teams.

You should include 5 pieces of information when providing a situation report:

1. LOCATION / OBSERVATION (where you are, and what you see)
2. CURRENT ACTION (what you are doing right now)
3. PREVIOUS ACTIONS (what you have done / have been doing)
4. CURRENT PLAN (what you're planning on doing / where you're planning on going)
5. ISSUES / REQUIREMENTS (short on ammo/medical, or need support?)

Step 5 can be omitted if you're on track with your objective and have no requirements or obstacles at the current time, but you still may wish to mention that (e.g. "No additional assistance required at this time.").

Example: Situation Report

Sunray: "1st Section, this is Sunray, SITREP, over."

1st Section: "Sunray, this is 1st, we're at grid 1234,5678, moving from here to grid 4321,8765, more to follow."

"More to follow" works like "wait" or "wait out"; 1st Section doesn't need to re-open the transmission.

1st Section: "We've just cleared the town of Staszow at grid 1233,1332 - we plan to move to Hanover at grid 6666,777 and clear it out, more to follow."

1st Section: "We'll require air support to weaken the fortifications around the town, over."

Sunray: "1st Section, this is Sunray, acknowledged your last, we'll arrange the air support, out."

ACE Report

When your section has been in contact and there is a lull in the battle, it is always a good idea to conduct an ACE (Ammunition, Casualties and Equipment) report. ACE reports have four different levels.

	Ammunition	Casualties	Equipment
Green	Plenty of ammo.	No injuries.	No equipment used.
Yellow	Down to half ammo.	Minor injuries.	Half equipment used.
Red	Dangerously low ammo.	Casualties, major injuries.	Low on equipment.
Black	No ammo.	Mass casualty.	No equipment remaining.

When providing an ACE report, you should include each category and the appropriate colour. You can provide an ACE report at your discretion, or when asked to by your commanding officer. ACE reports are essential for painting a clear picture to commanders as to your current situation. Fire team leaders can give ACE reports to section leaders, who can give ACE reports to HQ, so all commanders up the chain are fully aware of the state of their constituent elements.

Example: ACE Report

1st Section: "Sunray, this is 1st, SITREP for you, over."

Sunray: "1st, this is Sunray, send your SITREP, over."

1st Section: "Sunray, 1st. Ammunition: red, need resupply urgently. Casualties: yellow, minor injuries from prior contact. Equipment: black, used all our AT, need urgent resupply. 1st section is not currently combat effective, over."

Sunray: "1st, this is Sunray, acknowledged, sit tight, I will contact you again later to arrange supply drop, over."

1st Section: "Sunray, 1st, we will await supply drop, out."