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However, most police departments nationwide have kept using the 1940 APCO spelling alphabet, with those using the 1974 APCO spelling alphabet being the exception, rather than the rule. In 1974, APCO adopted the ICAO International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, replacing the Adam-Boy-Charlie alphabet APCO first published in 1940. The resulting final list differs from the Bell Telephone word list by only five words, and from the Western Union word list by only eight words. Lists used by military services were excluded because of a lack of permission to reproduce. The questionnaire solicited suggestions, but also included the existing Western Union and Bell Telephone word lists, plus another list then in general use by a number of police stations. The list was based on the results of questionnaires sent out by the Procedures Committee to all zone and interzone police radio stations. Probably everyone has heard in the film how the aircraft tower service called the plane after its registration marks, eg Lima Sierra Foxtrot Charlie X-ray, it meant that the plane with the LS-FCX marks was called. The APCO phonetic alphabet, (LAPD radio alphabet), is the term for an old competing spelling alphabet to the ICAO radiotelephony alphabet, defined by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International, that is currently used by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and other local and state law enforcement agencies across the United States. It consists in assigning fixed words to each letter of the alphabet. By this point, APCO President Herb Wareing "came out in favor of a standard list of words for alphabet letters, preferably suitable for both radiophone and radiotelegraph use." Spelling words with phonetic alphabets is mainly used in voice communication. They sound like each other and make up the alphabet of the alphabet.Sierra, E. The APCO first suggested that its Procedure and Signals Committee work out a system for a "standard set of words representing the alphabet should be used by all stations" in its April 1940 newsletter. A phonetic alphabet, or NATO phonetic alphabet, is assigned to each police force on the island of Sardinia.An alphabetical alphabet is created by selecting words from an alphabetical order. In 1974, APCO adopted the ICAO Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, making the APCO alphabet officially obsolete however, it is still widely used, and relatively few police departments in the U.S.
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Despite often being called a "phonetic alphabet", it is not a phonetic alphabet for transcribing phonetics.
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It is the "over the air" communication used for properly understanding a broadcast of letters in the form of easily understood words. LAPD radio alphabet, is the term for an old competing spelling alphabet to the ICAO radiotelephony alphabet, defined by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International from 1941 to 1974, that is used by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and other local and state law enforcement agencies across the state of California and elsewhere in the United States.
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