SOP (Radio) - The Radio Check

What is a radio check?
The standard military Radio Check serves three purposes. First, it immediately identifies the name (call sign) of the individual joining the radio net. Second, it provides clear and concise feedback to the individual joining, as to how loud and clear other people on the same radio frequency hear their transmissions. Finally, it permits people to make adjustments to their settings, in order to improve how well others hear them from a loudness perspective, as well as the clarity of their transmissions.

The real life military form of the standard Radio Check differs somewhat from the procedure we have established for BF2 using VoIP. We have taken the liberty of abbreviating and modifying it somewhat for the sake of game play simplicity.

In our virtual BF2 world we don’t use actual military radios, but with VoIP / teamspeak, the similarities to real world radio practices are quite a good fit.

Signal Strength (Loudness)

1. Faint signals, barely perceptible.
2. Very weak signals.
3. Weak signals.
4. Fair signals.
5. Strong signals.

Readability (Comprehension)

1. Unreadable
2. Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable.
3. Readable with considerable difficulty.
4. Readable with practically no difficulty.
5. Perfectly readable.

Example
Here is an example of a squad member performing a radio check with his squad.

Tempus: "Squad, This is Badger, RADIO CHECK"
Squad Leader: "Tempus, this is Squad Leader, read you 5 by 5"
Tempus: "Roger, reading you 5 by 5"

Note: if the Squad Leader does not respond, then after an appropriate pause, any call sign in the squad may acknowledge the Radio Check.

The referencing of "5 by 5" stands for the following combinations of Signal Strength and Readability in the sequence shown. In our example, "5 by 5" is a short form way of saying "your signal strength is strong (loud) and you are perfectly readable. It actual practice, many people state the real words (or some variation on the same theme) as opposed to using numbers. In this same case, instead of "5 by 5", one could have easily said "loud and clear" or "strong and readable", which are virtually the same as "5 by 5".

Additional Notes
DO NOT get hung up on remembering numbers, but if necessary, simply focus on replying in plain English with the two primary elements of information in response to any Radio Check. They are first, how LOUD do you hear them and second, how UNDERSTANDABLE to you are the words they are saying.