NATO Phonetic Alphabet Converter
Turn NATO words, or any words, back into letters, or spell text out phonetically.
Decode any words
Every word becomes its first letter or digit, so cat apple tiger decodes
to CAT, the same as Charlie Alfa Tango. Number words are the exception:
Two is 2, not T. Common spellings such as Alpha, Juliet, Whisky, X ray
and Niner are understood. A /, | or new line starts a new word of the
output.
Spell text out
Switch to To Phonetic and each letter and digit becomes its NATO word,
with / between words. Punctuation has no NATO word and is left out. The
Read it aloud card shows one large tile per letter, for reading from on
a call.
Questions
Why "Alfa" instead of "Alpha", and "Juliett" instead of "Juliet"?
Those are the official ICAO spellings. "Alfa" avoids a "ph" that isn't read as "f" in every language. The double "t" in "Juliett" tells French speakers to pronounce it. Decoding accepts both spellings.
Why is punctuation left out?
The NATO alphabet only has words for letters and digits. There's no standard word for a comma or an apostrophe, so they're skipped.
What does the " / " mean in the output?
It marks the space between words. "Hi Bob" becomes "Hotel India / Bravo Oscar Bravo", so decoding knows where each word ends.
Does decoding keep the original capitals?
No. Spelled-out letters carry no case, so decoded text comes back in capitals.
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