PA.III.A.K1· K
Radio frequencies & phraseology
Radio communications: frequencies and phraseology
Radio work isn't about the radio. It's about having the transmission composed before you key the mic. Controllers aren't judging your voice; they want four pieces of information in a predictable order.
the four parts of every call
Every call answers four questions in order.
Towered: "Prescott Ground, Skyhawk one-two-three-four-five, at the south ramp with information Bravo, taxi for departure to the northwest." Facility, callsign, position, request.
Non-towered, the airport name goes first and last: "Sedona traffic, Skyhawk one-two-three-four-five, ten miles south, three thousand five hundred, inbound for landing, Sedona." CTAF frequencies are reused — 122.8 serves hundreds of airports, and the pilot forty miles away needs to know the call isn't theirs.
where the frequencies come from
The Chart Supplement is authoritative — the only place every frequency appears together: ATIS or AWOS, clearance delivery, ground, tower, approach and departure, CTAF, UNICOM, and the servicing FSS. The sectional's airport data block has the same in shorthand: CTAF with a filled circle, tower, automated weather.
| Frequency | What it is |
|---|---|
| 122.9 | MULTICOM — self-announce where no tower, FSS, or UNICOM is published |
| 122.8 / 123.0 | Common CTAF/UNICOM frequencies at non-towered fields |
| 121.5 | Emergency (guard) — monitored, never used for routine traffic |
| 121.6–121.9 | Typical ground control band |
Sequence them before you fly — ATIS, approach, tower, ground, on the kneeboard in order of use. Hunting for a frequency inside Class D is how pilots enter airspace without a clearance.
Get the ATIS first where there is one: wind, altimeter, active runway, field conditions. Reporting the letter saves the controller reading it to you. Non-towered, AWOS or ASOS does the same job without a letter.
readbacks — the part that is not optional
The readback lets the controller catch an error before it becomes an event. A hold-short instruction must be read back verbatim, including the runway designator and your callsign .
Read back anything else that changes your clearance or flight path: assigned altitude, heading, altimeter setting, runway assignment, and the runways in a taxi route. "Roger" means only that you heard it — nothing for the controller to correct. Not sure what you heard? Say "say again" — guessing wrong sounds like an incident report.
phraseology, briefly
Standard phrasing is unambiguous under a bad radio. Numbers are spoken individually (one-two-three-four-five), altitudes as thousands and hundreds (three thousand five hundred), letters phonetically. Say "unable" when you can't comply, "stand by" when you need a moment. The examiner wants a call a stranger could act on.
Worked example. Ten miles out, ATIS is information Charlie, winds 240 at 8, altimeter 30.02, landing runway 21. You call "Prescott Tower, Skyhawk one-two-three-four-five, ten miles southeast, four thousand five hundred, inbound for landing with Charlie." Tower gives you left downwind runway 21, report two miles — read both back, because a mistake there hurts.
Common DPE questions
Which instruction must always be read back verbatim?
★ Next up
PA.III.A.K2 · Light signals & lost comms
Every tower cab still has a light gun, for one situation: an airplane that can't talk. The day you need the signals, you can't ask what they mean.