Radio Acronyms
(Always under construction)
By Hugh Stegman
At end of file:
Police/CB 10-codes
Other police codes
Computer networking standards
[~] = not an acronym, just looks like one
Radiospeak, techspeak, milspeak, NASAspeak, and compuspeak all
developed for spoken, sent, or stored brevity.
As Larry Van Horn
is always noting, acronyms and abbreviations don't always save all
that much space in written text.
Utility Planet tries to slog
through all the alphabet soup and write in good old English.
Sometimes we fail.
Decode our lapses thusly:
Acronym Definition
------- -------------------------------------------------------
// Parallel transmission (simulcast) on --
/// Cloud layer below observing station
+FC Tornado on the ground
1 LT first lieutenant
10-X "Ten-Ten," ten-meter amateur award
16-DPSK 16-Phase Differential Phase-Shift Keying
16P4A 16 phase, 4 amplitudes
2 LT second lieutenant
220SMA 220 (MHz) Spectrum Management Assn (Amateur)
0 Hz, audio frequency used for US telephone idle tones
2600 (2)Hack/Phreak magazine, named in honor of above
2600 (3)Use of tone-spoofing equipment to co now a good way to go to jail
2G Second Generation
2G ALE Second generation automatic link establishment
32BDA 32-Bit Disk Access (Windoze)
3D Three dimensional (like some weather models)
3F Three-figure code groups (mixed or all numbers)
3FG Three-figure code groups
3G Third Generation
3G ALE Third generation automatic link establishment
3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
3G-TM Third Generation Traffic Management Protocol
3L Three-letter code groups
3LG Three-letter code groups
4F Four figure code groups (mixed or all numbers)
4FG Four figure code groups
4G Fourth Generation
4G LTE Fourth Generation - Long Term Evolution
4L Four-letter code groups
4LG Four-letter code groups
5 by 5 (1) Signal report: readability 5, strength 5
5 by 5 (2) Signal report: you are loud and clear
5D Demand Driven Direct Digital Dissemination
5F Five-figure code groups (mixed or all numbers)
5FG Five-figure code groups
5L Five-letter code groups
5LG Five-letter code groups
73 Old telegraphy slang: "Best regards"
81-81 Strange Russian teleprinting system, popular in Cuba
88 Old telegraphy slang: "Love and kisses"
89/336/EEC European electromagnetic compatibility directive
8-DPSK 8-Phase Differential Phase-Shift Keying
8P2A 8 phase, 2 amplitudes
A Index 24-hour magnetic activity index, lower=better
A (1)Altimeter setting
A (2)Old "A" battery, for portable radio tube filaments
A&P Airframe & Powerplant, U.S. aircraft mechanic certificate
a/c Aircraft
A/D Analog to digital converter
A/G Air to ground
A0 AM carrier with no modulation, now N0N
A1 (Alpha-1) Aircraft maintenance status: plane OK
A1A Morse telegraphy for aural copy, i.e. "CW"
A2 (Alpha-2) Status: write up non-mission-critical system
A2A Modulated CW telegraphy for aural copy, i.e. "MCW"
A3 (Alpha-3) Status: writ mission aborted
A3E AM voice or broadcasting
AA CW prosign: "[repeat] all after"
AAA (1)Anti-Aircraft Artillery
AAA (2)Authentication, Authorization and Accounting
AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science
AAB Automatic Answer-Back (RTTY)
AABCP Advanced airborne command post
AAC Advanced Audio Coding
AACC Airborne Air Command Center
AADC Area Air Defense Commander
AAF (1)Auxiliary Airfield
AAF (2)Army Air Forces, obsolete
AAFES Army and Air Force Exchange Service
AAIC Accounting Authority Identification Code
AAL ATM Adaptation Layer
AAL-1 Synchronous adaptation layer designed for carrying voice trunk lines
AAL-2 Adaptation layer intended for variable bit rate video, but never really got off the ground and is not offered by vendors
AAL-3/4 Adaptation layer intended to be used by Frame Relay and SMDS and other delay-insensitive variable rate or bursty data traffic, but mostly now passed over in favour of AAL-5
AAL-5 'Simple and efficient adaptation layer' for computer networking
AALC (1)Amphibious Assault Landing Craft
AALC (2)Amplified automatic level control
AAM Air to Air Missile
AAMDS Automated Air Movement Data System
AAMSS Arinc Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service ( would replace much of MWARA)
AAR (1)Air to Air Refueling
AAR (2)After-Action Review
AAR (3)Automatic Alternate Rerouting
AAR (4)Assn. of American Railroads
AARS Army Amateur Radio System, started 1925, now part of MARS
AASS Advanced Air Surveillance Radar
AATO Automated Air Tasking Order
AAV Assault Amphibious Vehicle
AAVP Advanced Aircrew Vision Protection
AAW Anti-Air Warfare
AB (1)Air Base
AB (2)CW prosign: "[repeat] all before"
ABA Australian Broadcasting Authority
ABAS Aircraft Based Augmentation System (GPS)
ABC (1)Atomic, Biological, Chemical (warfare)
ABC (2)American Broadcasting Company
ABC (3)Australian Broadcasting Corporation
ABCA American, British, Canadian, Australian
ABCC Airborne battlefield command and control center
ABCCC Airborne Command Control Center
ABCS Army Battle Command System
ABD Air Base Defense
ABIS Advanced Battlespace Information System
ABITS Airborne Imagery Transmission System
ABL Airborne Laser
ABM Anti-Ballistic Missile
ABN Airborne
ABNCP Airborne National Command Post
ABO Annular Beam Oscillator
ABOR Abort
ABU Asia Broadcast Union
AC (1)Alternating Current
AC (2)Active Components (US Army)
AC (3)Acquisition Center
AC&I Acquisition, Construction & Improvement
ACA (1)Airspace control authority
ACA (2)Australian Communications Authority
ACAA Automatic chemical agent alarm
ACAP Application Configuration Access Protocol (computing)
ACAPS Area communications electronics capabilities
ACARS Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System
ACAS Airborne Collision Avoidance System
ACAT Acquisition Category
ACC (1)Air Combat Command (US)
ACC (2)Area Communication Center
ACC (3)altocumulus castellanus
ACCHAN Allied Command Channel
ACCINTNET ACC Intelligence Network
ACCMSF Advanced Cooperative Collection Management
ACCS Air Command and Control System
ACE Airborne Command Element
ACERT Army Computer Emergency Response Team
ACF (1)Autocorrelation Factor
ACF (2)Advanced Common Flightdeck
ACFT MSHP aircraft mishap
ACI Air Control Intercept
ACINT Acoustic intelligence
ACIS Air Combat Information System
ACJ Advisory Circular, Joint
ACK Positive Acknowledgment (ASCII 06)
ACLS Automatic Carrier Landing System
ACM (1)Association for Computing Machinery
ACM (2)Advanced Cruise Missile
ACM (3)Air Combat Maneuvering
ACMI Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation
ACOM U.S. Atlantic Command
ACP (01)Allied Communication Publication (127, etc)
ACP (02)Allied Communication Protocol
ACP (03)Adjacent Channel Power
ACP (04)Adjacent Channel Protection
ACP (05)Access Control Point
ACP (06)Access Control Protocol
ACP (07)Access Communications Processor
ACP (08)Achieved Communication Performance (ARINC)
ACP (09)Adaptive Communications Processor
ACP (10)Advanced Communications Package
ACP (11)Alternate Command Post
ACP (12)Airborne Command Post
ACP (13)Area Command Post
ACP (14)Automated Command Post
ACP (14)Applied Communication Program
ACP (15)Automatic Communications Processor
ACP (16)Automatic Colt Pistol
ACP (17)Autoloading Colt Pistol
ACP100 Allied Call Sign and Address Group System - Instructions and Assignments
ACP110 Tactical Call Sign Book
ACP112 Task Organization Call Sign Book
ACP113 Call Sign Book for Ships
ACP117 Allied Routing Indicator Book
ACP119 Allied Tactical Voice Call Sign System - Instructions and Assignments
ACP121 Communications Instructions - General
ACP122 Communication Instructions - Security
ACP123 Common Messaging Strategy and Procedures
ACP124 Communication Instructions - Radiotelegraph Procedure
ACP125 Communication Instructions - Radiotelephone Procedure
ACP126 Communication Instructions - Radioteletype Procedure
ACP127 Communication Instructions - Tape Relay Procedures
ACP127SUP1A Allied RATT Procedures (RTTY)
ACP128 ALTERS Operating Procedures
ACP129 Communications Instructions - Visual Signalling Procedures
ACP130 Direction Finding Procedure
ACP131 Communication Instructions - Operating Signals
ACP134 Telephone Switchboard Operating Procedure
ACP135 Communications Instructions - Distress and Rescue Procedures
ACP136 Communication Instructions - Panel Signaling
ACP147 Call Sign Book for Merchant Ships in Time of War
ACP148 Allied Guide to Master
ACP149 Radio Communication Instructions for Merchant Ships Under Naval Control
ACP150 Recognition and Identification Instructions, Air, Land, and Sea Forces
ACP160 IFF SIF Operational Procedures
ACP165 Operational Brevity Codes
ACP167 Glossary of Communications-Electronics Terms
ACP168 Pyrotechnic Signals
ACP176 Allied Naval and Maritime Air Communication Instructions
ACP177 Land Forces Electronic Warfare Instructions
ACP178 Maritime Electronic Warfare Instructions
ACP179 Electronic Warfare Instructions for Air Forces
ACP190 Guide to Frequency Planning
ACP198 Instructions for the Preparation of Allied Communications Publications
ACR Armored cavalry regiment
ACRM Automated Communication Resource Manager
ACRONYM Actual Computer Related Overused Name You Mention
ACS (1)Assistant chief of staff
ACS (2)Agile Combat Support
ACS (3)Airborne COMINT System
ACS (4)Attitude Control System
ACSB Amplitude Compandored SideBand
ACSL altocumulus standing lenticular cloud
ACT Airborne Communications Terminal
ACTD Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration
ACTEX Active Controls Technology Experiments
ACTIVE Advanced Controls Technology for Integrated Vehicles
ACTS (1)Air Combat Training System
ACTS (2)Automated Computer Time Service
ACU Avionics Control Unit
ACV Air Cushion Vehicle
ACW Air Control Wing (like 552nd AWACS at Tinker)
ADA (1)Americans with Disabilities Act
ADA (2)Old computer language, not an acronym, named for Ada Babbage, the world's first programmer
ADAS AWOS Data Acquisition System (Nice nested acronym)
ADC Analog-to-Digital Convertor
ADCC Air Defense Control Center
addr Address
ADDS Aviation Digital Data Service
ADES Airdrop equipment and systems
ADF (1)Automatic direction finding
ADF (2)Australian Defence Forces
ADIZ Air Defense Identification Zone
ADM Admiral
ADMD Administration Management Domain
ADMIS Aircraft Departing at # Minutes Interval
ADO (1)ActiveX Data Objects
ADO (2)Active Data Objects
ADOC Air defense operation center
ADONIS Article Delivery Over Network Information Systems
ADP Automated data processing
ADPCM Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation
ADPE Automated Data Processing Equipment
ADPS ASARS Data Processing Station
ADPSIS Automated Data Processing Software Inventory System
ADPSO Automated Data Processing Security Officer
ADPSSO Automated Data Processing System Security Officer
ADR CW brevity: address
ADRG ARC Raster Digitized Graphics
ADS (1)Advanced Distributed Simulation
ADS (2)Automatic Dependent Surveillance
ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast
ADS-C Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Contract
ADSI Air Defense System Integrator
ADSL Assymetric Digital Subscriber Line
Ae Auroral Electrojet magnetic activity index
AEEC Airlines Electronics Engineering Committee
AEOS Advanced Electro-Optical System Spectrograph
AEPDS Advance Electronic Processing and Dissemination System
AES (1)Advanced Encryption Standard
AES (2)Application Environment Specification
AES (3)Audio Engineering Society
AEW&C Airborne Early Warning & Control
AF (1) Air Force
AF (2) Audio Frequency (30 Hz - 30 kHz)
AFAMPE Air Force Automated Message Processing Exchange
AFATDS Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System
AFB Air Force Base
AFC Automatic frequency control
AFCA Air Force Communications Agency (US)
AFCS Automatic Flight Control System
AFDC Air Force Doctrine Center
AFEPS ACARS Front-End Processor System (ground computer network)
AFETR Air Force Eastern Test Range
AFEWES Air Force Electronic Warfare Effectiveness Simulator
AFFF Aqueous Film Forming Foam (fire fighting)
AFFSA Air Force Flight Standards Agency
AFGIHS Air Force Geographic Information Handling System
AFGWC Air Force Global Weather Central at Offutt AFB, NE
AFI (1)Africa/Indian Ocean (MWARA)
AFI (2)Air Force Instruction (official directive)
AFI (3)American Film Institute
AFIT Air Force Institute of Technology
AFIWC AF Information Warfare Center
AFK Absolute Frequency Keying (amateur very slow Piccolo)
AFKAI Air Force Cryptographic Aid, Recognition and Identification Systems
AFMC Air Force Materiel Command
AFMSS Air Force Mission Support System
AFN American Forces Network (US broadcast for military)
AFNET Air Force Integrated Telecommunications Network
AFOS Automation of Field Operations and Services
AFOSR Air Force Office of Scientific Research
AFR Armed Forces Radio
AFRES Air Force Reserve (US)
AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory
AFRN Armed Forces Radio Network
AFRTS Armed Forces Radio & Television Services
AFS (1)Air Force Station
AFS (2)Aeronautical Fixed Service
AFSAA AF Studies and Analysis Agency
AFSATCOM Armed Forces Satellite Communication
AFSFC Air Force Space Forecasting Center
AFSFCR AF Space Forecast Center Replacement
AFSK Audio frequency-shift keying
AFSOC Air Force Special Operations Command
AFSOF Air Force Special Operations Forces
AFTCO Air Force Telecommunications Certification Office
AFTN Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network
AFV Alternate Fuel Vehicle
AFW Air Force Weather
AFWSS Air Force Weather Support System
AFWTF Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility
AG (1)Adjutant general
AG (2)Airlift Group
AGC Automatic gain control
AGE Aerospace Ground Equipment (pronounced
when you replace it you order New Age)
AGL (1)Above ground level
AGL (2)Air to Ground Laser
AGM Air to Ground Missile
AGU American Geophysical Union
AGWPE AGW Packet Engine (creator: SV2AGW)
Ah Ampere-hour(s), battery capacity
AH Authentication Header
AHAMSL Antenna height above mean sea level
AHD Acoustic Hailing Device
AHDL Analog Hardware Descriptive Language
AHF Adaptive High Frequency
AHMSL Antenna height above mean sea level
AHP Army Heliport
AI (1)Artificial intelligence
AI (2)Air Interdiction
AI (3)Airborne Interceptor
AI (4)Avionics Infrastructure
AIA Air Intelligence Agency
AIC Air Intercept Control
AICPITS All India Coordinated Program of Ionosphere & Thermosphere Studies
AIDA Atmospheric Investigations of Dynamics over Arecibo
AIDC (1)Air Traffic Services Interfacility Data Communication
AIDC (2)Automatic Identification and Data Capture
AIFSS Automated International Flight Service Station
AIG (1)Address Indicator Group
AIG (2)Air Intelligence Group
AIM (1)Air launched Interceptor Missile
AIM (2)AOL Instant Messenger (popular internet talk program)
AIN Advanced Intelligent Network (US NCS)
AIR (1)All-India Radio
AIR (2)Aviation Incident Response (Red Cross)
AIREP Air R weather observation, like a PIREP
AIRES Advanced Imagery Requirements and Exploitation System
AIRK Area interswitch rekey
AIRFL Aerial Refueling
AIRMET Air Meteorological Information
AIRST Advanced Infrared Search and Track
AIS (1)Automatic Identification System (USCG)
AIS (2)(Universal) Automated Identification System
AIS (3)Alarm Indication Signal
AJ Anti-Jam
AJCOM Anti-Jam Communications
AkDT Alaskan Daylight Time, US
AkST Alaskan Standard Time, US
AL Approach and landing
ALARM Air-Launched Anti-Radiation Missile
ALC (1)Automatic level control
ALC (2)Air logistics center
ALC Air Logistics Center
ALCC (1)Airborne Launch Control Center
ALCC (2)Airlift Coordination Cell
ALCE Airlift Control Element
ALCF Airlift Control Flight
ALCM Air Launched Cruise Missile
ALCS (1)Airlift Control Squadron
ALCS (2)Airborne Launch Control System
ALE Automated Link Establishment
ALERT Attack & Launch Early Reporting to Theater
ALF Absorption Limiting Frequency, realtime version of LUF
AlGaN Aluminum-Gallium Nitride
ALOC Air lines of communication
Aloha Wide-area net protocol, developed at U of Hawaii
ALP airport location point
lpha + # Aircraft maintenance status (1 is best)
Alpha Hotel A-- H--- (also Adam Henry)
ALQA Active Link Quality Analysis
ALS (1)Advanced Life Support
ALS (2)Airlift squadron
ALTERS Allied Telecommunications Record System
ALTRV Altitude Reservation
ALU Arithmetic Logic Unit (computer h/w)
ALW Airlift Wing
AM (1)Amplitude Modulation
AM (2)Aeronautical Mobile
AM (3)Ante Meridian, hours between midnight and 11:59 local
AMARC Association Mondiale des Radiodiffusuers Communautaires
AMASS Airport Movement Area Safety System
AMBALG Algerian Embassy
AMBE Advanced Multi-Band Excitation
AMC (1)Air Mobility Command (old Air Force MAC, MATS)
AMC (2)Army Materiel Command (US)
AMCC Air Mobility Control Center
AMCLD Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display
AMCO Aircraft maintenance company
AMCS Air Mobility Control Squadron
AMD (1)American Micro-Devices (with Cyrix, Intel's competition)
AMD (2)Automatic Message Display
AMDRFM Advanced Monolithic Digital Radio Frequency Memory
AME (1)Automatic Message Exchange
AME (2)Air Mobility Element
AME (3)Amplitude modulation equivalent
AMEDD Army Medical Department
AMHS (1)ATS Message Handling System
AMHS (2)Aeronautical Message Handling System
AMI Alternate Mark Inversion
AMMCS Airborne Multimedia Multiservices Communication System
AMO Air & Maritime Operations
AMOC Air & Maritime Operations Center (CBP)
AMOG Air Mobility Operations Group
AMOS Air Force Maui Optical Site
AMP Antenna Maintenance Program
AMPS (1)Advanced Mobile Phone Service (analog, obsolete)
AMPS (2)Automated Mission Planning System
AMRAAM Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile
AMRAD Amateur Radio Research And Development Corporation
AMRS Austrian Military Radio Society
AMS Analog Mixed Signal
AMSA Australian Maritime Safety Agency
AMSAT Radio Amateur Satellite, Inc.
AMSI Arctic Maritime Safety Information
AMSS Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service
AMTOR Amateur Teleprinting Over Radio (Ham SITOR)
AMVER Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System
AMW Air Mobility Wing
AMX Air Mobility Express
AN Army/Navy (prefix on US military type designators)
AN/FRT Army/Navy Fixed Radio Transmitting
AN/GRC Army/Navy General Radio Communication
AN/MRC Army/Navy Mobile Radio Communication
ANARC Assn. of North American Radio Clubs
ANDVT Advanced Narrowband Digital Voice Terminal
ANG Air National Guard
ANGB Air National Guard Base
ANI Automatic Number Identification
ANL Automatic noise limiter
ANMCC Alternate National Military Communications Center (?)-WAR 46
Annmt Announcement
Annr Announcer
ANS (1)Air Navigation Services
ANS (2)Advanced Network Services, operates an Internet backbone
ANSI American National Standards Institution
ANSP Air Navigation Service Provider
ANT (1)Antenna [~]
ANT (2)Advantaged Node technology
ANZUK Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom (alliance)
ANZUS Australia, New Zealand, United States (alliance)
AO Area of operations
AO1 automated station without precipitation discriminator
AO2 automated station with precipitation discriminator
AOA (1)Angle Of Arrival
AOA (A)ACARS Over AVLC (ARINC, neat nested acronym)
AOC (1)Air Operations Center
AOC (2)Army Operations Center (Pentagon)
AOC (3)Air Operational Control
AOC (4)Aeronautical Operational Control Communications
AOE Airport of Entry
AOI Area Of Interest
AOO Area of operations
AOR (1)Area of responsibility
AOR (2)Atlantic Ocean Region (USCG GMDSS)
AOV ACARS Over VDL (ARINC, neat nested acronym)
AOS (1)Acquisition Of Signal
AOS (2)Area Of Service
Ap Planetary A index of geomagnetic activity
AP (1)Access Point
AP (2)Associated Press
APC Armored personnel carrier
APCO Association of Public Safety Communications Officials
APCO 25 Project 25 (P25), Standard for digital public safety radio
API Application Programming Interface (computers)
APIC APCO Project 25 Interface Committee
APIPA Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing
APL A Programming Language (computer code)
APLink Amtor-Packet Link
APNIC Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
APO (1)Air Post Office
APO (2)Army Post Office
APOD Aerial port of debarkation
APOE Aerial port of embarkation
APPCON Approach Control [~]
APREQ Approval Request [~]
APRNT apparent
APRS (1)Automatic Position Reporting System, ham tracking w/GPS
APRS (2)Automatic Packet Reporting System
APRX approximately
APSC APCO Project 25 Steering Committee
APT Automatic Picture Transmissions
APU Auxiliary Power Unit
APV Approach with Vertical Guidance
APVL Approval [~]
AQC Automatic Quick Call
AR (1)Aerial refueling
AR (2)Ground track for above
AR (3)CW prosign: "End of message"
AR (4)Army Regulation
AR (5)Activity Request
ARA Appletalk Remote Access, Mac networking
ARB Air Reserve Base
ARC (1)American Red Cross
ARC (2)Airborne Radio Communications (AN/ARC-xxx)
ARC (3)Air Reserve Component
ARC-190 Common Collins mil HF aircraft radio, civil version is HF-190
ARC-220 Fancy Collins HF radios for new US mil aircraft
ARC-230 Collins 400-watt HF Link-11/Tadil-A aircraft radio, civil voice version is HF-121
ARCAL Aircraft Radio Control of Aerodrome Lighting
Archie Internet database search program, finds files
ARCP Air Refueling Control Point
ARCS Automatic Radio Control System (NATO)
ARD Automatic Ring Down
ARDF (1)Automatic Radio Direction Finding
ARDF (2)Amateur Radio Direction Finding
AREC (1)Air resource element coordinator
AREC (2)Amateur Radio Emergency Corps, now ARES
ARES Amateur Radio Emergency Service
ARF Air Reserve forces
ARFA Allied Radio Frequency Agency
ARFOR Army forces
ARG (1)Amphibious Ready Group
ARG (2)Air Refueling Group
ARGOS Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite
ARIA Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft
ARIB Association of Radio Industry Businesses (Japan)
ARIDPCM Adaptive Recursive Interpolated Differential Pulse Code Modulation (whew!)
ARIN American Registry for Internet Numbers
ARINC Aeronautical Radio, Inc (US radio consortium)
ARIP Air Refueling Initial Point
ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
ARM Anti-Radiation Missile
ARMER Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response
ARMRV (1)Armored Mobile Reconnaissance Vehicle
ARMRV (2)Armored Multi-Role Vehicle
ARNG Army National Guard
ARO Army Research Office
ARP Address Resolution Protocol, Internet
ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency, operated original Internet
ARPANET ARPA Network, became NSFNET, now separate from Internet
ARQ Synchronous transmission and automatic repetition teleprinter system ("Acknowledge Request")
ARQ6-90 Six-character blocks simplex ARQ teleprinter system
ARQ-E3 Single channel ARQ teleprinter system
ARRL American Radio Relay League
ARRS Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service
ARS Amateur Radio Service
ARSA (1)Airborne Reconnaissance and Surveillance Architecture
ARSA (2)Airport Radar Service Area
ARSOF Army special operations forces
ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center
ARTE (1)French media company
ARTE (2)ADA Run Time Environment
ARTG Amateur Radio Teleprinter Group (Swiss)
ARTS Automated Remote Tracking Station
ARW Air Refueling Wing (USAF/AFRES)
ARWO Aerial Reconnaissance Weather
AS (1) Air station
AS (2) CW prosign: "Please Wait"
AS (3) Analog secure (like original PARKHILL)
AS (4)Submarine Tender (USN)
ASA American Standards Association, obsolete
ASAM Anti-Shipping Activity Message (warning)
ASAP As Soon As [humanly] P how one handles FLASH traffic
ASAR Advanced Synthetic Aperture System
ASARS Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System
ASAS All Source Analysis System (US Army)
ASAS-RWS ASAS Reconfigurable Work Station
ASAT Antisatellite
ASB Aviation support battalion
ASC (1)AUTODIN Switching Center
ASC (2)Accredited Standards Committee (ANSI)
ASC (3)American Society of Cameramen (motion picture)
ASC2A Air & Space Command & Control Agency
ASCC Army service component command
ASCIET All Services Combined Identification Evaluation Team
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange, 7-bit computer alphabet, usually extended to use 8th bit
ASCOT Air Support Command Operations Task (RAF Air Transport)
ASD Assistant Secretary of Defense
ASDE-3 Airport Surface Detection Radar System
ASDS Advanced SEAL Delivery System ( see SEAL)
ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations (old SEATO)
ASECNA Agence pour la Securite de la Navigation Aerienne en Afrique et a Madagascar
ASF Advanced Systems Format (Microsoft media player)
ASG (1)Aeronautical Standards Groups
ASG (2)Area support group
ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASID Advanced Secure Information Dissemination
ASIM Automated Security Incident Measurement
ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
ASIT Adaptable Surface Interface Terminal
ASK Amplitude Shift Keying
ASL (1)Above Sea Level
ASL (2)Active Stations List (Enigma 2000)
ASLAR Aircraft Surge Launch and Recovery
ASM (1)Air to Surface Missile
ASM (2)Analog Switching Module
ASM (3)Assembler (computer code)
ASMB Area support medical battalion
ASMC Area support medical company
ASME American Society for Mechanical Engineers
ASMRO Armed Services Medical Regulating Office
ASO Air surveillance officer
ASOC Air Support Operations Center
ASOS Automated Surface Observation System
ASOTSE Army special operations theater support element
ASP (1)Ammunition supply point
ASP (2)Acquisition Support Plan
ASP (3)Active Server Pages
ASP (4)Application Service Provider
ASP (5)Aeronautical Surveillance Panel
ASPECT Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology
ASR (1)Automatic Send-Receive
ASR (2)Airport Suveillance Radar
Assn Association
Assoc Association
AST Atlantic Standard Time, Canada
ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
ASU Aircraft Starting Unit
ASW Anti-submarine warfare
AT (1)Advanced Technology (IBM's original name for its improved PC, now a standard architecture)
AT (2)Amateur (radio allocation code)
ATA (1)Army Technical Architecture
ATA (2)AT Attachment
ATA (3)American Trans Air
ATAPI AT Attachment Packet Interface
ATC Air Traffic Control
ATCALS (1)Air Traffic Control and Landing System
ATCALS (2)Air Traffic Control Liaison Section
ATCCS Army Tactical Command & Control System
ARCRBS Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System
ATCS Advanced Train Control System
ATCT airport traffic control tower
ATD Advanced Technology Demonstration
ATDL 1 Army Tactical Data Link 1
ATF Advanced Tactical Fighter
ATF Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms
ATH Air Transportable Hospital
ATG Afloat Training Group (USN)
ATHS Automatic Target Hand-off System
ATIS Automated Terminal Information System (usually voice loop)
ATM (1)Asynchronous Transfer Mode, 53-byte packets
ATM (2)Air Traffic Management
ATM (3)Automated Teller Machine
ATM (4)Advanced trauma management
ATMs Air Tasking Messages
ATN (1)Aeronautical Telecommunication Network
ATN (2)Adventist Television Network
ATO (1)Air Tasking Order
ato (2)Abort To Orbit
ATOI Aerial Track Of Interest
A-TOR Automated Telex Over Radio
ATP (1)Ammunition transfer point
ATP (2)Appletalk Transaction Protocol, Mac networking
ATP (3)Acquisition, Tracking & Pointing
ATP (4)Authority to Proceed
ATP (5)Air Traffic Procedures
ATR Air Transport Rack (standard airplane radio bay)
ATR/ATC Automatic Target Recognition/ Automatic Target Correlation
ATS (1)Aeronautical Telecommunications Services
ATS (2)Air Traffic Services
ATS (3)Applications Technology Satellite
ATSA Aviation and Transportation Security Act
ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee (US Digital TV)
ATSC-H Handheld ATSC (for cell phones, also ATSC-M)
ATSU Air Traffic Service Unit
ATU (1)Antenna Tuning Unit
ATU (2)Arab Telecommunications Union
ATU (3)African Telecommunications Union
ATU-80 SITOR alphabet allowing transmissions in Arabic
ATU-A Arabic ATU-80 alphabet
ATV (1)Amateur (fast-scan) television
ATV (2)All-Terrain Vehicle
AUI Attachment Unit Interface, Ethernet
AUSREP Australian Ship Reporting System
AUTO Weather observation is from automated station [~]
AUTOCONET Automatic Digital Network Conference Network
AUTODIN Automatic Digital Network (US military)
AUTOVON Automatic voice network (now DSN as of 1990)
AUV Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
AUW All Up Weight (gross)
AV Air Vehicle
AVANA Altitude reservation Void, Not Airborne [time]
AVC Automatic volume control
AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
AVI Audio Video Interleave (Microsoft file format)
AVIM Aviation intermediate maintenance
AVL Automatic Vehicle Locating
AVLC (1)Aviation VHF Link Control
AVLC (2)Automatic Vehicle Location and Control
AVN AViatioN weather model
AVO Air Vehicle Operator
AVTR Airborne Video Tape Recorder
AVUM Aviation unit maintenance
AWACS Airborne Warning And Control System
AWADS Adverse Weather Aerial Delivery System
AWAPS Automated Weather Distribution System
AWDS Adverse Weather and Debriefing System
AWG American Wire Gauge
AWGN Arbitrary White Gaussian Noise
AWIPS Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System
awk Aho, Weinstein & Kernighan, wrote a Unix script language
AWN Aviation Weather Network, now on US Air Force Digital Weather Switch
AWO American Waterway Operators
AWOL Absent without leave
AWOS Automated Weather Observing System
AWR Adventist World Radio
AWS (1)Air Weather Service
AWS (2)Advisory Warning System
AWS (3)Automated Weather Systems
AWS (4)Automated Weather Station
AWST Automated Weather Station
AX.25 Amateur variant of CCITT X.25 packet radio protocol
B (1)began
B (2)old "B" battery for tube plates, typically 90 volts
B&G Bombing & Gunnery
B/m Benchmark
B/U Backup
B+ Tube plate voltage (highest in set)
B8E Mode: Independent sideband, different voice programs
B9W Mode: Independent sideband, mixed voice & data modes
BA Braking action
BAA (1)Broad Agency Announcement
BAA (2)Broad Area Announcement
BAC Broad Area Coverage
BAe British Aerospace
Bae British Aerospace
BAI Backup Aircraft Inventory
BAI Battle Area Interdiction
Balun Balanced-to-unbalanced line transformer [~]
BAM Beta and Advection Model (wx)
BAN Base Area Networks
BANANA Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone (municipal response to most radio proposals)
BAQ Basic allowance for quarters
Baro-VNAV Barometric Vertical Navigation
BAS Basic allowance for subsistence
BASIC Beginners' All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, computer language
BAT (1)Blood Alcohol Testing (the "Batmobile," in the field)
BAT (2)File extension: execute as command list (Batch job)
BAT (3)Brilliant Anti-armor Submunition
Baud Computer transmission unit, one state transition per second, no longer one bit per second in complex modulation schemes
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
BBCS Broadband Connectivity Service (Swisscom)
BBIS Battle Broadcast Information System
BBN Backbone network
BBS (1)Bulletin Board System (computer networking)
BBS (2)Battery backup system
BC (1)Broadcast
BC (2)Back course
BC (3)Patches (of sig. Weather)
BC2A Bosnia Command & Control Augmentation
BC3 Battle management and command, control and communications
BCA Broadcast Control Authority
BCB Broadcast Band (typically 540-1710 kHz)
BCC (1)Base Communication Center
BCC (2)Bureau Communication Center (LAPD)
BCC (3)Battlefield circulation control
BCC (4)Blind Carbon Copy (e-mail)
BCD (1)Binary-coded decimal
BCD (2)Bad conduct discharge
BCE Base civil engineer
BCF Backup communications facility, Dahlgren, VA
BCFG Fog patches
BCI (1)Broadcast interference (from xmtr to bc)
BCI (2)Binary-coded information
BCL (1)Broadcast listener
BCL (2)Broadcast Communications Limited (New Zealand)
BCM Baseline correlation matrix
BCO (1)Base communications officer
BCO (2)Base contracting officer
BCO (3)Broad concept of operations
BCP (1)Base communications package
BCP (2)Base comprehensive plan
BCS Broadcast Keying Station
BCT Battlefield Communications Terminal
BDA (1)Battle damage assessment
BDA (2)Bermuda (NASA)
BDAR Battle damage assessment and repair
bde Brigade
BDU (1)HFDL: Basic Data Unit
BDU (2)Battle dress uniform
BEAR Beam Experiment Aboard Rocket
BEC Bulk encrypted communications
BEE Russian FSK mode, apparently not an acronym
BEEF Base Engineering Emergency Force ("Prime BEEF team")
BEL Bell (ASCII, RTTY)
Bel Unit of voltage or power ratio, named for Alexander Graham Bell, usually expressed in deciBels
BEP (1)Bit error probability
BEP (2)break-even point
BER Bit Error Rate
BERT (1)Bit error rate test(er)
BERT (2)Bit Error Rate Testing
BF Basic Function
BFACS Battlefield Functional Area Control Systems
BFBS British Forces Broadcasting Service
BFO (1)Beat frequency oscillator (CW/SSB mode of receiver)
BFO (2)Backhaul follow-on
BFSK Binary Frequency-Shift Keying
BG Brigadier general
BGEN Brigadier general
BGP Border Gateway Protocol (TCP/IP)
BICE Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
BID Billing Identifier
BIDDS Base integrated digital distribution system
BIDS Backup information display system
BIFC (1)Boise Interagency Fire Cache, obsolete
BIFC (2)Boise Interagency Fire Center, now NIFC
BiFET Bipolar Field Effect Transistor
BIH Bureau International l'Heur, International Time Bureau, coordinates UTC leap seconds
BIIS Binary Interchange of Information and Signaling
BILS Ballistic Impact Locator System
Bin Binary
BIND (1)Berkeley Internet Name Domain
BIND (2)Berkeley Internet Name Daemon (old)
BIND (3)Buggy Internet Name Daemon (geekspeak)
Binhex Binary to hexadecimal, usually for sending binaries as ASCII
BIOS Basic Input/Output System (part of computer op-system)
BIOT British Indian Ocean Territory
BIP Base Information Protect
BIPS (1)Billion Instructions per Second (computing)
BIPS (2)Backup Impact Prediction System
BIPS Billion Instructions Per Second
B-ISDN Broadband-Integrated Services Digital Network
BIST Built-In-Self-Test
Bit (1)BInary digiT, a one or zero, basic digital information unit
BIT (2)Built-In Test
BIT Built in Test
Bit/s Bit per second
BITE Built-In Test Equipment
BITNET Because It's Time NETwork, from IBM, now global
BIU Bus interface unit (computer h/w)
BK CW prosign: long break or break-in
BKN Broken cloud cover
BL (1)Baseline
BL (2)blowing
BLAISE (1)British Library Automated Information Service
BLAISE (2)Blaise Pascal, French Mathematician
BLDU Blowing dust
BLER Block Error Rate
BLERT Block Error Rate Testing
BLEVE Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion
BLM Bureau of Land Management (US)
BLOS Beyond line of sight
BLPY Spray
BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics (US)
BLSA Blowing sand
BLSN Blowing snow
BM Battle Management
BMC2 Battle Management, Command and Control
BMC3 Battle Management, Command, Control and Communication
BMC3I Battle Management C3I
BMC4ISR Battle Management C4I Surveillance and Reconnaissance
BMD Ballistic Missile Defense
BMDATC Ballistic missile defense advanced technology center
BMDC Ballistic Missile Defense Center
BMDCCC Ballistic missile defense command and control center
BMDE Ballistic missile defense enhancement
BMDO Ballistic missile defense organization, formerly SDIO
BMDOC Ballistic missile defense operating center
BMDSCOM Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Command, now U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command
BMEWS Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
BMO Ballistic Missile Office (US)
BMOPS Battle Management Operations
BMP (1)File extension: bitmap image
BMP (2)Battle manager processor
BMS Backward Music Station (weird RF feedback on HF)
BMT (1)Ballistic Missile Threat
BMT (2)Beam Management Terminal
BMT (3)Bronx Motor Transit
BMT (4)Ballistic Missile Technology
BMT/SS Ballistic Missile transporter, storage and shipping
bn Battalion
BN CW prosign: repeat between -- and --
BNC (1)Bayonet Neill-Concelman (cable connector)
BNC (2)Bayonet Navy Connector (alternate)
BNC (3)Blimped Noiseless Camera (Classic Mitchell)
BNCC Base Network Control Center
BNCR Blimped Noiseless Camera, Reflex
BnOC Battalion Operations Center
BNSC British National Space Center
BO Bad Order (inoperative unit writeup)
BoD Board of Directors
BOM Bureau Of Meteorology (Australia)
BOND Beginning Of Next Day
BOOTP Bootstrap Protocol (IP addressing)
BOPS Billion operations per second (computing)
BOQ Bachelor Officer Quarters
BORAM Block-Oriented RAM
BOSS Battlefield Optical Surveillance System
BOT Beginning of Tape
bot Robot, typically a network program that does an admin duty
BP Bandpass
BPI Boost-Phase Intercept
BPL Broadband over Power Line
bpp bits per pixel
bps Bit per second, not necessarily a "baud"
Bps Bytes per second
BPSK Biphase Shift Keying
BQ (1)Beam Quality
BQ (2)Acknowledging receipt (DSC protocol)
BR Bridgewire resistance
BRAC Base Realignment And Closure
BRACC Base Realignment And Closure Commission (US military)
BRB Be Right Back (Internet)
BRD Broadcast
brdg bridge
BRI Basic Rate Interface
BRI Basic Rate ISDN, 2 64Kbps channels
BRV (1)Booster Recovery Vessel (NASA)
BRV (2)Ballistic reentry vehicle (Stratcom)
BS (1)Battle staff
BS (2)Battle station
BS (3)Backspace
BS (4)aka "Bravo S" the excrement of bulls
BSA (1)Brigade support area
BSA (2)Birmingham Small Arms
BSC Base security council
BSD Berkeley Software Distribution (Unix type)
BSE Broadcast Satellite Experiment
BSKSA Broadcasting Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
BSS (1)Broadcast Satellite System
BSS (2)Broadcasting Satellite Service
BSSC Battle staff support center
BSTRS Base Support Trunked Radio System, aka "B-STARS"
BSU (1)Baseband separation unit
BSU (2)Bulk Storage Unit
BSVS Backup Secure Voice System
BT (1)("Bravo Tango") Bomb threat
BT (2)CW prosign: short break
BT (3)British Telecom
BTC Block transfer controller (computing)
BTH Below (beyond) the horizon
BTI British Telecom International
BTL Black telemetry (USAF)
Btry Battery
BTS Broadcast Transmitting Stations
BTW By the way
Buff Big Ugly Flying F[ellow] (B-52)
BUFR Binary Universal Format for Representation
BULLDOG BULLSEYE US Navy HF upgrade, like USAF's SCOPE, but includes DF [~]
BUMCS Backup Master Control Station (GPS, Gaithersburg, MD)
BUR Bottom Up Review
BURN 1000W UHF aircraft orderwire (US not an acronym, refers to high power)
BVR Beyond Visual Range
BVR Beyond visual range
BW (1)Bandwidth
BW (2)Biological Weapon
BWC Bandwidth Compression
BWS Base weather station
BX Base exchange
BZ ("Bravo Zulu") Good job
C (1)Capacitance, in farads
C (2)Confidential
C (3)the C
also C+ and C++
C (4)Celsius
C (5)Designator for head of British MI6
C (6)Center (with reference to runway designation)
c The speed of light, and radio waves, in a vacuum
C&DH Communications & Data Handling
C&DP Communications & Data Processing
c/s Callsign
c/w Callword
C2 Command and Control
C2CM Command and Control Countermeasures
C2IPS Air Mobility Command and Control Information Processing System
C2P Command and Control Processor
C2PC Command & Control Personal Computer
C2V Command and Control Vehicle
C2W Command and Control Warfare
C2WC Command and Control Warfare Commander (US Navy)
C3 Command, Control and Communications
C3F Mode designation: television or video
C3I Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence
C3S Command, control and communications segment
C3SMP Command, control and communications system master plan
C4FM Continuous four-level Frequency Modulation
C4I Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence
C4ID Command, Control, Communications, Computers and intelligence Dissemination
C4IFTW C4I for the Warrior
C4ISR Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconaissance
C4S Command, Control, Communications, Computer Systems
C4SMP Command, control, communications and computers system master plan
CA (1)civil affairs
CA (2)COMSEC Account
CA (3)cloud-air lightning
CA (4)Counter Air
CA (5)Cyanoacrylate (Super Glue)
CAATS Canadian Automated Air Traffic System
CAB Combat Area Broadcast
CACS Command And Control Squadron
CAD (1)Computer-aided design
CAD (2)Coherent amplitude detector
CAD (3)Computer-aided dispatch
CAD/CAM Computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing
CADRG Compressed Arc Digitized Raster Graphics
CAE (1)Common Application Environment
CAE (2)Computer Aided Engineering
CAEWIS Computer Aided Electronic Warfare Information System
CAF Combat Air Forces
CAFWSP CAF Weather Support Package
CAI (1)Common Air Interface
CAI (2)Computer-aided instruction
CAI (3)Cooperative Airborne Identification
CAINS Carrier Aircraft Inertial Navigation System
CAL Calibrate, calibration
CALLS Contact And Long-range Liaison System (USCG)
CALM Codan Automated Link Management
CALS (1)Computer-aided Acquisition & Logistics System
CALS (2)Contingency Airfield Lighting System
CAM Computer-aided manufacturing
camo Camouflage
CAMO Computer-aided manual operation
CAMS Communications Area Master Station (USCG, obsolete)
CAMSLANT Communications Area Master Station, A obsolete
CAMSPAC Communications Area Master Station, P obsolete
CAN (1)Cancel (ASCII)
CAN (2)Controller Area Network (industrial automation)
CANFORCE Canadian Forces
CANR Canadian NORAD Region
CANSO Civil Air Navigation Services Organization
CANUS Canada/US
CAOC (1)Combined Air Operations Center
CAOC (2)Combined Allied Operations Center, Vicenza, IT (Allied Force)
CAP (1) Civil Air Patrol
CAP (2) Carrierless Amplitude Phase
CAPCOM Capsule Communicator (NASA)
CAPE Convective Available Potential Energy (WX)
CAPEG Cape Canaveral Ground Antenna (GPS)
CAPPS Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System
CAPS Center for the Analysis and Prediction of Storms (NWS)
CAPT Captain
CAR Caribbean (MWARA)
CARB (1)Channel Availability Radio Bulletin (NATO)
CARB (2)Channel Availability and Receipt Broadcast (NATO)
CARCAH Chief, Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination, All Hurricanes (NHC)
CARF Central Altitude Reservation Facility (FAA)
CARIBROC Caribbean Regional Operations Center
CARR Corrective Action Request & Report
CAS (1)Close Air Support
CAS (2)Collision Avoidance System
CAS (3)Calibrated Air Speed
CASE (1)Common automated system execution
CASE (2)Computer-aided software engineering
CASE (3)Computer-aided system engineering
CASREP Casualty Report
CAT (1)Clear Air Turbulence
CAT (2)Computer Aided Transceiver, proprietary control interface
CAT (3)Communications Assist Team (USCG)
CATIS Computer Aided Tactical Information System
CATT Computer Assisted Technology Transfer
CATV Community Antenna Television ("cable")
CAU Crypto Ancillary Unit
CAV (1)Collision Avoidance
CAV (2)Conditionally Available (LA City FD)
CAV (3)Ceiling and visibility
CAVOK Ceiling & Visibility OK (non-US METAR)
CAVU Ceiling & visibility unlimited
CB (1)Citizen Band Radio (legal or otherwise, around 27 MHz)
CB (2)Cumulonimbus (thundercloud)
CBAA Community Broadcasting Association of Australia
C-band 4-8 GHz microwave band
CBC Canadian Broadcasting Company
CBFS Cesium Beam Frequency Standard
CBM Central battle management
CBMAM Cumulonimbus mammatus cloud
CBP Customs and Border Protection
CBR (1)Chemical, Biological, Radiological (warfare)
CBR (2)Constant bit rate
CBRN Caribbean Basin Radar Network
CBS Columbia Broadcasting System (U.S.)
CBT (1)Computer-based training
CBT (2)Combat
CBTS Computer-based training system
CBU Cluster Bomb Unit
CBW (1)Chemical & Biological (warfare)
CBW (2)Constant bandwidth
CC (1)Transmission is in Standard Chinese ("Mandarin")
CC (2)Command & Control
CC (3)Command Center
CC (4)Control Center
CC (5)Commander
CC (6)Computer controller
CC (7)Copies
CC (8)C Compiler (unix)
CC (9)cloud-cloud lightning
CC&D Camouflage, concealment and deception
CC&R Covenants, Conditions & R what you check before buying a home if you intend to build an antenna there
CCAS Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL, formerly CCAFS
CCB (1)Configuration Control Board
CCB (2)Computer Controlled Brake (railroad)
CCC (1)Central computer complex
CCC (2)Communications control complex
CCC (3)Consolidated Command Center (NORAD)
CCD Charge Coupled Device
CCDM Consultative Committee for the Definition of the Meter
CCDS Consultative Committee for the Definition of the Second
CCDS Command Center Display System
CCE (1)Command & control element
CCE (2)Consultative Committee on Electricity
CCEMRI Consultative Committee for Ionizing Radiations
CCG Calibration Coordination Group
CCIP Continuously-Computed Impact Point
CCIR International Radio Consultative Committee, now ITU-R
CCIR 476-4 International SITOR character set
CCIR 493-44 FSK 100/170 Selcall, AKA Codan 8580
CCIRID Charge-coupled infrared imaging device
CCITT Comite Consultatif International de Telegraphique et Telephonique (International Telegraph & Telephone Consultative Committee), obsolescent
CCL Common Command Language
CCM (1)Combined Cipher Machine (WWII Allies)
CCM (2)Counter-Countermeasures
CCMC Canadian Centre for Maritime Communications
CCP Console Command Processor, part of CP/M
CCPC Civil Communications Planning Committee (NATO)
CCPDS-R Command Center Processing and Display System - Replacement
CCR Central Control Room
CCRP Continuously-Computed Release Point
CCS (1)Continuous Commercial Service (power rating)
CCS (2)Charge Control System
CCSL cirrocumulus standing lenticular cloud
CCT Computer Compatible Tape
ccTLD Country Code Top Level Domain
CCTV Closed Circuit Television
C-cubed Command Control and Communications
CCV Code change verifier
CCW (1)Counter-clockwise
CCW (2)Command & Control Warfare
CCW (3)Continuous Carrier Wave
CCW (4)Coherent CW
CCW (5)Class C CW biasing (most efficient)
CD (1)Compact Disc
CD (2)Civil Defense (now FEMA in US)
CD (3)Carrier detect (modem line)
CD (4)Collision Detection (networking)
CDA (1)Central distribution amplifier
CDA (2)Command & data acquisition
CDB Command data buffer
CDC (1)Canadian Department of Communications
CDC (2)Centers for Disease Control (US)
CDC (3)Control Data Corporation
CD-DA Compact Disc Digital Audio (format, part of the "Red Book")
CDE Common Desktop Environment
CDF (1)Common Data Format
CDF (2)California Division of Forestry (fire fighters)
CDHF Central Data Handling Facility
CD-I Compact Disc - Interactive (one format in the "Green Book")
CDIS Canadian Defence Intelligence Staff
CDL Common Data Link
CDM Chemical Downwind Message (US Army)
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CDMA One (IS-95) Qualcomm 2nd generation CDMA
CDMA2000 3G CDMA technology
CDNU Control Display Navigation Unit
CDPD Cellular Digital Packet Data
CDR (1)Commander
CDR (2)Command destruct receiver (Stratcom)
CD-R Compact Disc - Recordable
CDRAM Cache Dynamic Random Access Memory
CD-ROM Compact Disc Read Only Memory
CD-ROM XA CD-ROM eXtended Architecture, extends the "Yellow Book"
CD-RTOS Compact Disc - Real Time Operating System (CD-I)
CDS (1)Canadian Defence Staff
CDS (2)Combat Direction System
CDT Central (US) Daylight Time
CDTI Cockpit Display of Traffic Information
CDU Control display unit (fancy "control head")
CE (1)Conformite Europeanne (European Conformity); mark put on products for EEC
CE (2)Committee that sets these requirements
CEC (1)Commission of the European Communities (drafts "CE" standards)
CEC (2)Cooperative Engagement Capability
CECOM US Army Communications Electronics Command
CENTCOM U.S. Central Command
CEOI Communications-Electronics Operation Instructions
CEP (1)Central East Pacific (MWARA)
CEP (2)Circular Error Probability
CEP (3)Circular Error Probable
CEPPO Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office
CEPT Conference of Postal & Telecommunications Administrations (EU)
CEPTAG Civil Emergency Planning Telecommunications Advisory Group (Joint US/Canadian)
CERDEC Communications Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center
CERN Centre Europ'eene por la Recherche Nucleaire, Center for European Nuclear Research, huge particle accelerator center
CERT (1)Community Emergency Response Teams (FEMA)
CERT (2)Computer Emergency Response Team (Internet security)
CERT (3)Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US Government)
CF (1)Canadian forces
CF (2)Center frequency
CFAP Commandement Force Aerienne de Projection (French AF)
CFARS Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System
CFB Canadian Forces Base
CFBL Call Forwarding Busing Line (telco)
CFBS Canadian Forces Broadcasting Service
CFDA Call Forwarding Don't Answer (telco)
CFEP Communications front end processor
CFL Confidential Frequency List (good shortwave publication)
CFM Cubic feet per minute
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
CFR 33 USCG Navigation Regulations
CFR 46 USCG Vessel Regulations
CFR 47 FCC Regulations
CFS (1)Center for Standards
CFS (2)Canadian Forces Station
CFT Center Frequency Tone
CG (1)Coast Guard
CG (2)Commanding General
CG cloud-ground lightning
CGAS Coast Guard Air Station
CG-C2 Coast Guard Command & Control
CGCWOA (US) Coast Guard CW Operators Assn. (see CW)
CGDN Coast Guard Data Net
CGM (1)Computer Graphics Metafile
CGM (2)Corrected Geomagnetic coordinates
CGMS Coordinating Group for Meteorological Satellites
CGSIC Civil GPS Service Interface Committee
CGU Canadian Geophysical Union
CGVTS Coast Guard Vessel Traffic System
Ch Channel
Ch mkr Channel marker
CHAP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (PPP)
CHATH Chemically/Biologically Hardened Air Transportable Hospital
CHBDL Common High Bandwidth Data Link
CHBDL-ST Common High Bandwidth Data Link-Surface Terminal
C-HFET Complementary Heterostructure Field Effect Transistor
CHI cloud-height indicator
CHINO sky condition at secondary location not available
CHOP (1)Change in Operational Control
CHOP (2)Chief Operator (Navy MARS)
CHOP (3)Counter Measures Hands-on Program
CHS Combat health support
CHS Cylinder, Head, Sector (direct disk addressing)
CIA Central Intelligence Agency (US)
CIBAR Conference of International Broadcasters' Audience Research Services
CIC (1) Combat Information Center (Navy)
CIC (2) Combined Intelligence Center (US Air Force)
CIC (3)Combined Intelligence Center
CICA Competition in Contracting Act
CICBMs Conventionally-armed ICBMs
CICS Customer Information Control System (IBM)
CID (1)Circuit Identifier
CID (2)Combat Identification
CIDE Communication Information Data Exchange
CIDR Classless Inter-Domain Routing (Internet, replaces class A-C)
CIDX Canadian International DX Club
CIG ceiling
CIIP Common Imagery Interoperability Profiles
CIJ Close In Jamming
CIL Command Image Library
CINC Commander In Chief, replaced by CDR 2003
CINCLANT C in C, Atlantic, obsolete
CINCNORAD C in C, NORAD, obsolete
CINCPAC C in C, Pacific, obsolete
CINCSTRAT C in C, Stratcom, obsolete
CIOL Common Interface Objects Language
CIPO Commanders in chief Interoperability Program Office
CIPSO Common Internet Protocol Security Options
CIRAF French acronym for international broadcast zone system
CIRC Cross Interleaved Reed Solomon Code
CIRF Co-Channel Interference Reduction Factor
CIS (1)Combat Intelligence System
CIS (2)Commonwealth of Independent States (replaced USSR)
CISC Complex Instruction Set Computing
CISCO Consolidated intelligence support to combat operations
CISPR International Special Committee on Radio Interference
CIT California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
CITS Combat Information Transfer System
CI-V Radio computer interface made by Icom
CIW Combined Intelligence Watch
CIWS Close-In Weapons System
CJCS Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (US)
CJCSI Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction
CJCSM Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Memo
CJFET Complementary junction field effect transistor
CJMAO Central Joint Mortuary Affairs Office
CK Check (usually word count in a message)
CL (1)Centerline Lighting System
CL (2)CW prosign: I am closing my station (clearing)
Class A (1)Stage is biased to conduct continuously
Class A (2)High explosive (military phone patches)
Class B Stage is biased to conduct on half of cycle
Class C (1)Stage is biased to conduct less than half
Class C (2)Gunpowder (military phone patches)
Class D Digital switching
Class E New, like D
CLC Circuit Link Control
CLEW Common Link Eleven Waveform (NATO)
Clg Calling
CLIPER CLImatology and PERsistence (weather model)
CLOVER Robust RTTY mode for HF
CLR (1)Clear
CLR (2)Clear below 12,000 feet (automated METAR)
CLR (3)Common Language Runtime (MickeySoft)
CLR (4)Combat Logistics Regiment
CM (1)Countermeasures
CM (2)Cipher Machine
CM (3)Corrected Geomagnetic coordinates
CM (4)Chemical Mace, a tear gas
CM (5)Configuration Management
cm (1)Centimeter
cm (2)Control monitor
CMARS Cruise Missile Autonomous Routing System
CMAS Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, was CMAFB, CMAFS
CMAWS Common Missile Approach Warning System
CMC (1)Cheyenne Mountain Complex (NORAD)
CMC (2)Command Management Center
CMC (3)COMSAT Mobile Corporation, part of COMSAT
CMCS COMINT Mission Collection System
CMD (1)Command
CMD (2)Network Command (ALE)
CMDR Commander
CMDS Countermeasure Dispenser Set
CME Coronal Mass Ejection, causes aurora
CMF Combat Mission Folder
CMI Computer-managed instruction
CMIS (1)Cheyenne Mountain Interface Subsystem
CMIS (2)Closed Loop Maintenance Information System
CMLSA Commercial Microwave Landing System Avionics
CMMB China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting
CMO (1)Central Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) Office
CMO (2)Civil-military operations
CMOC Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center
CMOS (1)Complementary Metallic Oxide Semiconductor
CMOS (2)Cargo Movement Operations System
CMP Common Management Practices
CMR Crisis Management Reconnaissance
CMRS Commercial Mobile Radio Service
CMS (1)Canadian Maritime Service
CMS (2)Calendar Messaging Service (Solaris)
CMS (3)Common Mapping System
CMS (4)Community Management Staff
CMS (5)Counter Measures Set
CMS (6)Counter Measures System
CMSA Cruise Missile Support Activity
CMT Cellular Mobile Telephone
CMU Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade
CMX Crisis Management Exercise (NATO)
CMY Cyan, Magenta, Yellow (subtractive color printing)
CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK (4-color printing)
CN (1)Communications network
CN (2)Counter-narcotics
CNA Center for Naval Analysis
CNAAS Counter-narcotics air analysis system
CNCE Communications nodal control element
CNCS Centralized Net Control Station (Scope Command hub at Andrews AFB)
CNE (1)Communications Network Environment
CNE (2)Communications Node Emulator
CNE (3)Certified Netware Engineer (Novell)
CNES Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (French space agency)
CNI Communications, Navigation, and ID
CNM (1)Communications Network management
CNMI Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
CNN Cable News Network
CNO (1)Chief of Naval Operations
CNO (2)Casualty notification officer
CNR Combat Net Radio
CNRADL Canadian RADIL (ROCC/AWACS digital information link)
CNS (1)Communications, navigation & surveillance
CNS (2)Central nervous system
CNS (3)Consolidated NOTAM System (Another nested acronym courtesy FAA)
CNTRA Chief of Naval Air Training (pronounced "Sinatra" like the singer)
CO (1)Commanding Officer
CO (2)Central Office (telcom)
CO (3)Contracting Officer
co UK version of .com (Internet domain)
CO/MIS Commander, Management Information Center
COA Courses of Action
Coax Coaxial cable
COBOL Common Business Oriented Language (clunky old programming code)
COBRA (1)Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance System
COBRA (2)Counter Battery Radar
COBRA (3)Coaxial Beam Rotating Antenna
COBRA DANE US military air surveillance radar system
COCOM Combatant command
COD (1)Carrier Onboard Delivery
COD (2)Collect On Delivery
CODAR Coastal Ocean Dynamics Radar
CoDE Coherent Digital Exciter
Codec Coder/Decoder
COE (1)Circle of Error
COE (2)Common Operating Environment
COE (3)Central Office Equipment
COFAS Commandement Force Aerienne Strategique (French AF)
COFC Container On Flat Car (as opposed to container car)
COFF Common Object File Format (Windoze)
CofS Chief of Staff
COG Continuity Of Government (emergency plan)
COI Critical Operational Issue
COIL Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser
COL Colonel
COM (1)Computer file extension: load as simple command program
COM (2)Commercial domain (Internet)
COM (3)Component Object Module (Windoze)
COMACC Commander, Air Combat Command
COMAFFOR Commander Air Force Forces
COMAFSPACE Commander, Air Force Space Command
COMARSPACE Commander, U.S. Army Space Command
COMASWFORLANT Commander, ASW Forces Atlantic
COMCON Communications Condition (MARS)
COMFAIRMED Commander, Fleet Air Mediterranean
COMFAIRWINGTEN Commander, Fleet Airwing Ten
COMHSWINGONE Commander, Helicopter Antisubmarine Wing One
COMINT Communications Intelligence
COMJAM Communications jamming
Comm Communications (also "commo")
COMM Communications
COMMCOM Communications Command (USCG, replaces CAMS)
COMMDET Communications Detachment (USCG)
COMMSTA Communication Station
COMMZ Communications zone
COMNAVCOMTELCOM Commander, Naval Computer and Telecommunications Command
COMOPTEVFOR Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force
COMPATWING Commander, Patrol Wing
COMPATWINGSLANT Commander, Patrol Wings Atlantic
COMPTUEX Composite Training Unit Exercise (USN)
COMPUINT Computer intelligence
Compul Compulsory
COMPUSEC Computer Security
COMSAT (1)COMmunication SATellite
COMSAT (2)Comsat Corp., US consortium & INMARSAT Convention rep
COMSEABASED Commander, Sea-Based ASW Wings, Atlantic
COMSEC Communication Security
COMSTAT Communications Status Report
COMSUBLANT Commander, Submarine Forces, Atlantic (USN)
COMSUBPAC Commander, Submarine Forces, Pacific (USN)
COMTAC Communications Tactical
CONCISE Cosine Network's Central Information Service for Europe
CONDX CW brevity: propagation conditions (usually wretched)
CONELRAD Control of Electromagnetic Radiation, obsolete
Config Configuration, configure
conmara Italian Consulate, Maracaibo, Venezuela
conmars Italian Consulate, Marseille, France
conmopr Italian Consulate, possibly Montpellier, France
conmpla Italian Consulate, Mar del Plata, Argentina
CONOP(s) Concept of Operations(s)
CONS continuous
conspie Italian Consulate, possibly St. Pierre
contolo Italian Consulate, Toulouse, France
CONUS continental United States
conwett Italian Consulate, Wettingen, Switzerland
COOP Continuity Of Operations (US Army)
COP Common Operational Picture
Coq Coquelet (French teleprinting system, after "Rooster")
Coq8 8-bit Coquelet
COR (1)Carrier operated relay
COR (2)Consolidated Operations Room ("Lights Out")
COR (3)Correction to a previously disseminated weather report
CORES Commission Registration System (FCC)
COS Communication Operations Segment
COSCOM Corps support command
COSE Common Open Software Environment
COSIP Computer Open System Interface Processor
COSPAS Acronym for Russian SARSAT
COT Changeover time
COTHEN Cellular Over The Horizon Enforcement Network (US)
COTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf
COWS Cells On Wheels (post-disaster cellphone service)
CP (1)Command Post
CP (2)CW general call: "Hello -- [2 or more callsigns follow]"
CP (3)Contental Polar (air mass)
CP/M Early Z80 operating system, might or might not have stood for "Control Program for Microcomputers," or "Control Program/Monitor." The guy who would know is dead, having narrowly missed out on being richer than Bill Gates.
CPA (1)Closest Point of Approach
CPA (2)Certified Public Accountant
CPAS Cellular Priority Access Service
CPCA Camp Parks Communications Annex (USAF)
CPDL Controller-Pilot Data Link
CPDLC Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications
CPE Customer Premise Equipment (telco)
CPFSK Continuous-Phase Frequency Shift Keying
CPM Continuous Phase Modulation
CPO Chief Petty Officer
CPR Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation
CPS (1)Characters Per Second
CPS (2)Cellular Priority Services (US NCS)
cps Cycle per second (one Hertz)
CPT Captain (US Army)
CPU Central Processing Unit (computer h/w)
CPX Command Post Exercise (NATO)
CQ General call: "Hello all stations"
CQD "Hello All Stations, Distress," no longer used
CQWW CQ World Wide (Amateur DX contest)
CR Carriage Return
CRAF Civil Reserve Air Fleet
CRATT Crypto Radio Teletype (usually military & encrypted)
CRC (1)Cyclic Redundancy Check (computer error test)
CRC (2)CONUS Replacement Center
CRC (3)Control & Reporting Center
CRE Control & Reporting Element
CREW Counter RCIED Electronic Warfare (Nested Acronym)
CREN Corporation for Research and Educational Networking
CRIS Communications Resource Information Sharing (US NCS)
CRM Computer Resource Management
CRO (1)Cathode-Ray Oscilloscope
CRO (2)Croatia (country code)
CRO (3)Coaxial Resonator Oscillator
CROSS Centres Regionaux Op閞ationnels de Surveillance et de Sauvetage (French RCC, see RCC)
CROWD36 Russian diplomatic MFSK mode
CRPLF French language: Francophonic Public Radio Community
CRR Carrier
CRRL Canadian Radio Relay League
CRS Coastal Radio Station
CRT Cathode-Ray Tube (usually a computer terminal)
CRTC Combat Readiness Training Center
CS (1)combat support
CS (2)communication squadron
CS (3)Chicken S-it
CS (4)Chemical Shield (a tear gas)
CS&C Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (DHS)
CSAF Air Force Chief of Staff
CSAR Combat Search and Rescue
CSARP Common SAR Processor
CSB Corps support battalion
CSC (1)Combat Support Center (AFOC)
CSC (2)Combat stress control
CSC (3)Computer Software Component
CSCI Computer Software Configuration Item
CSE Client/Server Environment
CSEL Combat Survivor Evader Locator (pilot survival radio)
CSG (1)Carrier Strike Group
CSG (2)Corps support group
CSH Combat support hospital
csh C-shell, popular Unix command interpreter
CSMA/CD Carrier Sense Multiple Access/ Collision Detection
CSOM Computer Software Operators Manual
CSP Communications Support Processor
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (US)
CSQ Carrier SQuelch
CSS (1)Combat service support
CSS (2)Central Security Service (US SIGINT, run by NSA director)
CSS (3)Cascading Style Sheets
CSS (4)Content Scrambling System (DVD encryption)
CSSCS Combat Service Support Control System
CST (1)Central (US) Standard Time
CST (2)Caribbean Support Tender
CST (3)Civil Support Team
CSTARS COMBAT SENT Technical Acquisition Receiver System
CSU Computer Software Unit
CT (1)Center Tap
CT (2)("Charlie Tango") - Communications Technician (on an aircraft)
CTA Control Area
CTAF Common Traffic Advisory Frequency
CTAPS Contingency Tactical Air Combat System
CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
CTC (1)Centralized Traffic Control (railroad)
CTC (2)Counter-Terrorism Command
CTCSS Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System ("PL")
CTI Computer - Telephone Integration
CTIA Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assn
CTLZ Control Zone
CTP Critical Technical Parameter
CTR Combat Training Range
Ctrl (1)Control
Ctrl (2)Computer's control key, sometimes shown with a ^
CTS Clear To Send (Serial I/O handshaking line)
CTT Commander's Tactical Terminal
CU CW brevity code: "See you"
CUAGN CW brevity code: "See you again"
CUBIC Common User Baseline for the Intel Community
CUCV commercial utility cargo vehicle
CUL CW brevity code: "See you later"
CUSEC Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium (HF net)
CV (1)USN Aircraft Carrier
CV (2)Vice Commander
CVBG Carrier Battle Group
CVIC Carrier Intelligence Center
CVN US nuclear aircraft carrier
CW (1)Continuous Wave (usually Morse code)
CW (2)Clockwise (rotation)
CW (3)Composite Wing
CWDE Chemical Warfare Defense Ensemble
CWIS Campus-Wide Information System
CWISP Campus-Wide Information System Protocol
CWOC Composite Wing Operations Center
CWP Central West Pacific (MWARA)
CWS Combat Weather System
CWSS COP Web Services System
Cygnus, Your Gnu Support ( see Gnu)
CZ (Panama) Canal Zone
D (2)Diode
D/A Digital/Analog converter
D/L (1)Downlink
D/L (2)Download
D2 Degrade and Destroy
D2C D-2 Small Cassette
D3 Degrade Disrupt Deny
D4 (1)Degrade Disrupt Deny Destroy
D4 (2)Deny, Disrupt, Degrade, & Destroy
D4EN Disrupt, Delay, Destroy, Exploit, or Neutralize
DA (1)Directional antenna
DA (2)Department of the Army
DA-2 Station changes directional pattern at night (FCC)
DAB Digital Audio Broadcasting
DAB+ Newer DAB standards, not backward compatible
DAC (1)Digital-to-Analog Converter
DAC (2)Disaster Assistance Center (FEMA)
DAC (3)Disaster Application Center
DACN Department and Agency Continuity Network (FEMA)
DACT Data Automated Control Terminal
DAE Disaster Assistance Employee
DAGS Data Architecture and Gateway Services
dah Morse code dash [~]
DAMA Demand Assigned Multiple Access (UHF SATCOM)
D-AMPS Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System
DAMSON Doppler And Multipath Sounding Network
DAQCS (1)Distress Alert Quality Control System
DAQCS (2)Data Acquisition and Quality Control System
DARN (1)Dual Auroral Radar Network
DARN (2)Disaster Amateur Radio Network, SoCal 440 MHz system
DARO Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office
DARP Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Program
DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DARS Digital Audio Radio Service (US)
DARTS Dynamic Avionics Real-Time Scheduling
DAS (1)Data Aquisition System
DAS (2)Distributed Antenna System
DASR Digital Airport Surveillance Radar
DAT Digital audio tape
D-ATIS (1)Digital Automated Terminal Information Service
D-ATIS (2)Digital Air Traffic Information Service (FAA)
DAWS Defense Automated Warning System
DB (1)Directional Beacon
DB (2)Dead body
dB Decibel (1/10 Bel, a logarithmic voltage or power ratio)
dBA Sound level (corrected to "A" scale dB)
dBc Decibels referenced to full-rated peak envelope power
DBCS Double byte character set
dBd Decibel gain over dipole antenna
dBi Decibel gain over (theoretical) isotropic antenna
dBic Db gain over circular isotropic
DBM (1)Doubly balanced mixer
DBM (2)Data Block Message
dBm Decibels over 1 mW into 50 ohms, usually rf, 0 dBm = 0.316 Vp
DBMS Data Base Management System
DBPSK Differential Binary Phase-Shift Keying
DBS Direct broadcasting satellite (system)
dBW Db over one watt
DC Direct Current
DC1 Device Control 1 (ASCII flow control)
DC2 Device Control 2 (ASCII)
DC3 Device Control 3 (ASCII flow control)
DC4 Device Control 4 (ASCII)
DCA (1)Defense Communications Agency (now DISA)
DCA (2)Defensive counter Air
DCA (3)Dual-Capable Aircraft
DCAC Defense Communications Agency Circular (now DISA)
DCCP Datagram Congestion Control Protocol
DCD Data Carrier Detect (packet modems)
DCDR Deputy Commander
DCE (1)Data Communication Equipment (like a modem)
DCE (2)Distributed Computing Environment
DCG Deputy commanding general
DCI (1)Defensive Counter Information
DCI (2)Director of Central Intelligence
DCID Director of Central Intelligence Directive
DCO Defense Coordinating Officer
DCOM Distributed Component Object Model (Windoze)
DCP (1)Data C}