STANAG

From HFUnderground

STANAG refers to STANdards AGreement, a NATO document or specification that defines conditions, terms, procedure, processes, equipment, etc used by members of NATO.

STANAGs cover everything from how to package beans to how to deliver weapons, from rifle magazine dimensions to how to con a submarine. Of the over 1000 STANAGs that are current today, a few define communications protocols, digital, voice, and image.

There is a tendency among some listeners to call a signal "STANAG" without the specific designation after it. This can lead to problems, as every STANAG, by definition, is different from the others. In fact sometimes a single transmission can use techniques from multiple STANAGs.

Some transmissions are known by both a STANAG number and other designators. For example MIL STD 188-110B Appendix C is identical to, and can be called, STANAG 4539. Or LINK 11 CLEW is defined in STANAG 5511.

A few of the STANAGs that might apply to HF operations are:

4197

4198

4202

4285

4406

4415

4444

4479

4481 (both FSK and PSK)

4529

4538

4539

4591

5031

5035

5065

5066

5501

5510

5511

5514

5522

NOTE: All of these are not individual modes, some may only define what is happening within a more common mode of operation.