Felo

APCO Phonetic Alphabet Translator Online

Convert any text into APCO police phonetic alphabet words such as Adam, Boy and Charles, letter by letter. It also decodes APCO words back to letters with an explicit word-boundary rule and reports exactly how digits and punctuation were handled. Try it online.

What is APCO Phonetic Alphabet Translator Online?

APCO Phonetic Alphabet Translator Online turns ordinary letters into the radio spelling words used by many American police and public-safety dispatchers. Type a name, a plate number or a call sign, and each letter is replaced by its APCO word: A becomes Adam, B becomes Boy, C becomes Charles, and so on through Zebra. The agent also works in the other direction, turning a string of APCO words back into plain letters.

The full 26-word set is fixed: Adam, Boy, Charles, David, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, Nora, Ocean, Paul, Queen, Robert, Sam, Tom, Union, Victor, William, X-ray, Young, Zebra. Both capital and small letters map to the same word.

Key Features

Exact 26-letter mapping. Every letter is converted with the standard APCO word list, and the conversion is computed rather than guessed, so repeated runs give identical results.
Reverse decoding. Paste APCO words and get the original letters back. Words are matched case-insensitively, and the agent tells you which tokens it could not match instead of quietly deleting them.
Honest handling of everything else. Digits, punctuation and symbols are preserved in place and reported, so you can see exactly what was converted and what was left alone. When decoding, a token that matches no APCO word is kept in the output inside square brackets and listed as unmatched, so nothing disappears silently.
Radio-friendly layout. Ask for one source word per line, or for a compact single-line string, depending on whether you are reading aloud or pasting into a form.
Reference list on demand. Ask for the complete alphabet at any time to check a word before you key the microphone.

How to Use

Type or paste the text you want converted. For example: Badge 7X.
Say which direction you want if it is not obvious, such as "to APCO" or "back to letters". If you give plain letters, the agent converts forward; if you give APCO words, it decodes.
Read the converted text in the copyable block, then ask for a different layout, a per-letter breakdown or the reference list if you need it.

A quick before-and-after example: Sam converts forward to Sam Adam Mary, and Sam Adam Mary decodes back to SAM. A digit stays where it is: Sam 12 converts forward to Sam Adam Mary 12, with the 1 and 2 reported as preserved.

Example Use Cases

Spelling a name over the radio. Convert Kowalski into APCO words so a dispatcher can read it back without confusion between similar-sounding letters.
Checking a plate or call sign. Turn 7XQ into APCO words for the letters while keeping the digit visible, then confirm the digit was preserved.
Decoding a received transmission. Paste Union Nora Ida Tom and get UNIT back, with any unmatched token flagged so you can ask for a repeat.

Tips for Best Results

Keep the source text exactly as you want it; the agent does not trim or shorten your input unless you ask.
If you are reading aloud, request one word per line so you do not lose your place.
When decoding, separate APCO words with spaces. Hyphenated words such as X-ray are recognized as a single code word.

FAQ

What input format does it accept?

Plain text in the chat box. Letters convert forward; APCO words decode backward. Digits, punctuation and symbols are preserved and reported rather than removed.

How accurate is the conversion?

The mapping is the fixed 26-word APCO list shown above, applied character by character, so results are deterministic. The agent does not claim official APCO certification or that any agency requires this exact list.

How does the reverse direction work?

Paste APCO words separated by spaces and the agent matches each token case-insensitively against the 26 words, treating X-ray and Xray as the same code word. If every letter-bearing token is a recognized code word, it decodes; if none is, it converts forward; if the input is mixed, it decodes when code words outnumber other letter tokens and otherwise converts forward. Unmatched tokens are kept in square brackets and listed. It produces text only, not audio.

Can it read the result aloud?

No. It produces text you can read yourself; it does not generate speech or audio files.