In Voice procedure (the techniques used to facilitate spoken communication over two-way radios) a station may request a report on the quality and strength of signal they are broadcasting. In the military of the NATO countries, and other organisations, the signal quality is reported on two scales; the first is for signal strength, and the second for signal clarity. Both these scales range from one to five, where one is the worst and five is the best. The listening station reports these numbers separated with the word 'by'. Five by five therefore means a signal which has excellent strength and perfect clarity - the most understandable signal possible. Voice procedure refers to techniques used to clarify, simplify and standardize spoken communications over two-way radios, in use by the military, in civil aviation, police and fire dispatching systems, citizens band radio, etc. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ...

Five by five by extension has come to mean 'I understand you perfectly' in situations other than radio communication, the way Loud and Clear entered slang, post-WW2.

Example of a radio readability transmission

This is an example of how the system might be used, using British military voice procedure. Station callsign Alpha One wishes to know how well another station, Alpha Two is receiving him. Voice procedure refers to techniques used to clarify, simplify and standardize spoken communications over two-way radios, in use by the military, in civil aviation, police and fire dispatching systems, citizens band radio, etc. ...

Alpha One:Hello Alpha Two, this is Alpha One. How do you read me? Over.

Alpha Two:Alpha One. I read you five by five. Over.

Colloquial Use in Popular Culture

The phrase "In the pipe, five by five" is used by the dropship pilot in the movie Aliens to report that the drop is proceeding as planned. It was later used by the Terran dropship in the Blizzard Entertainment PC game StarCraft as one of many quotes from the Aliens movie. Additionally, the term was used in the movie Clear and Present Danger when the Special Ops team communicated to the CIA Operations Commander. Aliens is a 1986 science fiction movie starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton and Paul Reiser. ... The Marines of the Terran Confederacy The Terrans are the name given to the human colonists in the StarCraft universe used to distinguish them from the humans of Earth. ... Blizzard Entertainment is a PC game developer and publisher. ... StarCraft (SC) is a Real-time strategy computer game by Blizzard Entertainment. ...

The term "five by five" was popularized by the character Faith (played by Eliza Dushku) who was a "Slayer" in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel. Faith Lehane, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, used it frequently as slang meaning that things were good. Also, "Five By Five" was the title of an Angel episode which prominently featured Faith. Used also in the television show Alias, fourth season, episode "Nightingale": Marshal says, "Copy, five by five, Phoenix standing by" in response to a mission update. And the phrase was frequently used by EarthForce personnel on the show Babylon 5, presumably due to the characters' military background. Faith Lehane (born December 14, 1980 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. ... Dushku as the slightly non-conformist cheerleader Missy Pantone in the 2000 comedy, Bring It On. ... A Slayer in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fictional universe is a young girl bestowed with mystical powers that originate from the heart of a demon. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a U.S. television series loosely based on the 1992 movie of the same name. ... A spin-off in television is a new series which contains either characters or theme elements from an old series. ... Angel was the highly successful spin-off from the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Solar System), Athens of America Motto: Official website: www. ... Slang, is the non-standard or non-dialectal use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Babylon 5 is an epic science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ...

The phrase "five by five" --and sometimes "five by" for short-- is also used repeatedly by the police troopers in Stephen King's 2002 novel, From A Buick 8. From a Buick 8. ...