The wheel seems to be coming full circle: plain language is gaining
popularity over 10-codes in emergency communciations. The problem is
that too many local 10-code dialects have developed over the years.
They can cause misunderstandings when multiple agencies work together
in a major incident.

In my area of California the sheriff departments use 10-codes but the
fire departments don't. I have no idea how long this state of affairs
has prevailed, since I only got into the scanning hobby last summer.

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...008975,00.html

--
Paul Hirose
To reply by email remove INVALID

"Paul Hirose" wrote in message
ink.net...
The wheel seems to be coming full circle: plain language is gaining
popularity over 10-codes in emergency communciations. The problem is
that too many local 10-code dialects have developed over the years.
They can cause misunderstandings when multiple agencies work together
in a major incident.

In my area of California the sheriff departments use 10-codes but the
fire departments don't. I have no idea how long this state of affairs
has prevailed, since I only got into the scanning hobby last summer.

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...008975,00.html

--
Paul Hirose
To reply by email remove INVALID


Here - before "our" 911 system came on board - the 10 codes tended to vary
among Police units like people's choice of colors of homes. It could be very
confusing. As to the Fire Services, the city - so far as I know, barely uses
them if at all. Here in the rural area, there are a very few 10-codes used
by the fire departments, but they coincide with those used by the police
where appropriate. Therefore - less confusion for the 911 center. The
Phonetic Alphabet still creates some confusion. IF a cop has a brain freeze
and calls off a letter such as "F" as "funny" or "friday" the 911 center
will call them on it. They stick to "a" form of the alphabet and that is it.
I'm trying to think now - I don't think they use the same as say the Hams
do.

clf

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:34:39 -1200, "clfe"
wrote:

"Paul Hirose" wrote in message
link.net...
The wheel seems to be coming full circle: plain language is gaining
popularity over 10-codes in emergency communciations. The problem is
that too many local 10-code dialects have developed over the years.
They can cause misunderstandings when multiple agencies work together
in a major incident.

In my area of California the sheriff departments use 10-codes but the
fire departments don't. I have no idea how long this state of affairs
has prevailed, since I only got into the scanning hobby last summer.

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...008975,00.html

--
Paul Hirose
To reply by email remove INVALID


Here - before "our" 911 system came on board - the 10 codes tended to vary
among Police units like people's choice of colors of homes. It could be very
confusing. As to the Fire Services, the city - so far as I know, barely uses
them if at all. Here in the rural area, there are a very few 10-codes used
by the fire departments, but they coincide with those used by the police
where appropriate. Therefore - less confusion for the 911 center. The
Phonetic Alphabet still creates some confusion. IF a cop has a brain freeze
and calls off a letter such as "F" as "funny" or "friday" the 911 center
will call them on it. They stick to "a" form of the alphabet and that is it.
I'm trying to think now - I don't think they use the same as say the Hams
do.


there is a military phonetic alphabet...the one we use in the coast
guard and it's the same one used by hams. the coast guard is a
stickler to the point that we get called on it if we use 'oh' instead
of 'zero' in a number.

---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field

The TV show "Cops" did a show years ago from
Broward(?) County Fla.,which is the Miami area.
It was Shocking...they were using Q-signals!
At first I thought I was imagining it,but the
dispatcher was saying things like QSL and QTH.
Really gets your attention...

"Bob" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:34:39 -1200, "clfe"
wrote:

"Paul Hirose" wrote in message
link.net...
The wheel seems to be coming full circle: plain language is gaining
popularity over 10-codes in emergency communciations. The problem is
that too many local 10-code dialects have developed over the years.
They can cause misunderstandings when multiple agencies work together
in a major incident.

In my area of California the sheriff departments use 10-codes but the
fire departments don't. I have no idea how long this state of affairs
has prevailed, since I only got into the scanning hobby last summer.


http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...008975,00.html

--
Paul Hirose
To reply by email remove INVALID


Here - before "our" 911 system came on board - the 10 codes tended to
vary
among Police units like people's choice of colors of homes. It could be
very
confusing. As to the Fire Services, the city - so far as I know, barely
uses
them if at all. Here in the rural area, there are a very few 10-codes
used
by the fire departments, but they coincide with those used by the police
where appropriate. Therefore - less confusion for the 911 center. The
Phonetic Alphabet still creates some confusion. IF a cop has a brain
freeze
and calls off a letter such as "F" as "funny" or "friday" the 911 center
will call them on it. They stick to "a" form of the alphabet and that is
it.
I'm trying to think now - I don't think they use the same as say the Hams
do.


there is a military phonetic alphabet...the one we use in the coast
guard and it's the same one used by hams. the coast guard is a
stickler to the point that we get called on it if we use 'oh' instead
of 'zero' in a number.

---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field

Here's more on the National Incident Management System plain language
requirement that the newspaper article mentioned.

http://www.nimsteam.com/nims_faq.htm#14f

"All exercises that responders participate in should feature plain
English commands so they can function in a multi-jurisdiction
environment."

--
Paul Hirose
To reply by email remove INVALID

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:38:04 GMT, "Paul Hirose"
wrote:

Here's more on the National Incident Management System plain language
requirement that the newspaper article mentioned.

"All exercises that responders participate in should feature plain
English commands so they can function in a multi-jurisdiction
environment."

Our county mandates NIMS/ICS (Incident Command System) for all
agencies. They still use APCO 10 codes for day to day chatter, where
NIMS is a management system and not radio-specific. I don't recall any
mention in this or advanced NIMS courses about avoiding 10 codes, but
an unwritten given is all should be using the standard APCO 10 code.

FEMA offers a simple and free online NIMS intro course here open to
anyone:

http://168.143.180.84/FEMA/VC/is700_NIMS

It takes about 3 hours, has multimedia and is well done. You take an
online final, get an email pass/fail, and a paper certificate about 8
weeks later via post.

The above IS-700 course is mandatory for RACES membership in our
county. Good idea, as it makes sure everyone is on the same page in
the big picture, and defines who does what.

Steve

************************************************** *******************
Steve Uhrig, SWS Security, Maryland (USA)
Mfrs of electronic surveillance equip
website http://www.swssec.com
tel +1+410-879-4035, fax +1+410-836-1190
"In God we trust, all others we monitor"
************************************************** *******************

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 17:18:07 -0500, "rtc" wrote:

The TV show "Cops" did a show years ago from
Broward(?) County Fla.,which is the Miami area.
It was Shocking...they were using Q-signals!
At first I thought I was imagining it,but the
dispatcher was saying things like QSL and QTH.
Really gets your attention...


yep...saw a movie..an old one starring montgomery clift. the credits
said everyone in the movie apart from clift was active duty
military...it was about the berlin airlift.

as one of the planes comes into the airport, the controller asked him
to 'qsy' to another freq. was amazed...

---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field

clfe wrote:
Here - before "our" 911 system came on
board - the 10 codes tended to vary among
Police units like people's choice of colors
of homes. It could be very confusing...

I used to be the director of communications
at an S.O. Our codes shared SOME common
terms with the PD, others vaired quite a bit.

Example:
Signal 10 (SO) Minor traffic accident
Signal 10 (PD) Armed robbery

So one day one of the local armored car
transporters, who all had the SO frequency
for emergencies, called in and said -
"Advise the PD they have a signal 10
here at the corner of central and 3rd"

Were they reporting a fender bender or
were they reporting that the armored car
had been robbed?

PD, hearing the traffic on their scanners,
went screaming to the scene code 3, to find
a fender bender, no robbery. BTW code 3 meant
"Injury Accident" to yet another local agency.

Another difference:

One agency 10-53 = tow truck
10-54 = ambulance
Neighbor agency 10-53 = ambulance
10-54 = tow truck
Very confusing when one agency sends a terminal
message or comes up on your freq and says
"We have a 53 enroute to XXX location"

I'm a firm believer in plain language.
Although that has it's problems as well.

Example:

DISPATCHER "County units, I'll be off the air
for a few minutes, troubleshooting
in the jail"
Came across to some mobile units as
"triple shooting in the jail"

COUNTY ELECTION OFFICIAL:
"We have a machine gone down in the courthouse"
Came across as
"We have a machine gun down in the courthouse"


Sgt Lumpy

Bob wrote:

yep...saw a movie..an old one starring montgomery clift. the
credits said everyone in the movie apart from clift was active
duty military...it was about the berlin airlift.

as one of the planes comes into the airport, the controller asked
him to 'qsy' to another freq. was amazed...

In the 60's movie "Them" about giant ants
that attacked New Mexico, the cops, supposed
to be NM State Police used KMA628 for their
callsign.

Not radio related, but on some of the old "Flipper"
TV shows, the coast guard helicopter winch guy
had a helmet that read "NAVY".

And speaking of Flipper, what kind of callsign
is WD9598, that Ranger Ricks used to say on his radio?


Sarge

They are somewhat common in my area of south central Pa at least for the PD.
I have noticed that they have their regular meaning (not sure about 10-10)
but the ones I noticed are 10-1 (Weak Signal) 10-4 (Afirmative) and 10-10
(Negative). I used to play around with CBs and have these codes in a book
somewhere.
"Paul Hirose" wrote in message
ink.net...
The wheel seems to be coming full circle: plain language is gaining
popularity over 10-codes in emergency communciations. The problem is
that too many local 10-code dialects have developed over the years.
They can cause misunderstandings when multiple agencies work together
in a major incident.

In my area of California the sheriff departments use 10-codes but the
fire departments don't. I have no idea how long this state of affairs
has prevailed, since I only got into the scanning hobby last summer.

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...008975,00.html

--
Paul Hirose
To reply by email remove INVALID