10 CODES R.I.P.

This week, we report the passing of a friend of two way
radio. Not a person, but a thing. This as the Federal Emergency Management Agency says that 10 codes are out.

In case you are not aware, or have never seen a movie like the comedy Smoky and the Bandit, 10 codes are the numbers based shorthand that has been used by emergency communicators for well over four decades. The same ones adopted by 11 meter operators in the late 1960's and still used on C-B to this very day. Numbered words like 10-20 for location and 10-7 for I am out of service.

Now, with FEMA implementing the new National Emergency Management System over the next 90 days, the agency is requiring all agencies to stop using 10 codes and instead to speak or write in clear text. And while the National Emergency Management System Integration Centre says
that no entity will loose funding if the mandate is not strictly adhered to, it could change this position later on.

The National Emergency Management System directive only affects professional emergency communicators. Radio hobbyists are not even mentioned . Very few hams outside of a few isolated Southern California repeater groups have ever adopted the use of the now out-of-style 10 codes for their emergency communications operations.

So, it looks as if the only ones left using 10 codes in the future will be the "good buddies" on 11 meters. And that's a big 10-4.

Source: Wireless Institute of Australia

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