10-4 Good Buddy!

      SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4TH.

          10-4 GOOD BUDDY!

   It's the 4th day of the tenth month.
An appropriate time to celebrate
10-4 Day!
   Since radio communications can
sometimes be difficult to understand
because of poor signals, or static,
radio operators came up with a code
using numbers to represent words
or phrases.
    10-4, for instance, means "OK"
or acknowledged.
    My first experience with the so
called "10 Code" came when I got
a Citizen's Band Radio for my High
School graduation present. Very few
people had them at the time and I
could actually hear, and sometimes
talk, with people in other states!
I wasn't suppose to. But I did. The
codes helped cut through the
accents. Especially when talking
with someone down south! They
couldn't understand me!
    Once truck drivers got CB radios
I pretty much put mine in the closet!
I might have kept using them if the
18-wheel-drivers used code instead of
the language so many choose to share
with everyone listening in!
    Anyway, my CB experience came
in handy when I got into news and
started listening to Police radios on
our newsroom scanner.
     I think some emergency workers
used the code so people listening in
wouldn't understand what they were
talking about. But when one officer
asks another...."What's your 10-20"
and the response is...."I'm on Market
Street" it doesn't take a genius to
begin to understand the 10 Code!
    Of course the code varies a bit from
town to town or state to state. But
the basics are usually pretty much the
same. And there's a code for most
every situation such as "Missing
person," Domestic dispute," or
"Fire." The most common 10 Code
list contains just over 100 items.
     There is no specific code, however,
for Dunkin Donuts. Maybe they'll add
one.
      In any case, whatever your 10-20
here's hoping you're 10-4 good buddy
and that all your NEWS is good!