I'm creating this topic to answer questions people have asked frequently, not so frequently, or perhaps not at all, to explain terms used in ham radio that may not be familiar to new or even experienced hams. One of the barriers to enjoying the hobby is not understanding the arcane lingo we often use. A secondary purpose of this topic is to encourage people to use plain English instead of jargon whenever practical to have clear communication, which, after all, is what this hobby is about. QSL?
top of page
bottom of page
Next instalment is the very familiar 73, translating to "Best Wishes" or "Best Regards". It is derived from the "92 Code" adopted by Western Union Telegraph in 1859, one of several "Brevity Codes" that are in use in Amateur Radio. These were called "Wire Signals" and were designed to increase the rate and which telegrams were delivered.
The only two that have been retained by amateurs are 73 and 88, the latter meaning "Love and Kisses", most often used by YL and XYL (female) amateurs. As the Wikipedia article points out, 30 is still in use by journalists.
These codes should not be confused with ARRL numbered radiograms which represent longer messages, e.g. ONE, meaning "Everyone safe here. Please don't worry".
Anyway it's lunch time. 21. 73. 30.
Eric (VE3EB) and I (VE3IBW) covered code plugs in our DMR Quick Start presentation in 2019. See page 12 at this entry in the DMR Forum on this site. It is good that we have the same definition as you found Chris :-)
Several of the 2020 seasons presentations on VHF/UHF digital communications technology at YRARC club meetings mentioned "codeplugs". I more or less understood what they were from the context, but today I decided to look it up. I found this explanation which seems pretty good to me. Let me know if you have any comments or information that would further clarify this term.
Just like we still say "the tape is rolling" in an age where tape is hardly used any more, this term is a bit of a relic, having lost its original meaning to the relentless march of technology.
Back in the good old days, radios used crystals to control the frequencies and sometimes had internal jumpers for various options. Later on, options were set using a jack on the back of the radio. Plugs had wire jumpers which configured the radio by plugging into the jack. These became the original code plugs. Later on, more things were controlled by these code plugs, such as tone encode/decode.
As radios became microprocessor controlled, the external code plugs moved inside the radio as programming information. The term has remained with us even there's not much that still plugs in. The code plug contains the operating frequencies, tone selections, timeout values, system IDs, etc. These days, the code plug is just a relatively small binary file that's transferred to or from the radio and a computer.
So it seems a code plug is very similar or identical to a configuration file that we commonly used when programming a radio using the manufacturers configuration software or from third party software like RT Systems.