Brazilian police Q code meaning
Anyone studying for a military police exam in Brazil runs into the "código Q" sooner or later, and quickly discovers it is different from the generic Q-code that shows up in ham-radio search results. This explains where that divergence comes from before you check the full table.
Independently confirmed by four police/security sources; no amateur-radio source records this meaning at all.
A rare example of a code with two genuinely documented meanings that have no relation to each other.
Not exactly. Both share the same historical root (the Q-code adopted in 1912 and later formalized in Appendix 13 of the ITU Radio Regulations), but they diverged: amateur radio kept almost all of the original technical sense, while Brazilian public safety created its own meanings for many codes, QSJ (money), QSD (driver), QSV (patrol car) and QTO (restroom) simply do not exist in the amateur-radio Q-code at all. This tool specifically documents the version used by Brazilian police, firefighters and security services, not the international amateur-radio/aviation Q-code.
It's a middle ground: its root (the three-letter skeleton and much of the technical sense) is official, formalized in Appendix 13 of the ITU Radio Regulations. But a good chunk of the specific meanings used in Brazilian policing (patrol car, money, driver, restroom) are in no international document at all, they are internal convention, settled over decades of use and reproduced in different agencies' training material.
We researched extensively, more than twenty distinct Brazilian sources, including PM training material from two states and a federal regulatory norm, and 40 is the total number of codes with genuinely documented police use that we found. We'd rather have that well-verified number than pad the list with aviation or maritime ITU Appendix 13 codes that have no real recorded use in Brazilian public safety.
No. They are two completely different systems that solve the same problem. The 10-codes (10-4, 10-20...) are numeric, created in the US between 1937 and 1940. This Q-code is a three-letter system rooted in 1912 international wireless telegraphy, and it's the system actually used in Brazil. See this site's "Ten-Codes" tool for the American system.
40 codes found
| Code | Meaning (police/security) | Original/international use |
|---|---|---|
| Standing by, listening. At your orders. | no equivalent | |
| Sign off (end the communication). | no equivalent | |
| Name (or rank) of the operator or station. | no equivalent | |
| What is the distance to the station? | no equivalent | |
| Are you busy? I am busy, please do not interfere. | no equivalent | |
| Is there interference (from another station, human-made)? | no equivalent | |
| Is there atmospheric (static) interference? | no equivalent | |
| Transmit faster. | no equivalent | |
| Ground support (backup units on the ground). | no equivalent | |
| Transmit slower. | no equivalent | |
| End the transmission, go off the air. | no equivalent | |
| Occurrence (there is an active incident/occurrence). | Older/generic sense: "Do you have anything for me?", answer "I have nothing to transmit." | |
| Ready, at your orders. | no equivalent | |
| Stand by (or: when will you call me again?). | no equivalent | |
| Who is calling me? Go ahead, whoever called. | no equivalent | |
| How are my signals (strength)? | no equivalent | |
| Your signals are fading. | no equivalent | |
| Driver. | no equivalent | |
| Money, payment. | no equivalent | |
| Understood, I acknowledge receipt. | no equivalent | |
| Shall I repeat the (previous) message? | no equivalent | |
| Did you hear me? | no equivalent | |
| Contact. | Communication, notice. | |
| Relay (bridge the message to another station). | no equivalent | |
| Shall I repeat? | no equivalent | |
| Patrol car (unit vehicle). | Older technical sense: "Shall I call on this frequency (or channel)?" | |
| Cancel the (previous) message. | no equivalent | |
| Message (how many messages do you have to send?). | no equivalent | |
| Location (address, fixed or current position). | no equivalent | |
| Destination or heading. | no equivalent | |
| What is your speed? | no equivalent | |
| What time did you leave (a given location)? | no equivalent | |
| Restroom. | no equivalent | |
| Transmit more quickly. | no equivalent | |
| What is the exact time? The correct time is ___. | no equivalent | |
| What hours are you operating (hours of service)? | no equivalent | |
| I will be out for an indeterminate amount of time. | no equivalent | |
| Do you have news of ___? | no equivalent | |
| Receive an urgency signal. | no equivalent | |
| Do you want me to direct the aircraft to my position? | no equivalent |
This tool is 100% local: the Q-code table ships embedded in the page, and no search or selection is ever sent to a server.