Hello, I have three KG-Q10H radios all of the same time period (fall 2025). I’m finding two things with the squelch that I don’t like and I wonder if anyone knows how to get better behavior from the radio:
1- The squelch tail is rather long, certainly longer than my other Japan and CCR radios. I tried setting the squelch level higher, up to 5 for example, it did get a bit shorter but it’s still longer than I’d like. I’m concerned that if it’s set higher than the squelch will not open on signals that are weak but still copy-able.
2- I don’t find a way to turn on CTCSS “reverse burst” or Squelch Tail Eliminator as it’s sometimes called. My other radios have this as a setting and I really like the instant squelch close when this is on. In the other radios it’s a TX setting and when the RX receives the “reverse burst” the squelch close is just a short snappy click. But not on the KG-Q10H.
On the squelch tail — it does run a bit longer than a lot of other radios. Raising the squelch can shorten it some, but there isn’t really a way to eliminate it completely through settings.
As far as reverse burst / squelch tail elimination — this model doesn’t have that feature. Some radios use that on TX to snap the squelch closed on the receiving side, but the Q10H doesn’t support it.
So what you’re seeing is just how that radio behaves. Best approach is to keep the squelch as low as you can without getting noise so you don’t lose usable signals.
I would say that this is really lame of Wouxon then. I have owned and used dozens of models of VHF/UHF handhelds over the years and this is now the only one I’ve encountered that doesn’t have some kind of reverse burst TX capability. And this one doesn’t even support the DCS end of TX squelch close code that is fundamental to the DCS scheme.
Can you please verify that these features are not available in firmware update from Wouxon? If indeed this will never be supported then I’m just going to have to return these radios to BTWR.
That quick “snap shut” squelch is nice, especially if you’ve used commercial or Japanese radios before.
That said, what you’re describing is a CTCSS feature (reverse burst), not something DCS actually does. DCS is just a continuous code, so when you unkey it simply drops out — there isn’t any kind of “end signal” built into it.
On radios in this price range, especially GMRS units, (I know you have the H but they share many components) it’s pretty normal not to have reverse burst on TX. Most of them just use standard squelch timing. You usually don’t see that tighter behavior unless you step up into higher-end ham or commercial gear. However, if you require those features my best recommendation would be to return the radio and go with a different radio preferably something marketed as a commercial radio, something like the Kenwood NXP-1300, Icom F2000/1000, or the Motorola bpr40/50.
There isn’t a firmware option to enable reverse burst or similar feature on the Q10H.
DCS does contain an end of TX mute code: “The DCS word is sent continuously, starting when transmission begins. When the user releases the PTT, the encoder will change the code to a pattern of alternating 1’s and 0’s at 268.6 bits per second for 180 milliseconds, then stop transmitting. This “turn off” code causes receiving decoders to mute, thereby eliminating the squelch tail noise burst.”
Therefore I conclude that Wouxon didn’t have their firmware fully baked by the time they released the radio thus it’s missing. Sad. A $20 Baofeng has both CTCSS reverse burst and DCS done properly.
So let’s entertain the KG-Q10H a bit more….when setting the squelch level higher, say 4, 5 or 6, does that really increase the RF level required to open and more importantly close the squelch? Or is there an impact on how long it will wait to close the squelch additionally? I’m running it at level 4 now and I would say it’s a bit longer than classic radios of the past. If I raise it to 5 or 6 it becomes much ore tolerable even thought is not reverse-burst behavior. But how much low RF level “throw away” does that add?
Squelch isn’t really controlling timing, it’s just setting the threshold. When you turn it up, you’re raising the point where the radio drops out, so as the signal fades at the end of a transmission it mutes sooner. That’s why the tail gets shorter.
The tradeoff is you are throwing away weaker signals. Each step up means the radio needs a cleaner signal to open and stay open, so stuff that was previously readable but a little noisy may not break squelch anymore. In real terms, going up a couple levels can cost you a few dB of sensitivity, which mostly shows up on fringe stations—not strong local ones.
I actually measured it with a signal generator and a 30 dB attenuator inline—squelch 1 opened around -90 dBm and squelch 9 was around -72 dBm, so about an 18 dB spread across the range. That works out to roughly 2–2.5 dB per step, which is pretty typical. So it’s definitely not just changing timing, it’s moving the threshold quite a bit.
Here are some articles that go over how reverse burst and DCS actually behave in real-world use:
The main thing is DCS and reverse burst can eliminate the tail, but only if the receiver is still decoding at the exact moment the transmission ends. At unkey the signal is falling apart, which is the worst time for decode, so a lot of radios just fall back to normal noise squelch and you hear the tail.
As for Baofengs, they can look like they handle this better, but it’s usually just more aggressive squelch/audio gating. They clamp the audio faster, so the tail is less noticeable, but they’ll also drop weaker or noisier signals sooner. It’s not really that they’re doing DCS “better,” just differently.
It works!! After almost an hour of stepping through all of the menus and trying them out with another KG-Q10H and another radio that I know has reverse burst and DCS end of TX mute. To be honest, I was driven to do this because I just couldn’t believe that Wouxon would field a radio that doesn’t support these, especially when it’s predecessor does. And…the DCS standard is ETSI TS 103 236. It would seem odd that Wouxon would code in DCS without conforming to the full spec.
It’s “hidden” in the system menu 43 RPT-TONE. Switching that to “off” enables RX and TX CTCSS reverse burst at end of TX, and also squelch mute at end of DCS TX. Try it yourself and let me know if you find the same on your Q10H or maybe Q10G.
I also found that it allows an end of TX tone burst to be sent with the system menu 13 “ROGER”. You can set OFF, BOT, EOT and BOTH options. I’m using the EOT along with CTCSS reverse burst to get a nice squelch close with something resembling a “courtesy beep” on the other radio end. Of course turning that beep off is more consistent with my desire to have a quiet EOT experience though.
I have the Q10H but have never messed with that setting, it was “OFF” when I checked it. My KG-935G+ also has that setting (menu 55). I checked it because I thought I remembered seeing that menu item. It is set to “OFF” and I have never messed with it on this radio either. I looked it up a long time ago and didn’t understand why I might want to send a squelch tail. I’m glad you found what you were looking for. I have found all the Wouxun radios I have used have been quality units.
