[BC] Let the WHINING begin

[Phil Alexander]

On 7 Jul 2005 at 21:45, Ron Castro wrote:

> That was a *real* long time ago, but I do remember seeing AM broadcast table 
> radios with "Police" marked on the high end of the dial above 1600 kc.
> 

The very early police radio dispatch frequencies were just above the "standard
broadcast" band. These were one-way dispatch systems. Before the advent of
radio dispatch, the common method was lighting up a group of "call" lights
in a town or in a city precinct. These were generally blue or red lights hung 
over street intersections. The beat walkers would go to the nearest call box 
and pick up the phone to report in and be dispatched.

I remember there were lights still hanging in the town were I grew up. In the
fifties, the lights were sometimes used because crooks had gotten wise to the
radio, or the radio was out. There may be a few departments out there that still
have working callboxes.

The very early two-way systems built by Moto had 1.6-1.7 MHz receivers and VHF
transmitters in dual "coffin" cases usually mounted end to end behind the back
seat of the squad car in the trunk.

Then came VHF/FM dispatch after WW-II and Moto was very dominant although Link
also got in the business in the late '40's for a time. I know the first station
I worked in had old taxi cab units made by Link for some of the RPU's.

Later GE and RCA also built units. The 30 W RCA's were the best of the breed
but quite rare compared with Moto and GE. I remember modifying many 15F3 sets
to 5F3 in the early '60's.s

Phil Alexander, CSRE, AMD
Broadcast Engineering Services and Technology 
(a Div. of Advanced Parts Corporation) 
Ph. (317) 335-2065   FAX (317) 335-9037





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