Aaa towing

[motolover]

Anyone know if the hamden office uses radios? If so whats the freq. I know the hartford office uses radios and has freqs on vhf. Thanks

[MarkB513]

Originally Posted by motolover

Anyone know if the hamden office uses radios? If so whats the freq. I know the hartford office uses radios and has freqs on vhf. Thanks

ULS License - Industrial/Business Pool, Conventional License - KCF583 - AAA Southern New England - Frequencies Summary

[MarkEagleUSA]

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I used to be a dispatcher at AAA in Hamden (my first job at 16 yrs old). At that time (late 70's) we had 5 different radios for dispatching.

Anyway... I don't think they radio dispatch anymore. I've haven't heard anything on their frequencies in years. I seem to recall being told they do most everything via cell phone or Nextel Direct Connect now.

[Lynch_Christopher]

Originally Posted by MarkEagleUSA

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I used to be a dispatcher at AAA in Hamden (my first job at 16 yrs old). At that time (late 70's) we had 5 different radios for dispatching.

Anyway... I don't think they radio dispatch anymore. I've haven't heard anything on their frequencies in years. I seem to recall being told they do most everything via cell phone or Nextel Direct Connect now.

So would they be using the current VHF and UHF frequencies as a backup now to the Nextel Direct Connect. What did they use the 5 different radios for when you used to be a dispatcher?

[ecps92]

Because they dedicated a radio to each of the Frequencies/channels.

They now have 6 [VHF and UHF] Frequencies according to the RR DB

Originally Posted by Lynch_Christopher

So would they be using the current VHF and UHF frequencies as a backup now to the Nextel Direct Connect. What did they use the 5 different radios for when you used to be a dispatcher?

[MarkEagleUSA]

Originally Posted by Lynch_Christopher

What did they use the 5 different radios for when you used to be a dispatcher?

I don't remember all the specifics, but we had 2 radios for New Haven county (greater New Haven metro, outlying areas), 2 for Fairfield county (Bridgeport metro, Stamford metro) , and 1 for points north (Waterbury, Danbury, Torrington, etc.).

If I recall correctly, there were 200-300 wreckers with radios, and on a stormy night or during the winter things were always hopping. During snow storms it wasn't unusual to have a backlog of calls numbering in the hundreds (1 to 4 hr wait times).

Everything was done the old fashioned way back then too... no computers. All call tickets were hand-written. We had a huge, detailed map of the 3 counties we served showing all the different territories by garage that was used to determine who got the call. Contract garages had anywhere from 1 to 5 radio equipped trucks; a few had more. It was a real challenge aty times to keep up.

I remember we had a couple of women 18-25 yrs old that would actually cry sitting at the console trying to deal with the mess. Remember, we're talking about wrecker drivers, not public servants. Language and attitude were always a problem.

Just before my 18th birthday I left and became a wrecker driver myself, and worked for a few contract garages in the New Haven area so I saw both sides of the system.

[Lynch_Christopher]

Originally Posted by MarkEagleUSA

I don't remember all the specifics, but we had 2 radios for New Haven county (greater New Haven metro, outlying areas), 2 for Fairfield county (Bridgeport metro, Stamford metro) , and 1 for points north (Waterbury, Danbury, Torrington, etc.).

If I recall correctly, there were 200-300 wreckers with radios, and on a stormy night or during the winter things were always hopping. During snow storms it wasn't unusual to have a backlog of calls numbering in the hundreds (1 to 4 hr wait times).

Everything was done the old fashioned way back then too... no computers. All call tickets were hand-written. We had a huge, detailed map of the 3 counties we served showing all the different territories by garage that was used to determine who got the call. Contract garages had anywhere from 1 to 5 radio equipped trucks; a few had more. It was a real challenge aty times to keep up.

I remember we had a couple of women 18-25 yrs old that would actually cry sitting at the console trying to deal with the mess. Remember, we're talking about wrecker drivers, not public servants. Language and attitude were always a problem.

Just before my 18th birthday I left and became a wrecker driver myself, and worked for a few contract garages in the New Haven area so I saw both sides of the system.

Sounds like it must have been an interesting job working for AAA. That must have been interesting for the dispatchers to have to monitor 5 or 6 radios when you guys were really busy. So I take it that you guys only had one dispatch center for the three counties you served.

[motolover]

Why does it list the Freqs being in new haven when the dispatch center is in hamden? they cant be repeaters can they? if so why are the input freqs not listed....

[joetnymedic]

not sure about hamden, but I know hartford uses mdt's in the trucks now. They made that switch while I was working there in 1996. The voice radio was used as a back up

[cougarct06512]

North Haven and Certain independents were using an MDT system last i knew too

[MtnBiker2005]

AAA Southern New England - Case Studies
http://www.mentoreng.com/about/case-...ewengland.html

Sounds like the Connecticut AAA is using the"Mentor Ranger".
http://www.mentoreng.com/products/ranger/index.html

Can anyone confirm it ? If that is the same looking device you seen in the Tow Trucks ?

Some other AAA states is using the "Mentor MDC". Like AAA Southern California(ACSC).
http://www.mentoreng.com/products/mdc/mdc.html

[MarkEagleUSA]

Originally Posted by Lynch_Christopher

That must have been interesting for the dispatchers to have to monitor 5 or 6 radios when you guys were really busy.

If it was busy there was no way you could monitor more than 2. The physical setup was a console about 30' long. The 2 New Haven radios were on one end and the other 3 at the opposite end. The microphones had long cords but the speakers were attached to the console.

On really busy days they tried to have 1 person per radio (if the manpower was available). Standard practice was one dispatcher for New Haven and one for the other 3. On more "normal" nights a few of us could mange all 5 at once but it meant a lot of walking back and forth.

So I take it that you guys only had one dispatch center for the three counties you served.

Everything was done on the 2nd floor of the Hamden office.

Originally Posted by motolover

Why does it list the Freqs being in new haven when the dispatch center is in hamden? they cant be repeaters can they? if so why are the input freqs not listed....

I seem to recall having a telephone link from the office to wherever the towers were. I know there was one antenna located on West Rock but not sure about the others (after all, it's been 30+ years since I worked there).