coolrich55
Member
I read somewhere that the radio system that the nypd uses was built in 1968. Is that true? If it is I find that amazing. What did they have before that?
History of NYPD radio
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They used call boxes that were on the corner of every few blocks.It went dirctly to the pct. they were working in at the time.The desk sgt. would dispatch the units thru the box.The officers on patrol would call in every few minutes or so.Some cars did have some sort of radio that would just recieve and get messeges to call the pct.
SkyPager
Member
Look here. It seems that until 1969-1970 each burough had its own dispatch center. When the 911 system was instituted they started using a central dispatch from 1 Police Plaza.
POLICENY POLICE NY Site map NYPD
scrool about 3/4 down.
POLICENY POLICE NY Site map NYPD
scrool about 3/4 down.
W2NJS
Member
coolrich55 wrote:
"I read somewhere that the radio system that the nypd uses was built in 1968. Is that true? If it is I find that amazing. What did they have before that?
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Whoever wrote/said that is full of hot air. First of all, the system until long after 1968, was VHF, and the current system (which has many, many more licensed channels than the old system) is UHF.
"I read somewhere that the radio system that the nypd uses was built in 1968. Is that true? If it is I find that amazing. What did they have before that?
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Whoever wrote/said that is full of hot air. First of all, the system until long after 1968, was VHF, and the current system (which has many, many more licensed channels than the old system) is UHF.
coolrich55
Member
Thanks for all the info. That web site is very cool. It would be neat if there were any recordings of some old radio transmissions of the nypd. I've found some from the 70's I think of fdny on youtube. I know when I see an old episode of "cops" in nyc from the 90's the radios sound pretty much as they do today.
coolrich55
Member
I know, I hate when they do that. It's always the same recording too. Another thing I picked up, I was watching a movie called "bully" that takes place in Florida. Well at the end when the cops show up to arrest all the kids you can hear radio transmissions in the background and it's of nypd lol.
gotta love hollywood
Or they edit in the Talk Permit Tone from Motorola networks- that seems to be the new thing now, I also saw an episode in Portland and they edited in a squelch burst after a cop spoke on the radio- even though he and all the cops around him had earpieces...
NYPD started out like most other PD's in big cities on the AM band as WLAW and on 833khz and KUVS at 500khz in 1924 . At some point I believe the 50's they went to Lowband... if you look at some of the cars from the 50's including the replicas on Police NY you will see a lowband ballmount. Then by the 60s they were on VHF-HI 150mhz freqs in simplex, using Motorola Motrac radios with handsets in the cars. Scannermaster lists the NYPD UHF system as being put online in 1972.
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njdiver23
Newbie
I still recall the old NYPD VHF frequency used by the Emergency Service squad, 155.535 Mhz. It was one of my favorite frequencies to listen into. They moved to UHF, 470.8375 Mhz, sometime in the early ' ' ' ' 70's where they remain today.
NYPD vhf notes...
When the NYPD transitioned to VHF-Hi in the 60's, they were originally all simplex, carrier squelch. The RMP radios were Motorola Twin-V's and T-Powers. Most precinct RMP's had 2 channel T-Powers. Motracs didn't show up until late in the game and usually were found in REP's and a few RMP's assigned to a "Citywide" channel, eg: ESU, Highway, Mounted and etc. The first regular issued portables were Motorola HT-200's, later followed by HT-220 slimlines.
The Citywide channels were all located at different sites, due to interference issues stemming from carrier squelch simplex operation, which would have desensed the receivers if co-located. Several examples would be Highway on 155.850 on the Empire State Building, ESU on 155.535 on NY Hospital , Citywide 155.700 on Bellevue and Harbor on the Municipal Building and etc. The Citywide channels had 5 Motorola M Voting receivers scattered around the City for receive. The VHF system was pretty nondescript and rather plain vanilla, although the coverage was rather remarkable considering.
The "Division" channels (for those outside of NYC) were groups of channels where 4 to 5 precincts in the same general geographic area were dispatched on the same channel on carrier squelch simplex by a single dispatcher on a remote base. Queens for example, had 4 such channels.
The 100-101-102-104 and 106 were on 151.340.
The 108-110-114 and 112 were on 151.205
The 103-105 and 113 were on 151.250
The 107-109 and 111 were on 151.160 (maybe 151.190, I can't remember).
Where things got interesting...
Up until about 1968 or so, everything was vhf simplex, carrier squelch.
After that, each precinct had a local repeater, just for the portables. Mobiles and bases stayed simplex.
Some precincts actually had the repeater on site or on a better location, such as a local apartment building or hospital within the confines of that particular precinct.
You ready, hang on to your hats, some 1960's technology is coming your way.
Due to the limited number of frequencies available and reluctance by the FCC to gave the NYPD a truck load of new vhf frequencies, they were given a handful and had to use them wisely. Every group of Division frequencies used a common input. No surprise there, but...
In my example above of the 4 frequencies used in Queens, all 4 frequencies (15 precincts), shared the same input of 155.565
Motorola Produced a series of HT-200's and HT-220's that were Special Products (SP) at the time, just for the NYPD. All of them were 2 channel.
Channel 1 was your local precinct.
So, if you were say a cop in the 103 pct, channel 1 was 151.250 rx, 155.565 tx pl 110.9
So, if you were say a cop in the 106 pct, channel 1 was 151.340 rx, 155.565 tx pl 118.8
Everybody in the Boro had the same input with a pl unique for that precinct and listened on his precinct channel. So, why was this a Special Product? Good Question, that will be answered on channel 2.
What if a pursuit went through several precincts? What about a tactical channel? That was channel 2.
Channel 2 was simplex on the boro input channel (155.565), without transmitting pl. Carrier squelch on channel 2, so you wouldn't go through the local repeater and the bad guys couldn't hear the cops talk.
Every portable in the boro had the input channel csq in ch 2.
Normally, repeat and direct involves switching your ht transmitter from the input to the output and your receive stays the same. Again, lack of frequencies and the need to have every portable in the boro to talk to each other required some creativity. Motorola had to install a second oscillator and front end in these SP radios to swing the receiver from 151 to 155 and maintain decent sensitivity, something that was quite a task in the late 60's. They also had to strap the tx pl on / off to the channel switch.
So, if you ever remember hearing all of those, Hey, Joe...go to 2 and never hearing them again, that's where they went, on the input, no pl.
If I remember correctly, Manhattan was 156.090, Bronx was 156.150, Queens was 155.565, Brooklyn
was 155.580 and Staten Island eludes me...but may have been 153.920 at the end.
When the NYPD transitioned to VHF-Hi in the 60's, they were originally all simplex, carrier squelch. The RMP radios were Motorola Twin-V's and T-Powers. Most precinct RMP's had 2 channel T-Powers. Motracs didn't show up until late in the game and usually were found in REP's and a few RMP's assigned to a "Citywide" channel, eg: ESU, Highway, Mounted and etc. The first regular issued portables were Motorola HT-200's, later followed by HT-220 slimlines.
The Citywide channels were all located at different sites, due to interference issues stemming from carrier squelch simplex operation, which would have desensed the receivers if co-located. Several examples would be Highway on 155.850 on the Empire State Building, ESU on 155.535 on NY Hospital , Citywide 155.700 on Bellevue and Harbor on the Municipal Building and etc. The Citywide channels had 5 Motorola M Voting receivers scattered around the City for receive. The VHF system was pretty nondescript and rather plain vanilla, although the coverage was rather remarkable considering.
The "Division" channels (for those outside of NYC) were groups of channels where 4 to 5 precincts in the same general geographic area were dispatched on the same channel on carrier squelch simplex by a single dispatcher on a remote base. Queens for example, had 4 such channels.
The 100-101-102-104 and 106 were on 151.340.
The 108-110-114 and 112 were on 151.205
The 103-105 and 113 were on 151.250
The 107-109 and 111 were on 151.160 (maybe 151.190, I can't remember).
Where things got interesting...
Up until about 1968 or so, everything was vhf simplex, carrier squelch.
After that, each precinct had a local repeater, just for the portables. Mobiles and bases stayed simplex.
Some precincts actually had the repeater on site or on a better location, such as a local apartment building or hospital within the confines of that particular precinct.
You ready, hang on to your hats, some 1960's technology is coming your way.
Due to the limited number of frequencies available and reluctance by the FCC to gave the NYPD a truck load of new vhf frequencies, they were given a handful and had to use them wisely. Every group of Division frequencies used a common input. No surprise there, but...
In my example above of the 4 frequencies used in Queens, all 4 frequencies (15 precincts), shared the same input of 155.565
Motorola Produced a series of HT-200's and HT-220's that were Special Products (SP) at the time, just for the NYPD. All of them were 2 channel.
Channel 1 was your local precinct.
So, if you were say a cop in the 103 pct, channel 1 was 151.250 rx, 155.565 tx pl 110.9
So, if you were say a cop in the 106 pct, channel 1 was 151.340 rx, 155.565 tx pl 118.8
Everybody in the Boro had the same input with a pl unique for that precinct and listened on his precinct channel. So, why was this a Special Product? Good Question, that will be answered on channel 2.
What if a pursuit went through several precincts? What about a tactical channel? That was channel 2.
Channel 2 was simplex on the boro input channel (155.565), without transmitting pl. Carrier squelch on channel 2, so you wouldn't go through the local repeater and the bad guys couldn't hear the cops talk.
Every portable in the boro had the input channel csq in ch 2.
Normally, repeat and direct involves switching your ht transmitter from the input to the output and your receive stays the same. Again, lack of frequencies and the need to have every portable in the boro to talk to each other required some creativity. Motorola had to install a second oscillator and front end in these SP radios to swing the receiver from 151 to 155 and maintain decent sensitivity, something that was quite a task in the late 60's. They also had to strap the tx pl on / off to the channel switch.
So, if you ever remember hearing all of those, Hey, Joe...go to 2 and never hearing them again, that's where they went, on the input, no pl.
If I remember correctly, Manhattan was 156.090, Bronx was 156.150, Queens was 155.565, Brooklyn
was 155.580 and Staten Island eludes me...but may have been 153.920 at the end.
NYPD UHF (1970's)
The NYPD first used uhf in the early 70's for the Street crime unit and narcotics point to point.
The switchover from VHF to UHF began in 1977 and ended in 1978 for precinct radios.
Motorola had a delay in manufacturing the new MX-340 portables and Micor transmitters that were in the original contract. The NYPD accepted HT-220's that were 3/4 watt, 4 channel, single pl in omni-housing and Motorola Motrac (125w) transmitters for use in Manhattan and Queens.
Each borough was was on a different Pl in the new system.
Every precinct radio was supposed to be configured as
Channel 1-division repeater
Channel-2-division direct
Channel-3-adjacent division
Channel-4-Citywide 1 or 2 depending on borough of assignment.
Since Citywide-1 had a pl tone of 114.8 a single pl radio HT-220 could be assigned there and Manhattan.
Since Citywide-2 had a pl tone of 141.3 a single pl radio HT-220 could be assigned there and Queens.
Radios in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island had to be 2 pl radios, so HT-220's were unacceptable, as they could not do the borough pl tone AND the Citywide PL tone. That alone is why Manhattan and Queens were switched to UHF first with HT-220's, followed by the other boroughs with MX-340's.
The NYPD first used uhf in the early 70's for the Street crime unit and narcotics point to point.
The switchover from VHF to UHF began in 1977 and ended in 1978 for precinct radios.
Motorola had a delay in manufacturing the new MX-340 portables and Micor transmitters that were in the original contract. The NYPD accepted HT-220's that were 3/4 watt, 4 channel, single pl in omni-housing and Motorola Motrac (125w) transmitters for use in Manhattan and Queens.
Each borough was was on a different Pl in the new system.
Every precinct radio was supposed to be configured as
Channel 1-division repeater
Channel-2-division direct
Channel-3-adjacent division
Channel-4-Citywide 1 or 2 depending on borough of assignment.
Since Citywide-1 had a pl tone of 114.8 a single pl radio HT-220 could be assigned there and Manhattan.
Since Citywide-2 had a pl tone of 141.3 a single pl radio HT-220 could be assigned there and Queens.
Radios in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island had to be 2 pl radios, so HT-220's were unacceptable, as they could not do the borough pl tone AND the Citywide PL tone. That alone is why Manhattan and Queens were switched to UHF first with HT-220's, followed by the other boroughs with MX-340's.
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