Whatever happened to KOP-911?

[W2MR]

Back in the 70's when NYPD was building their UHF system (from VHF High) the entire new system used the callsign KOP-911. I wish it had stayed and wondered why it disapeared. Was it a S.T.A. during the buildout? Why couldn't they keep ir?

[k2hz]

I believe it was related to the FCC changes in license technical parameters and implementation of the ULS database. A single license of the scope of KOP911 did not fit the new format so it had to be split up into multiple licenses as the system grew and was modified.

It was their license for many years, not just during buildout.

[W2NJS]

I used to see that listing in the old scanner directories when I lived in NYC but I'm not at all sure that it ever actually represented a working system or systems. I'm thinking that it might have been issued as what you might call a "placeholder" against the time that an actual bank of systems would have gone into operation. NYC's contacts with the FCC over the years might have resulted in that kind of unconventional arrangement.

[k2hz]

It most definitely was the call sign of the working UHF system for several years from inception until they ran into a problem with the FCC when licensing went to a new computerized system that could no longer support the format of the KOP911 license.

Anyone who listened to NYPD in the 70s and 80s must remember the use of that call sign by NYPD and it was legitimate although there was a lot of "urban legend" claims that it was not a real call sign.

The call sign was changed some time prior to 1991, possibly in the mid 80s.

[Mtnrider]

there are still a lot of "KOP" call signs ......i was bored and did a wildcard search of "KOP" on the FCC website.....sad to see vintage calls go away

[Chauffeur6]

A few scans from the 1977 edition of Police Call. There were no KOP911 entries in the 1991 edition.

[k2hz]

As I think about the dates involved in the change, it was well before the FCC implemented ULS but it did relate to their efforts to automate licensing and frequency coordination.

In the 70s when KOP911 was licensed the FCC application was a multipart carbon copy form that the applicant filled out with a typewritter. The FCC processed the license manually and typed on a call sign, file number and effective and expiration dates and sent the top copy back to the applicant as the license. The info did get
entered manually into a database at the FCC when the license was granted. With the manual process, someone at the FCC was able to pick the call KOP911 for the NYPD.

When the FCC decided to automate processing and frequency coordination the database had to be upgraded from this manual process. The strict requirements on use of the 470-512 frequencies also required more detailed technical data on each site and frequency than had been in the previous license data.

It was reported that these factors that caused the FCC to eventually tell NYPD they could no longer support coordination of their system they way it appeared on the KOP911 license so it got put into the standard format of the new system which resulted in multiple licenses with sequentially generated call signs.

I think NYPD could have kept KOP911 for part of the system but maybe it was easier to just let the FCC redo the whole thing so the call sign was deleted. With the present FCC ULS system, they don't reassign a deleted call to Part 90 licenses so KOP911 is no longer available. That is why if you let a part 90 license expire you get a new call sign.

[ff026]

Chris you gotta put up more of those scans. I miss police call.

[scannerman5555]

I miss police call too a good book from Radio Shack & Scannermaster too !

[N2MWE]

"Units in the field the time is now 0200 hours, KOP 911, Fifth Division Radio." Man I miss those days.

[e911god]

Originally Posted by Chauffeur6

A few scans from the 1977 edition of Police Call. There were no KOP911 entries in the 1991 edition.

Wow...reminds me of the day I bought my first scanner at Radio Shack and my blue bible. My grandfather wanted his ol' bearcat 210 back that I "borrowed." How times have changed. *sigh*

[plato]

What were NYPD V.H.F. FREQ. ASSIGNMENTS BEFORE THEY MOVED TO UHF-T BAND? I WOULD LIKE KNOW. THANKS. PLATO.

[W2NJS]

Originally Posted by plato

What were NYPD V.H.F. FREQ. ASSIGNMENTS BEFORE THEY MOVED TO UHF-T BAND? I WOULD LIKE KNOW. THANKS. PLATO.

Around Manhattan South, IIRC, most precinct dispatch and tac channels were on 155 mHz, with quarter-wave, unity gain antennas on the roofs of the cars.

[plato]

Mark ( W2MR) sent me this link which has NYPD's VHF freq.assignments prior to them going to T-Band. Thanks Mark! http://americanradiohistory.com/Arch...May%201969.pdf

[LYNJ_OEM3298]

Originally Posted by plato

Mark ( W2MR) sent me this link which has NYPD's VHF freq.assignments prior to them going to T-Band. Thanks Mark! http://americanradiohistory.com/Arch...May%201969.pdf

Dave,

Nothing like making a guy feel old and dated! Oy! What a rush of memories from 1969 of frequencies in the NY Metro Area and especially me here in North Jersey. I remember when most of the towns were on low band and listening then. Ahhhh..the ads for the tunable and 1 xtal position receivers base, mobile and portable... I had a tunable vhf hi portable with 3 xtal positions circa 1971...
VHF Lo/Hi was the Cadillac of the day. The frequency listings remind me of the listings that were available from CRB Research printed on yellow or orange paper stock. Waxing nostalgic here...but "dem" were the days...thanks for the memories!

Ken!

[Alarmguy]

Dave thanks for posting that! Always wanted to know what the NYPD VHF-HI Freqs were! Also some of these freqs that are also listed were still active back when I got my first scanner in 1985!

[902]

I remember them using KOP911 for their systems as recently as 1984. They began phasing in WIF-series callsigns afterwards. The WI_ series were also associated with T-Band waivers until very recently, when they began issuing sequential callsigns. You will notice many of the Channel 19 waivered licenses have WI_ callsigns, with up to WIM (maybe even further), all during a time when callsigns were KN__, WN__ or WP__ prefixes. The W__ three letter prefixes were consumed in the early 80s.

I thought KOP911 was made up, but seeing it in Gene Hughes' Police Call validates the records of the time.

ULS is "all things to everyone" and because of that, it's very simple and very elaborate. I cannot do more than 6 fixed sites per license application, yet you can merge a number of licenses together ("consolidated licensing") and create a massive system license. It was all going to be "fixed" as recently as 3 years ago when "CLS" was going to replace ULS. The Consolidated Licensing Service never made it off the ground and the FCC just kinda stopped talking about it until you asked a staffer "Hey, what about CLS?" and they would go "What?"

Mark, THANK YOU for posting that link to White's! Oh, man! I remember being probably around 9 or 10 years old tuning around on a crappy Made in Japan "AM/FM/PSB" radio and pulling in the 44 and 48 Pcts, just to the right of Fairview on the dial. By the time I got older, I never kept any of the frequency data. So, 156.03, eh? Took me like 40 years Wow!

Anyone have the old Betty Bearcat and Firecom sheets?

Sprint time: 2200 hrs, KOP911, SOD Traffic.

[ff026]

Man that last .pdf is awesome. Anyone notice the missing command from the Bronx and Queens or the Manhattan and Brooklyn commands that doesn't exist anymore? A lot of those low band call signs in rockland are still valid.

[zerg901]

https://sites.google.com/site/newyor...o-history-nypd

bunch of photos at radiocb1 website

[Al42]

Originally Posted by ff026

Man that last .pdf is awesome. Anyone notice the missing command from the Bronx and Queens or the Manhattan and Brooklyn commands that doesn't exist anymore? A lot of those low band call signs in rockland are still valid.

I noticed 2 things:

1) The listed the FDNY frequencies, but called them NYPD frequencies. (Top of the second column.)

2) They didn't list the old Traffic Department frequencies. I guess paper was still expensive in 1969.

And yes, I miss the old days - the Run Board and the Other Board. And people who could actually take a report and not tell you they couldn't take it because 85 doesn't cross the FDR. (I'm sure the guy bleeding in the right NB lane at 85 Street really doesn't care.)