Please Explain: The Adam-12 Control Head

[ssmith39]

Hi All,

I've been watching Adam-12 on Hulu.com and am a bit confused about the control head for the radio. In regards to the image, what are the functions of (1), and why is (2) marked with seemingly redundant labels?

Thanks!

 

[SCPD]

They alternate between that control head and one with a black rotary switch in the center. Both control heads still have the channel 1/2 switch is on the right side. The one you have posted here mystifies me as I can't figure out how it functions.

I remember living in L.A. when Adam-12 was on. Tac's 1 and 2 sounded almost like CB in that there was almost constant traffic on it and units talking over other units. Tac 1 was mainly for detectives and HQ (Parker Center) personnel and Tac 2 was for division patrol units. Obviously there was more traffic than one frequency could handle.

The actual patrol cars had two control heads, one a transceiver on the division frequency and one to monitor the division mobile frequency. This second control head was for a receiver only so the units could hear each other call the dispatcher and avoid stepping on each other.

EDIT I think the right switch was disabled on four channel radios. They made the control heads alike and put the switch on the right on every model as I recall. I worked at a hotel that had a four channel model in their airport shuttle buses and I think (it's been about 36 years now) it had the toggle on the right also. I wonder what simulcast was in this setup. If Harry Marnell checks in on this thread he could answer all our questions in a heartbeat.

 

[SCPD]

I've watched seasons 1 and 2. It is interesting to watch officers working without handhelds. One of the episodes showed a SWAT situation and a sergeant gave each officer a "CC unit." I used to know what CC stood for but I can't now. If Adam 12 accurately depicted procedure that was current at the time, things have really changed. I can't believe how the arrests of felony suspects are shown. Proper distance and posture are not shown, and they make felony stops without a second unit. 'They don't make the suspects walk back wards and then kneel with one ankle over the other.

I did a couple of ride alongs with LAPD sergeants about 5 years ago and one of them made a felony stop alone, but told the subjects to remain in the vehicle using the PA. He waited until backup arrived before they executed the felony stop procedure. On another incident one of the sergeants got flagged down by a postman whose mace was taken out of his truck while he was standing about 10 feet away emptying a mail box. After the victim described the suspect and last known direction of travel, the sergeant pulled out into traffic against a red and whipped around on a street and caught the suspect running right at the car. He held the suspect at gunpoint until an Adam unit arrived. He considered the suspect armed and dangerous as he was carrying mace. Had he sprayed the officer and taken his 9mm, it could have resulted in an officer fatality and there I was inside the car. The sergeant told me how to get the shotgun out of the rack at the beginning of the shift and I can't imagine having to back the sergeant up using a 12 gauge.

I like watching Adam-12 on Hula, but must admit some of the acting was pretty poor. Not by Milner or McCord, but by some of the actors playing citizen roles. I've also seen some more well known actors playing roles on the show before they became well known. All in all, I find watching the show worthwhile. We have our cable shut off right now (lost jobs and are cutting expenses) and when I'm not reading a book I'm watching Adam-12, Emergency, Lost on ABC, and various programs on PBS, most notably "Nova." I'm not sure we will get the cable hooked up again when and if we get jobs. I like being able to sit down and watch something on my own schedule, especially when I can pause the show for as long as I need to.

 

[n5ims]

This should explain the center switch (#1) Adam 12 radio control head Information

 

[KMA367]

The one you have posted here mystifies me as I can't figure out how it functions.

It doesn't make much sense to me, either. I wonder if Webb's people used a little artistic license there (What? Jack Webb do that??) and kind of combined the Motran DFE style control heads with the earlier single-channel heads.

On the LAPD Motran and Motrac control heads I remember, the upper right toggle switch was always an on/off switch; the lower right knob was volume only, the lower left knob was squelch, and the upper left toggle was for the PL.

The top center knob - it was actually a black knurled knob identical to the volume and squelch knobs - was usually four channels on the Motracs, and five channel positions on the Motran radios:

F1 was the dispatch channel pair for the division the car was assigned to

F2 was empty in some radios, but in many it was for a short-lived and seldom used "citywide" channel, freq 8:C, which had several TX and RX sites around the city; the idea behind that was if a car was sent somewhere far removed from its home division, they could still reach an RTO (radiotelephone operator = dispatcher). This was a result of problems they had during the 1965 riots, when units sent to the riot area from the Valley and West LA/Venice often had trouble reaching or hearing their RTO. "8:C" was Harbor Division's frequency pair, and was generally pretty quiet back then, so was selected to be the citywide and "utility" freq for miscellaneous police units that might go anywhere in the city.

F3 was Tac1 (154.83, simplex only) and as Exsmokey mentioned, generally used by detectives

F4 was Tac 2 (154.77, also simplex) generally used by patrol

The Simul position was never wired in as far as I know in any police units. The only use I know of was in the City's Receiving Hospital Ambulances - "G" units. It was set up so the city ambulance crews (pre-LAFD) could monitor both the hospital frequency, 155.28 (KFG564), and the police frequency for the division to which they were assigned, but the interference quickly made its use not recommended. The gentleman who wrote the radio memo in about 1969, Robert Holley, gave me a copy, and here's the relevant part...​

 

[KMA367]

I remember living in L.A. when Adam-12 was on. Tac's 1 and 2 sounded almost like CB in that there was almost constant traffic on it and units talking over other units. Tac 1 was mainly for detectives and HQ (Parker Center) personnel and Tac 2 was for division patrol units. Obviously there was more traffic than one frequency could handle.

Absolutely... and simplex to boot. Today, the patrol and traffic units have 40 simplex/duplex tactical frequency pairs - one for each division, 8 "bureau" tacs, and 7 citywide tacs.

The actual patrol cars had two control heads, one a transceiver on the division frequency and one to monitor the division mobile frequency. This second control head was for a receiver only so the units could hear each other call the dispatcher and avoid stepping on each other.

MANY of the cars (but not all) had these second radios, informally called "cheaters," because the first guys to get them were the supervisors... now they could hear what their officers were transmitting. AFAIK, all the cheater radios were recycled single-channel radios from pre-1967, when they were finally allowed to have tac frequencies and thus the need for multi-channel rigs.

I think the right switch was disabled on four channel radios. They made the control heads alike and put the switch on the right on every model as I recall.

That may well have been true for some of the radios, but I don't remember ever seeing them (which doesn't really mean much, as I rode in or drove LAPD cars maybe a hundred or so times max). Most of my really up-close looks were at Hollywood Div in 1969 when one of my jobs was to inventory and keep track of all the cars' radios. To a scannerd (but wait, they didn't scan yet, did they?), an ideal job. :roll:

Until the UHF "ROVER" radios showed up for everybody about 1980, there was little uniformity of radios anyway. A City radio tech once told me of the problems they had keeping all the radios working in the 1950s and into the 60s. With the huge growth of the city, equipment acquisition was far behind the demands. For a number of years LAPD cars and motors had a hodge-podge of equipment & frequencies all on the streets at once...high band AND low band mobile freqs, some on AM and others FM; both MW and VHF-high base frequencies; and as car-makers switched to 12-volt systems, a combination of 6- and 12-volt, cars and motorcycles. Mostly they were Motorolas by then, but he told me there were still a few home-brew radios in the fleet as late as the 1965 Watts riots.

I've watched seasons 1 and 2. It is interesting to watch officers working without handhelds. One of the episodes showed a SWAT situation and a sergeant gave each officer a "CC unit." I used to know what CC stood for but I can't now.

I've heard two explanations for that, both from old-timer radio techs and policemen. The more common version is that "CC" was the prefix for some handheld radio model numbers (Motorola?), so they just took to referring to any portable as a "CC unit." The other story is similar, but that the CC was simply the sequential alpha listing for handheld radios in the Supply Division catalog. Other than supervisors,some detectives and in later years (1970s), footbeat officers, patrol officers almost never had handhelds unless they were issued at an incident requiring them. Too, with 460 square miles of city and no voting receivers, the 1950s-1970s portables were lucky to get through to the dispatchers anyway.

Coppers today would have apoplexy if they didn't have portable radios. But then, back when they didn't have them, that was all they knew, and their tactics naturally took into account that once out of the car they were totally out of touch with Communications or each other.

If Harry Marnell checks in on this thread he could answer all our questions in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the nod, and I'm always willing to try to at least take a shot at it. I WAS going to reply to

This should explain the center switch (#1) Adam 12 radio control head Information

that "at least I've become a little more succinct in the last ten years," but looking at what I've just typed, I guess I can't even say that!

 

[SCPD]

Thanks Harry, "you da man!"

 

[Navycop]

If Adam 12 accurately depicted procedure that was current at the time, things have really changed. I can't believe how the arrests of felony suspects are shown. Proper distance and posture are not shown, and they make felony stops without a second unit. 'They don't make the suspects walk back wards and then kneel with one ankle over the other.
I like watching Adam-12 on Hula, but must admit some of the acting was pretty poor. Not by Milner or McCord, but by some of the actors playing citizen roles. I've also seen some more well known actors playing roles on the show before they became well known.

Just to go out on a limb here. What about "C.H.I.P.s"? Their procedures left something to the imagination also.

 

[leitung]

I was watching it last night, and it seems like when on a certain channel, they can only hear dispatch.

You will all of a sudden hear "1-L-20 roger"
and nothing else.. They can't hear other units.
When they switch to tac 2 they can hear each other like a simplex 2 way..

 

[colby4601]

I was watching it last night, and it seems like when on a certain channel, they can only hear dispatch.

You will all of a sudden hear "1-L-20 roger"
and nothing else.. They can't hear other units.
When they switch to tac 2 they can hear each other like a simplex 2 way..

Pretty sure that has something to do with each unit not talking over each other. At least that was the explanation I received from an LAPD veteran a while back. I may be wrong though.

 

[KMA367]

I was watching it last night, and it seems like when on a certain channel, they can only hear dispatch.

You will all of a sudden hear "1-L-20 roger"
and nothing else.. They can't hear other units.
When they switch to tac 2 they can hear each other like a simplex 2 way..

That's correct. Before LAPD went to UHF in the early 1980s, the VHF dispatch system was semi-duplex. There were 5 dispatch "talk-out" frequencies, and each was shared by several divisions and their dispatchers. Each division (usually) had its own "input" frequencies. The dispatcher (RTO) heard only the mobiles on his/her mobile frequency, but the officers would hear all the RTOs who shared their talkout frequency. Clear as mud? Maybe this list from early 1974 will help. RTOs transmitted on A, B, C, D, or E; mobiles transmitted on the numbered freqs:

 

[KMA367]

Pretty sure that has something to do with each unit not talking over each other. At least that was the explanation I received from an LAPD veteran a while back. I may be wrong though.

Actually it was kind of the opposite. Except for the cars that had "cheater" receivers, which I mentioned earlier in post #6, the officers couldn't hear the other units on their frequency, so they couldn't tell if someone else was transmitting. For any lengthy message, such as running a suspect or giving a crime broadcast, the unit would ask "6A15, requesting the frequency for a crime broadcast," to which the RTO would reply, "All Hollywood units stand by, 6A15 go ahead." Hopefully the other Hollywood units would be listening and wouldn't transmit until they heard the RTO say, "Hollywood frequency (or 'frequency 1') clear."

It generally worked OK, as again the officers were used to the system and they tended to keep their messages short and tried to monitor the radio pretty closely. In a way they had it tougher than we RTOs, though, as they had to listen to the constant babbling of up to five dispatchers - plus any wide-area or citywide emergency broadcasts- but pay closest attention to just their own RTO.

 

[Mike_G_D]

Harry,

Out of curiosity, were the RTO's able to tell when another RTO was broadcasting so that THEY wouldn't step on each other? You alluded to the fact that the RTO's didn't have to listen to each other so this is why I ask. Perhaps a light on the dispatch panel that indicated a transmission was taking place as some radios do today to allow co-channel users to "see" that activity is taking place on their channel (when the co-channel users are using separate CTCSS or DCS tones). I assume there must have been some way?!

-Mike

 

[PJaxx]

With five different dispatchers all talking on the same frequency, when would the officers have a chance to get a word in edgewise? They couldn't talk and listen at the same time, could they?

It generally worked OK, as again the officers were used to the system and they tended to keep their messages short and tried to monitor the radio pretty closely. In a way they had it tougher than we RTOs, though, as they had to listen to the constant babbling of up to five dispatchers - plus any wide-area or citywide emergency broadcasts- but pay closest attention to just their own RTO.

 

[KMA367]

With five different dispatchers all talking on the same frequency, when would the officers have a chance to get a word in edgewise? They couldn't talk and listen at the same time, could they?

The officers couldn't, since they had the typical "push-to-talk/release-to-listen" radio. But the RTOs could still hear their units while they were transmitting. You could be broadcasting a series of calls and if an officer had an urgent (or sometimes not-so-urgent) message you learned to get the gist of what he was saying, and either interrupt yourself to handle his request immediately, or keep on doing your broadcast and handle his message at the end.

Harry,

Out of curiosity, were the RTO's able to tell when another RTO was broadcasting so that THEY wouldn't step on each other? You alluded to the fact that the RTO's didn't have to listen to each other so this is why I ask. Perhaps a light on the dispatch panel that indicated a transmission was taking place...

Exactly, Mike. There was an interlock which prevented two RTOs from transmitting on the same frequency at once. When you wanted to transmit, you'd step on a foot pedal, and the "on the air" light (see pic below, if it displays OK) would be red if someone else was transmitting on your talk-out freq, dark if nobody was, and green when YOU had the air. When multiple RTOs needed the air, which was most of the time, it would rotate from one console to the next.

A couple other things in that picture: if necessary you could transmit on frequencies other than your own by using the TX freq selector buttons, but only on one at a time. Seldom done except in an emergency that required other parts of the city to hear it.

The round knobs on the status board each corresponded to one of your units. If they were "clear" (available) it would show green on top, and other statuses as I indicate. When someone's status changed, for instance if you gave them a radio call, you'd turn the knob accordingly. The buttons displayed identically on the other side, where the policeman is standing. The slots directly above each button held the ticket for the incident(s) that unit was currently on. This officer, he was actually called the "dispatcher," was the person who generally assigned specific units to each call and slipped the call ticket to the RTO through the slot next to the on-the-air light.

Many early episodes of Adam-12 showed the whole sequence at the beginning of each show, from the officers receiving the incoming calls and sending the ticket "down the chute," to the dispatcher/officer assigning it and giving it to the RTO for broadcast. This was filmed prior to 1969, though, as the RTOs were still using boom mics, the on-the-air buttons were different, and there was a toggle-switch on the desk rather than a foot pedal for TXing. In this typical episode, you can see the RTO's left hand pushing the switch forward and briefly getting the red "busy" light right before the scene switches to Reed & Malloy's car.

All of this equipment, and most of the procedures, went out the window when LAPD went to the CAD system in the new (and now abandoned) dispatch center in 1983.

 

[SCPD]

Just to add a little bit of information about the opening scenes of Adam-12. You will notice the RTO shown has a red transmit light on on the bottom of her console. The LEO dispatcher hands her a call form through the slot on the bottom of the console. She waits until the red light is out and then pushes the toggle switch on the desktop. Another RTO was transmitting and the RTO shown had to wait before transmitting her call.

Another thing you may have noticed is all the time stamp machines all over the room. They are similar to the old time clock punch that you would log into work with. They are loud. When listening to the LAPD in those days these machines were almost constantly making noise in the background.

Harry, your list is interesting. I seem to remember that the SF Valley divisions and West L.A. were on the same output frequency up to the time I moved away in 1973. The West L.A. transmissions were much stronger than the Valley transmissions and I did not hear any of the "two FM transmissions on the same frequency noise." I remember during the Sylmar earthquake in 1971 that I could hear broadcasts from the Valley about the Van Norman dam being close to breaking. A ham radio buddy of mine said that the West L.A. mobiles did not hear the Valley dispatch transmissions. He mentioned something that as I recall it now, could have been CTCSS being used so that each set of divisions did not have to hear each other. You would probably know.

On one of those "visit your local public safety facility days" (in L.A. I seem to remember you could visit PD and FD stations on the same day. Anyway, two buddies of mine and I decided to visit Parker Center. We were able to stand in the room where the call takers were answering the phones and putting the call forms into the slot that had a continuous loop of a rubber type material that cranked at a pretty good clip. The view from behind the RTO's station shows a black board. It was used to display situations that every call taker (all LEO's) needed to be aware of. Such things as some nut case calling in prowlers being around their house day and night, multiple times per day, or noting the address of an individual who had been hostile to officers in the past. There really wasn't enough room to cover everything. This seems really primitive compared to the computer access to the call history of each address.

Another thing we saw was the main working area of "R and I." I think it stood for "Records and Information." They had a large vertical file system with cards about 3" x 5". When an officer requested R and I on a subject or a vehicle or person, this went beyond a typical "wants and warrants" request. The R and I people had to look for individual cards to respond to the request and used some sort of manual retrieval system. As long as this process took, it compromised officer safety. I also understand that when an officer requested "DMV on ABC123" that departments had to call the DMV by phone or teletype, perhaps to Sacramento, and they had to look up the plate manually. There were computers available then but they used punch cards and languages such as FORTRAN and COBALT, and all the information had to come out on a printer. So maybe large departments had computers to accomplish this.

In my very early years with the Forest Service in Arizona our dispatchers had to call the county S.O. to run plates and the S.O. had a teletype machine to do this. In a couple of cases I requested the printed record and you could see that it was torn off a teletype. Very different from the paperless dispatching done now. I've applied and tested for a Caltrans dispatcher position in Bishop as well as a CHP dispatcher position in Bishop as well. I'm told you are not allowed to write information down on paper near your hands. It has to be typed into the computer. This would be a big adjustment for me.

The Adam-12 RTO that you hear though out the show was an actual LAPD RTO, and I think she worked in Van Nuys at the San Fernando Valley communications facility. I seem to remember that it was called "Control 9." I heard her often and she sounded just like she does in the show, no surprise. I heard a rumor that this Valley RTO was very attractive, but I might be wrong. Maybe Harry knows this too!

 

[SCPD]

Harry, I seem to remember visiting L.A. sometime in the early 80's and hearing a few people grumble about a bond measure that was going to fund the MDT's. Some people I talked to made statements about how this was an incredible luxury that police officers didn't need. I disagreed of course and the bond act obviously passed.

I remember about 4 or fewer LEO dispatchers that took the call slips out of the end of the conveyor belt and then assigned them to the various RTO's. They worked inside the horseshoe shaped console arrangement. They had the capability to transmit on all the frequencies as well. When they picked up a call form that was a hot call, they broadcast a hotshot call without giving it to an RTO first. This is why a man's voice broadcasted all the hotshot calls.

As I remember each PD division had an emergency phone number. I'm not sure if each call taker was only answering one division. Harry would likely know. I remember our old rotary phones having a sticker on them with the police emergency number and that of the fire department as well. They were not easy to memorize. Maybe Harry can shed some light on this topic as well.

It was incredible to stand and watch the entire operation. It was quite an orchestration of many people.

 

[Mike_G_D]

Thanks Harry and Fred! The information is fascinating as always!

-Mike

 

[lazypd]

Old LAPD

I started in 1978 and my first assignment out of the academy was working Communications. What a zoo.
The emergency phone number was 625-3311. We were so short handed that you were likely to get a recording when you called in. "You have reached the Los Angeles Police Department emergency line. All lines are busy. If this is an actual emergency and you need a police car sent, stay on the line, an officer will help you shortly. If you merely need advice, or have questions to be answered, look in your telephone directory for the police station in your area" - Thats how I remember it. I actually got to work the LINK- I was a minor celebrity with my peers. We had to hit a buzzer to tell the RTOs to stop transmitting when putting out a hot shot. My first pursuit was out of SW and the bad guy was in a powder blue Monte Carlo who kept going around the block until he T/Ad. Sorry to bore you all.

 

[dgower]

I started in 1978 and my first assignment out of the academy was working Communications. What a zoo.
The emergency phone number was 625-3311. We were so short handed that you were likely to get a recording when you called in. "You have reached the Los Angeles Police Department emergency line. All lines are busy. If this is an actual emergency and you need a police car sent, stay on the line, an officer will help you shortly. If you merely need advice, or have questions to be answered, look in your telephone directory for the police station in your area" - Thats how I remember it. I actually got to work the LINK- I was a minor celebrity with my peers. We had to hit a buzzer to tell the RTOs to stop transmitting when putting out a hot shot. My first pursuit was out of SW and the bad guy was in a powder blue Monte Carlo who kept going around the block until he T/Ad. Sorry to bore you all.

Well you didn't bore me! Thanks for the story, I bet you have a lot of them! Thanks for your service too, I'm sure you made the city a better place.

Take care!