RCMP in Manitoba before FleetNet

[KA0XR]

This question may be a bit irrelevant at this day in age, but does anyone know what the RCMP used for radio frequencies in Manitoba before the 800 MHz Bell FleetNet System was built?
I would imagine conventional analog VHF, but curious whether high band or low band, and repeaters or just linked base stations?

I am specifically interested in what was used across the remote northern parts of the province (Thompson/Flin Flon/Churchill/Gillam, etc.) and also what kind of coverage they might have had with whatever pre-800 MHz system they were using.

 

[BC_Scan]

It was all VHF 142 + 155 MHz , Thompson 155.55, Gillam 155.58.
While I never listened in, maybe linked due to coverage area's Flin Flon on 155.64 and Churchill 155.64.

 

[jets1961]

Actually, they had some links in the 142 band. But all repeaters were in the 155-156 band with inputs in the 154 and 159 range. I will see if I can find my old list, but I kind of doubt it

 

[KA0XR]

Thank you for the interesting historical information. I bet that VHF required far fewer antenna sites than the Bell FleetNet system that succeeded it.

I visited Northern Manitoba a few years ago and it is definitely a wild place outside of the few cities and main roads. I suppose that in addition to radio coverage in the cities, the RCMP (and highway crews?) had VHF radio coverage along the various provincial highways, such as between Thompson & Lynn Lake and Thompson & Gillam.

 

[jets1961]

Yes they were wide area repeaters. They used some DTMF signalling to open and close dispatch monitoring as I recall. Sometime a repeater on the same frequencies would duct through and they would sometimes comment on if.

I recall these:


155.550
155.640
155.700
155.580
155.880 (I think)
155.280 Ch 6
155.670 sim CH 9 I think
155.460
155.250
156.060
156.240

There were 16 channels in total and I was once in GP car where one of the channels was blanked so it had 15 channels.

 

[Jay911]

That sounds very similar to PACS (Province of Alberta Comms System) frequency allocations that the RCMP in K Div used. It was recently delisted in Alberta after the system was shut down in favor of the new P25 trunk. @mciupa would know if the lists are still available in the DB/wiki somewhere.

 

[georgesharpe]

Back in '78, 155.555, the Gordon Repeater was used, and was the main Winnipeg area channel. I rarely bothered to listen to it. Most of the traffic was pretty boring, but one day, (The day of the Guyana Jonestown Massacre), I hear a media alert that gave the names of a father and son, who drowned while duck hunting in the Oak Hammock Marsh, after they had notified the next of kin. Boy was I shocked! I had known them all my life.

Shortly after that time, I moved away from my hometown for good, to take on work as a global consultant.

 

[novascotian]

Just as a point of interest, at one time the RCMP in all the provinces in which it served as the provincial police used frequencies in the 154 to 156 range. Some of them were pretty much standard across the country such as the 155.67 simplex channel and 155.70 output/154.95 input for repeaters. There were several other frequencies used in some of the provinces but in all. I recall driving from BC east across the Prairies and hearing the RCMP the whole way to Manitoba on the 155 MHz frequencies.

 

[kayn1n32008]

I don’t ever recall the RCMP using 15x.xxx in BC. The Island is 142/141.xxx and everywhere else is 139.xxx Outside of the CREST/ECOMM trunk systems. This goes back to the early 1990’s.

Just as a point of interest, at one time the RCMP in all the provinces in which it served as the provincial police used frequencies in the 154 to 156 range. Some of them were pretty much standard across the country such as the 155.67 simplex channel and 155.70 output/154.95 input for repeaters. There were several other frequencies used in some of the provinces but in all. I recall driving from BC east across the Prairies and hearing the RCMP the whole way to Manitoba on the 155 MHz frequencies.

 

[novascotian]

Yes you are right that the RCMP used frequencies in the 139 - 141 range, more or less but that was after having used the 155 range. When I first began monitoring back in the 70's it was the 155 range.

 

[harryshute]

When BC left 155 MHz it was soon after the 1983 invasion in Grenada. They gave Grenada the old radios when setting up their new police force. When I went to Grenada I took all the B.C. frequencies with me but drat, they had re-programmed them so I had to search for them.

 

[VE5JL]

Manitoba too. 155.55 was always programmed in. Not always active.

 

[KA0XR]

Interesting information! Thank you for the answers about historical Manitoba frequency usage.

This may be going too far back, but were any RCMP Divisions ever on VHF Low Band like the various state highway patrols in the US were at the outset of 2 way radio?
Or did the RCMP always start out on VHF High Band? I've read that to cover large rural areas VHF Low Band can have better range over VHF High Band. My own limited amateur radio experience is that 6m and 2m seem equal range-wise, all things being equal.