Los Angeles County FD - radio history

[zerg901]

starting to pull together info on the history of the Los Angeles County Fire Department radios systems

1930 - iirc they had a very early radio license for the ?Forest Fire Warden Dept? - maybe ?610? kc AM - (need to confirm that)

1949 - have FCC radio license for 154.43 - 524 North Spring St - 110 mobiles - "KHQE" - per https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-FM-Magazine/FM-1949-07.pdf

1955 - seek 2nd radio frequency - have some portable radios - starting to use selective calling to alert some stations - have several dispatch centers - have several mountain top radio sites - per 2015 November new - CA - 1955 - LA County FD comms

1979 - use these channels -
Freq 1 - Central - 154.43
Freq 2 - Valley - 154.34
Freq 3 - Antelope and West - 154.40
Freq 4 - (??? maybe 153.83 mobiles and portables only ??? - just a swag)
Tac 5 - 154.295
Tac 6 - 154.28 - mutual aid with Downey
(per 1979 Visiting Fireman)

1982 ish - 154.295 is primary response channel in central area - (iirc - based on monitoring via scanner)

1992 - use VHF and UHF - per Los Angeles County Calif Fire - 1992 Wireless Comms Guidebook

2010 approx - added repeaters at 152 Mhz

 

[zerg901]

"KFPR" - Los Angeles County Forestry Department - 500 watts - 230.6
wavelength - 1,200 kilocycles - per Radiophone Broadcasting Stations of the United States (1922)

knew I saw that somewhere!

 

[zerg901]

CA LA County FD Comms Guidebook 1992 Pg 9 : Los Angeles County Fire Department : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

And there we have it - 153.83 was Tac 4 - that was probably the channel that Johnny and Roy were on 50% of the time - they also could use 154.28, 154.265, 154.295, and 154.16 (OES Tac 1) as Tac channels

------------

In 1992 they had Mobile Data Terminals - unknown exactly when they were first used

 

[zerg901]

per TV show "Emergency!" ... circa 1975 ....each engine and each squad had 1 mobile radio and 1 portable radio ... fire stations were alerted / paged via radio / SCU (selective calling unit] ... each fire station had a base radio to verbally acknowledge the pages ... squads also had a "Biophone" on 463 Mhz to talk to hospitals about medical matters ... possibly the mobile radios were connected to the electronic sirens in the vehicles to use the public address feature of the sirens when needed

==============

Googling Biophone and SCU will lead to more info no doubt

 

[prcguy]

I did some part time repair work on Biophones in the early 80s.

per TV show "Emergency!" ... circa 1975 ....each engine and each squad had 1 mobile radio and 1 portable radio ... fire stations were alerted / paged via radio / SCU (selective calling unit] ... each fire station had a base radio to verbally acknowledge the pages ... squads also had a "Biophone" on 463 Mhz to talk to hospitals about medical matters ... possibly the mobile radios were connected to the electronic sirens in the vehicles to use the public address feature of the sirens when needed

==============

Googling Biophone and SCU will lead to more info no doubt

 

[f40ph]

CA LA County FD Comms Guidebook 1992 Pg 9 : Los Angeles County Fire Department : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Interesting to read. Funny how far we've come with the interop portion between agencies. There's some typos (CALCORD's freq) - hopefully that was a typo and not a programming error. Some "CDF" freqs from the San Bern Co side that were never "CDF". Most likely LAC wasn't very knowledgeable about San Bern County back then.

 

[zerg901]

Police Interceptor.Com ... lots of info here on the SCU ... the tones work ... I just played Station 60

LA County Fire new station SCU alert unit ... 2012 info on new SCU etc

 

[ColoradoRedlands]

fire stations were alerted / paged via radio / SCU (selective calling unit]

I used to visit dispatch back in those days when I was a teenager and they were very nice in tolerating me. I can't remember which shift I usually visited, but it was the one where they used to show to back of the dispatcher's head during dispatches on EMERGENCY.

I also remember that all the stations were paged by SELCAL except for the 2 or 3 stations in East LA that were geographically near dispatch. Those had a landline ringdown type alert instead.

This was all when LASD dispatch was still in the downtown Hall of Justice using 39Mhz and before they built SRC up the hill from Fire HQ.

 

[Kingscup]

More in depth look into the radio history of the LACoFD.

L.A. County—America's Fastest Growing Fire Department

MANY jokes are made about everything growing big in Southern California, but the area’s phenomenal growth is no laughing matter for harried officials responsible for the protection of life and property. Fire services, of course, are among the most important and therefore, it is certainly no...

www.fireengineering.com

Communications for 2,000 Square Miles in L.A. County

Los Angeles County Fire Department has many problems in providing communications facilities for more than 2,000 of the county’s 4,083 square miles. The department uses 127 pumpers, 12 aerial trucks, 23 rescue squads, three helicopters and two fireboats operating from 113 stations to protect...

www.fireengineering.com

Los Angeles County Starts Dispatching Consolidation

The Los Angeles County Fire Department has one of the most complex communications problems of any fire agency. With more than 4400 square miles to cover, the department is constantly seeking to improve communications and dispatching over an area with more than a dozen telephone exchanges, three...

www.fireengineering.com

 

[Kingscup]

1979 - use these channels -
Freq 1 - Central - 154.43
Freq 2 - Valley - 154.34
Freq 3 - Antelope and West - 154.40
Freq 4 - (??? maybe 153.83 mobiles and portables only ??? - just a swag)
Tac 5 - 154.295
Tac 6 - 154.28 - mutual aid with Downey
(per 1979 Visiting Fireman)

From my recollection, freq. 1-5 (not sure about 6) started off as frequency 1-5 then the name changed to TAC 1-5 in the early 80s. Mid 80s, the names changed again to White 1-5 until the full switchover to the blue system.

1982 ish - 154.295 is primary response channel in central area - (iirc - based on monitoring via scanner)

I was told this frequency came online in the mid to late 70 from a LACoFD firefighter.

In 1992 they had Mobile Data Terminals - unknown exactly when they were first used

I am sure this must have been a several year process. Installing MDTs battalion by battalion along with other behind the scenes processes. I remember reading in Firehouse magazine that in March of 1992, LA sent out a message to all MDTs that personnel had to acknowledge via the MDT. Over 90% acknowledged it in a short period of time so my guess is they started to fully use the MDTs shortly after that.

 

[Kingscup]

Some "CDF" freqs from the San Bern Co side that were never "CDF". Most likely LAC wasn't very knowledgeable about San Bern County back then.

I am sure it was more for simplicity as most firefighters don’t care if it is a county or state frequency and as “CDF” was the San Bernardino County Fire Department back then.

 

[tkenny53]

Back in the days, there was this bible for southern california, this had it all. Some of the info was misleading as to trick copywrite issues

Gene Hughes Police Call Frequency Guide: Codes, Maps, Trunking.

 

[zerg901]

thanks Kingscup for posting the 3 articles ... I will summarize the radio info

July 1955 article

the new San Gabriel Valley Dispatch Center recently opened ; it is located near Eng 57 in El Monte and serves the NE area of LA County

Battalion Chiefs have multiple portable radios

The Dispatch Center at HQ is underground and it dispatches for West Hollywood, East LA, SE and SW .. it handles all radio comms except in Batt 5 and Batt 6

The Newhall Dispatch Center in Batt 6 covers the NW area of the county and has a remote transmitter at Pine Canyon

there is 1 receiver site in the Verdugo Hills

there are base stations on Castro Peak and Oat Mtn

==============

July 1969 article

there are 5 dispatch centers ... HQ + San Gabriel Valley + Malibu + Soledad (Saugus / Newhall area + Antelope (between Lancaster and Palmdale]

there are 8 radio bases ... they are linked by microwave using 2 Ghz and 6 Ghz

LA HQ uses Freq 1

Valley uses Freq 2

Malibu / Soledad / Antelope uses Freq 3

2 remote radio sites have 3 multi freq transmitters each (allowing multi dispatch centers to use the sites at the same time]

the rest of the radio sites have one multi freq transmitter each

300 handi talkies are in use

seeking one more channel at 150 Mhz

have 2 hilltop repeaters (?FB2T] and 2 mobile comms vans

===============

July 1972 article

Soledad Dispatch was recently merged into Antelope Dispatch

in Batt 6 all dispatch is now done via radio

Antelope Dispatch controls all radio base sites in B6 and B11 via microwave ... sites are at Oat Mtn + Tejon Peak + Hauser Peak + Porter Ridge + Antelope Dispatch Center

there are 4 dispatch centers for Los Angeles County Fire Department as of 1972 ; HQ + Malibu + San Gabriel + Antelope

==============

overall ... the radio system was fairly simple in this era ... vhf simplex channels with mtn top base sites linked via microwave to the dispatch centers ... and maybe with 153.83 serving as the countywide fireground channel (primarily so the dispatchers would not have to listen to broken up HT traffic 24/7] ... ColoradoRedlands, can you comment on that at all? Do you remember dispatchers complaining about noisy HTs at all?

 

[f40ph]

Back in the days, there was this bible for southern california, this had it all. Some of the info was misleading as to trick copywrite issues

Gene Hughes Police Call Frequency Guide: Codes, Maps, Trunking.

I completely forgot about the copywrite "protection" in those guides. Very slick idea. That would explain the minor errors that didn't really affect anything.

 

[ladn]

I completely forgot about the copywrite "protection" in those guides. Very slick idea. That would explain the minor errors that didn't really affect anything.

This was also a common tactic among cartographers back in the days of paper street maps. They'd misspell a street name or add an extra street to detect copyright infringement.

 

[SBSteve]

Circa 1982, from memory, not conclusive:
Valley - 154.340
Basin - 154.430
Antelope - 154.400

Might have which one was which confused.

TAC was there, maybe: 153.830

 

[PaulNDaOC]

Back in the 70's Freq 4 was 154.265

Stations 55, 129, and 60 did not have SCU's. Antelope Dispatch was at Sta 129. 55 and 60 received their calls directly.Malibu

The main transmit site for L.A. was Rolling Hills except for calls for station 32 (City Terrace) and 83 then the dispatcher would use the site at HQ. When Malibu switched over from Antelope Dispatch Bn 5 calls usually were dispatched off Castro Pk.

Valley Dispatch usually used Johnstone

Antelope used Hauser Pk for Antelope Valley, Tejon for the Gorman, Sandberg, Pine Valley Area, and Oat Mtn for Bn 6 Santa Clarita Valley

 

[PaulNDaOC]

thanks Kingscup for posting the 3 articles ... I will summarize the radio info

July 1955 article

the new San Gabriel Valley Dispatch Center recently opened ; it is located near Eng 57 in El Monte and serves the NE area of LA County

Battalion Chiefs have multiple portable radios

The Dispatch Center at HQ is underground and it dispatches for West Hollywood, East LA, SE and SW .. it handles all radio comms except in Batt 5 and Batt 6

The Newhall Dispatch Center in Batt 6 covers the NW area of the county and has a remote transmitter at Pine Canyon

there is 1 receiver site in the Verdugo Hills

there are base stations on Castro Peak and Oat Mtn

==============

July 1969 article

there are 5 dispatch centers ... HQ + San Gabriel Valley + Malibu + Soledad (Saugus / Newhall area + Antelope (between Lancaster and Palmdale]

there are 8 radio bases ... they are linked by microwave using 2 Ghz and 6 Ghz

LA HQ uses Freq 1

Valley uses Freq 2

Malibu / Soledad / Antelope uses Freq 3

2 remote radio sites have 3 multi freq transmitters each (allowing multi dispatch centers to use the sites at the same time]

the rest of the radio sites have one multi freq transmitter each

300 handi talkies are in use

seeking one more channel at 150 Mhz

have 2 hilltop repeaters (?FB2T] and 2 mobile comms vans

===============

July 1972 article

Soledad Dispatch was recently merged into Antelope Dispatch

in Batt 6 all dispatch is now done via radio

Antelope Dispatch controls all radio base sites in B6 and B11 via microwave ... sites are at Oat Mtn + Tejon Peak + Hauser Peak + Porter Ridge + Antelope Dispatch Center

there are 4 dispatch centers for Los Angeles County Fire Department as of 1972 ; HQ + Malibu + San Gabriel + Antelope

==============

overall ... the radio system was fairly simple in this era ... vhf simplex channels with mtn top base sites linked via microwave to the dispatch centers ... and maybe with 153.83 serving as the countywide fireground channel (primarily so the dispatchers would not have to listen to broken up HT traffic 24/7] ... ColoradoRedlands, can you comment on that at all? Do you remember dispatchers complaining about noisy HTs at all?

There was not a fireground channel in the 70's and into the early 80's until LA Dispatch got so busy, F-1 was paired down for dispatch use only, and F-5 was the freq for response. I can recall a three-alarm fire in West Hollywood one night where dispatch is toning out calls right over the fireground attack radio traffic. It's just the way it was done back then.
153.83 was never a thing until much later as it was a freq that belonged to Glendale FD f-4 was 154.265.
The mobile radio were five freq radios back then.