CHP Car Antenna

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wcrock01

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I drove this week from San Francisco to Reno to see the air show, and noticed a couple of CHP cars on I-80 in Placer County carrying a thick black antenna about 4 feet tall. This was in addition to the usual complement including the usual 42 MHz whip. Any idea what this is for?
 

Mick

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Breaker 1 9

Hello. I've known a lot of guys in that area who like to use CB antennas and I wonder if that's what you saw?
 

hotdjdave

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Where was this antenna mounted? Roof? Trunk? Side of the car (like the 42 MHz whip)?

Was there a base and how big was it?

Was there a center load or base load?

Four feet, you say? Are you sure? That is almost as tall as the car itself. If this was mounted on the roof, that means the antenna would be over eight feet in the air.
 
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RolnCode3

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I've been noticing they have the NMO roof-mounted 42Mhz antenna, then the thick side-mounted (mounted to a quarter panel) antenna. I was wondering the same thing. There's a white slick-top rolling around Sacramento that has the same thing going on...well, I think it has the NMO mounted roof in addition to the quarter-panel one.
 

nhp9943

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If it is on the pass. side q-panel and is a ball and spring mount. It is a CB antenna. They are using the Antenna Specialist mount and the firestick antenna in black or white depending on the color of the car. Now you know.
 

Emoney250

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CHP new radio system?

My local news (Redding, CA) said California has approved $50 milion to upgrade CHP radios statewide. Anyone know what kind/type of system this may be? 800 Mhz? Digital?

thanks
 

RolnCode3

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Emoney250 said:
My local news (Redding, CA) said California has approved $50 milion to upgrade CHP radios statewide. Anyone know what kind/type of system this may be? 800 Mhz? Digital?

thanks
50 Mil isn't nearly enough for a statewide upgrade to a new type of system. Probably just newer lowband equipment, as has been discussed in other threads.
 
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I saw this over at one the monterey dispatcher web site for the chp radio system

http://www.mbay.net/~wb6nvh/CHP2001.htm

Following 9/11/2001, in addition to M-16/AR-15 rifles, some divisions are equipping their cars with additional radios to allow direct coordination with local agencies on their channels, which are typically VHF highband, something which was frowned upon in years past but which is considered vital today. In those cases, the CHP has installed the trunk-mounted Kenwood TK-730 VHF highband mobile radio package, usually on top of the antenna relay box for the scanner. The Kenwood control head is then mounted on the center console box between the Bearcat scanner and the laptop computer base. See typical trunk installation below

ANTENNAS:

At the present time, the standard CHP antenna configuration for the communications radios is a roof mounted Antenna Specialists loaded whip for 42 MHz and a glass mounted Antenna Specialists VHF 154 MHz antenna for the extender repeater. Some installations are still using a roof mounted 1/4 wave VHF antenna for the extender rather than the glass mounted version. The ball and spring mount, so familiar in the 1960's through 1990's, has been discontinued although it may still be found on some special vehicles. There is usually also a glass mounted 800 MHz antenna for use with the mobile laptop computer for data applications, but this setup varies throughout the state and is not present in all vehicles.
 

wcrock01

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Thanks for the info, that's exactly what I saw, the chunky black antenna on the right rear quarter panel. That's one hefty antenna! It's almost as much fun these days to try to identify all the radio equipment vehicles carry. I was out visiting from Illinois and sure did wish I had my 396, but I'm a little bit unsure about trying to bring it on the plane these days. The antennas on the IHP cars have significantly multiplied especially around Chicago, they carry an EDACS system for Chicago area, the old 42MHz system and are now adding a state-wide P-25 system in addition to whatever county mutual aid radios, mobile repeaters, data radios, etc., etc. There's probably $20k worth of com gear in cars these days!
 

OpSec

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proquist96 said:
Why do the CHP use such a low freq? (39-42mhz) Is there a specific reason?

There are several reasons:

1.) They have used lowband for many decades. Old habits die hard
2.) Overall, it's a good choice for the varied terrain in the state
3.) Any type of upgrade from lowband would run 100's of millions of $$

Recently, CHP has been adding Kenwood VHF high/UHF and/or 800 TRS radios in the cruisers as needed to communicate with allied agencies. I've also noticed that the glass mount cellular antenna for the data system has begun to disapper in favor of a dual band 860/1900 MHz "salt shaker" can antenna mounted on the right rear quad of the roof. I've not seen if the VHF glass mount for the mobile extender (repeater) is still there, or a can antenna as well.
 
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Benmin

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RolnCode3 said:
I've been noticing they have the NMO roof-mounted 42Mhz antenna, then the thick side-mounted (mounted to a quarter panel) antenna. I was wondering the same thing. There's a white slick-top rolling around Sacramento that has the same thing going on...well, I think it has the NMO mounted roof in addition to the quarter-panel one.

If I might say, The slick whites you see are commercial officers. They all, including the commercial pickups that you see have CB access. They use it to monitor CB comms on the roads and to assist truckers.

Cheers. I have seen more of the slick whites, in the Sac area. We had one here in the Coastal Division but then it went North.

Hope that this helps...
 

hotdjdave

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proquist96 said:
Why do the CHP use such a low freq? (39-42mhz) Is there a specific reason?
Actually, many state troopers/highway patrol agencies use low band VHF. VHF-low is optimal for long range communications using mobiles and base units without the use of repeaters (for the most part).
 

nhp9943

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Not here in AZ, Here we have a statewide UHF 460 system fully repeated for your listening pleasure.
 
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