Ontario Public Safety before trunking

[Thatsclear]

I just got into monitoring public safety and of course almost all municipalities are now on trunking systems. My question is; before these trunked systems went into service what band did most police/fire around Ontario use when they were conventional? mostly, VHF? UHF? Thanks.

 

[mciupa]

VHF Low and VHF High Band

 

[Thatsclear]

Thanks very much!

 

[torontokris]

Toronto Police was 800mhz conventional right before the [analog approx early 2000's] trunking system was in place.
Each division had their own frequency.

 

[ATCTech]

In fact, a very large percentage of the current provincial Bell Fleetnet VHF frequencies were individual department assignments, most analog and on repeaters in the more heavily populated areas. This was prior to anybody being up in the 800 MHz range including the original analog cellular networks, and as mciupa mentioned VHF low band (let's call it 40-43 MHz) was OPP radio territory across Ontario. We're talking 1970s to early 1990s for most of those band assignments.

 

[mrweather]

When did OPP leave low-band? I want to say late 1980's as I have a picture of a 9C1 Caprice cruiser from 1990 with a 1/4 wave VHF-hi antenna on the roof.

 

[ATCTech]

Anybody remember when they jumped from VHF Low band to the old 140 MHz NOR system, pre-Fleetnet? The tower on 9th line south of Georgetown went up to support their first high band system I'm thinking mid-80s? It's all a blur as it seems so long ago!

The tower is still visible on Google Street View as of late 2018: Google Maps

 

[mikewazowski]

The test bed for the NOR system came out around spring 1984. They ran into issues using leased transport between the sites and ended up having to put out a tender for a microwave system. That took a few years and while they were waiting, the Motorola and OPP Comm Techs used it as their own private system. You could hear them during their commutes to and from work each day. Georgetown was one of the busier sites.

Not sure when the system was released for use but I remember Mount Forest moving over around 1987 so I assume southwest Ontario was sooner.

 

[ATCTech]

Thanks Mike!

Bob

 

[mikewazowski]

No problem. I was in school at the time and remember starting to hear the MDC600 squawks just before summer. I think the next year I was able to request a copy of the mw tender documents which provided me with a nice tower map.

 

[mrweather]

Not sure when the system was released for use but I remember Mount Forest moving over around 1987 so I assume southwest Ontario was sooner.

I grew up in Windsor and I got my first scanner (BC175XL) in 1987. The fake woodgrain case was a nice touch.

I know I was listening to OPP on 42 MHz well into 1988.

 

[gary123]

I have to admit I miss the old style scanners with the shifting LED channel indicators.

 

[ATCTech]

I actually sold my original (and only) crystal-tuned 16 channel scanner to the Halton County Sheriff's department in 1978 when I bought my first programmable model. Having 50 programmable memories was like having Lesmith (the crystal making company in Oakville at the time) at my 24/7 beck and call.

 

[gary123]

I bought a couple of the Radioshack Comp100's programmable but with the scanning LED's. I even remember having to modify the diode matrix math to cover down to 142. I bet a lot if us remember the early scanners not covering 142 and having to catch the transmissions 21.4 Mhz higher on the image.

 

[ATCTech]

I bought a couple of the Radioshack Comp100's programmable but with the scanning LED's. I even remember having to modify the diode matrix math to cover down to 142. I bet a lot if us remember the early scanners not covering 142 and having to catch the transmissions 21.4 Mhz higher on the image.

That's the one radio that never appeared in the regular catalog. I was with Radio Shack from late 1977 to 1982 and we never had one in the store. For the masses that may not know that model, here it is: RadioPics Database - RadioShack/Realistic - COMP-100

 

[Jay911]

My father was a firefighter in Pickering in the 70s and 80s and they used 153.860 as "Frequency 3", which was for all of Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, and Oshawa FDs. Pager tests at 1800 every night were the evening entertainment! As well as of course, "Whitby XJH409, Tiiime check to all stations....... Twelvehunnerdhours."