...Does anyone know if Minneapolis police started out on VHF low band before going to high and then at some point to 460 MHz?
The earliest information I have run across was that Minneapolis Police calls came across WCCO 830 radio.
Similarly, Saint Paul Police call came across KSTP 1500 radio.
Neither of those, obviously, were two-way radio, yet.
Hibbing Police were the first to get police radio, according to some history I found. It, too, was one-way radio. The Chief of Police ordered the equipment removed after a couple of years. He declared that radio would never be an effective tool for law enforcement!
A big portion of the state was on VHF low-band years ago. It was 45 mHz. All carrier squelch.
My best guess is that they were, indeed, on VHF low band, originally. Maybe 39 mHz.
Eventually, they switched to VHF high band. When the Montgomery Report came out, they recommended four agencies switch to the "new" UHF band. They were Minneapolis Police, Saint Paul Police, Airport Police and University of Minnesota Police on 460.xxx. The other 460.xxxs were not for dispatch, but other uses. That would include Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and Ramsey County Sheriff's Office 460.xxx assignments.
Minneapolis Police Dispatcher Gordon Rabb tests the new 2-way radio system. The one-way radio system was used in Minneapolis from approximately 1930, until this system was purchased in early 1937....
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The 1935 Ford is the first Minneapolis police car to be equipped with a 2-way radio, however a finalized system wasn't purchased until 1937, which is shown in the 2nd photo being used. A one-way...
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Then and now. The Minneapolis police dispatch center in 1963 consisted of a maximum of two dispatchers and the complaint (call) taker in far left rear in 1st photo. He wrote up a card and sent it on...
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