TapOut Channel For LAFD

[es93546]

I'm old. So my "years" were a bit "off". I knew that "Towering Inferno" was 1974, thought that the FIB fire was earlier than that. In any case, th move to 800 MHz, far as I know, was to make communications inside of such buildings more effective. Anyway, thanks for correcting me on the timeline.

I'm old too, but I do remember that LAFD had some UHF frequencies in the UHF-T band, right around 505 MHz or so. The first 9 channels were VHF-Low and channels 10-? were UHF. I think the handhelds were UHF and the apparatus all had one VHF-Low radio and one UHF radio. All the comms with dispatch ("OCD") were on VHF-Low. I'm coming up on the 50th anniversary of leaving L.A. so this is all subject to my always aging memory.

 

[EMTJD]

I'm old too, but I do remember that LAFD had some UHF frequencies in the UHF-T band, right around 505 MHz or so. The first 9 channels were VHF-Low and channels 10-? were UHF. I think the handhelds were UHF and the apparatus all had one VHF-Low radio and one UHF radio. All the comms with dispatch ("OCD") were on VHF-Low. I'm coming up on the 50th anniversary of leaving L.A. so this is all subject to my always aging memory.

I don't remember any 500 MHz channels, but I read the earlier post that mentioned that. I didn't know that those channels went to LAPD, so I learned something. It was probably during the time that I was living in Orange County and hadn't been following LAPD for a long time. I loved the "old" LAFD, back in the "OCD" days. Dispatch on VHF-Low, and Firegrounds on UHF. Everything worked. It still does. I just miss the old system.

 

[ladn]

I'm old too, but I do remember that LAFD had some UHF frequencies in the UHF-T band, right around 505 MHz or so.

Correct. The first changeover was to add UHF-T channels. Division Tac channels were 1-3. Central Bureau paramedic dispatch was 5. I don't remember the rest. I believe thesse frequency assignments eventually went to LAPD after the 800 MHz system was fully implemented.

 

[jland138]

Here's the LAFD line up from the 1976 SoCal edition of Police Call:


The 1988 edition:


And 1992 edition:

The line up didn't change these exact years, but you can get an idea of how things moved towards today's LAFD system.

 

[AM909]

Monitoring Times, p. 107 (109 in the PDF) talks about the 800 system being in use by then. That was the earliest ref I found in that publication.

 

[Progline]

I remember seeing an old copy of POLICE CALL shortly after the transition from 33Mc to T-Band. The inital transition had problems with the voting receiver system, and the term "You got Digicommed" became commonplace to describe units in the field having radio problems. Growing up, my next door neighbor was an LAFD big-shot and the trunk of his car was stuffed with radios at the time (Motorola Micors, Syntors, etc.....huge chassis).

 

[es93546]

Here's the LAFD line up from the 1976 SoCal edition of Police Call:
View attachment 142808

The 1988 edition:
View attachment 142811

And 1992 edition:
View attachment 142812
The line up didn't change these exact years, but you can get an idea of how things moved towards today's LAFD system.

Many thanks for these references. They prove that my memory isn't that good. This change to the UHF-T channels happened after I left L.A. in 1973 for the last time (spent a semester at Northern Arizona University, but had to return while taking one semester off and spent a summer working at Sequoia-Kings NP). I didn't have a programmable scanner until 1979 and set the old Regency crystal unit aside (VHF High only). When you program and use a scanner on various systems the numbers and channel designations tend to get burned into the brain long term when you live in an area for several years. I only scanned the LAFD when home for Christmas and other family visits to southern California. I remember the old UHF-T, VHF-Low channel combination quite well though. I didn't get an 800 capable radio until 1982 so I could listen to Caltrans District 9. When I visited the only 800 I remember was Caltrans District 7 and it wasn't very busy at the time. Because I was a long term contributor to "Police Call" Gene sent me the set of all 9 books each year. However, I did not buy the "Southern California Detail Police Call" book every year. I bought and kept the last edition (2003) though. OK, enough recollection I must quit!

 

[PdxPaul]

Wasn't the old LAFD Low-Band system alert tone the best ever? The Motorola warble will never come close.