tvengr
Well Known Member
What I heard was on low band. I believe the frequency was 39.96. I am sure it was her voice.
TV Show Emergency Station 51 Tones
- Thread starter SK63
- Start date
You probably heard a California Highway Patrol dispatcher if it was on 39MHz. As mentioned, during the time of the Emergency TV show LAPD was mostly on VHF hi band then they later moved to the UHF T band where they currently live.
LAFD had some low band allocations in the 70's, 33.94 was the main. Heard a plane crash one day when skip was really strong. Heard the entire incident in our dispatch center in NC from beginning to end. Went away when sun went down. Tower height helped
In the 70s nearly all LAFD was on VHF lo band. My father was a 30yr veteran of LAFD and retired around 1975 to Colorado. I set him up with a surplus military radio in the garage and he regularly listened to LAFD via skip which was very hot in the 70s.
ENGINEERCARL1
Member
My father was a LACoFD fireman (and then engineer) for 31 years. He said he never heard the QCII tones in the station, only the buzzer (unless the Captain was fooling around with the radio in his office). They could use the buzzer to signal for dinnertime too.
At night it was even more fun, because when the QCII tones would come through, the buzzer would go off and ALL the lights in the station would come on. Imagine that at 3:15 some morning when you're resting peacefully...
EC
That's the nature of the job and its not for everyone. As you gain seniority you migrate to stations that have less and less calls at night so by retirement time you have a more cushy job.
That frequency was more likely the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. They were on 39MHz at the time.
Low band makes more sense for that kind of skip that high band.
33.94 was an LAFD frequency during the 70s. The last mention of it I see in my old Police Call books is for "Los Angeles Disaster Preparedness" with no specific license shown. There is still a VHF lo band ground plane on a tower at a "signal office" that used to be exclusive to LAFD.
I also remember watching the Emergency show and with it being based on Los Angeles County fire dept and my father working for Los Angeles City fire dept, some of the ways of doing things were a bit different and I would always comment "they aren't doing it right!"
I also remember watching the Emergency show and with it being based on Los Angeles County fire dept and my father working for Los Angeles City fire dept, some of the ways of doing things were a bit different and I would always comment "they aren't doing it right!"
ENGINEERCARL1
Member
And that's exactly where he went. The minute he promoted he bid into a station where, instead of 3 calls a night, they ran on 3 calls a week.
EC
Imagine going back in time with a apx8000. Back in day patrols out there only had select few channels with outside agencies mainly detectives or the watch commanders had portable capabilities with areas outside one town or county. It's It's a long way in comms. There was numerous incidents which proved in late 70s and early 80s why more channel capacity was needed in equipment for mutual aide and interop between. Sad part is how many are going in reverse locking others out going back to just call dispatch it isn't isn't a delay in relay. Whomever thinks that never worked a day in field of reality.
nsrailfan6130
Member
I remember back in the 80s & 90s when a lot of the public safety agencies were still using vhf low. it was amazing what all you got during the tropo times. 33.940 did come out here to Michigan now and again and I think I may have heard some LA traffic on there.
Back about 1982, I think it was, skip got pretty strong at times.
On my Regency scanner (carrier squelch only), the California Highway Patrol channel for San Jose, CA - 42.28, I think it was - on a daily basis would come alive with dispatcher calls for units & locations I didn't recognize. Most of the time the dispatcher was a lady with the sweetest voice & Southern accent, very recognizable. First few times I was thinking, "CHP hired themselves a Southern gal. I wonder what she's doing in California?" I finally heard a callsign or something and found out I was hearing Springfield, Missouri. Maybe there was a fantasy or two destroyed about then, too.
On my Regency scanner (carrier squelch only), the California Highway Patrol channel for San Jose, CA - 42.28, I think it was - on a daily basis would come alive with dispatcher calls for units & locations I didn't recognize. Most of the time the dispatcher was a lady with the sweetest voice & Southern accent, very recognizable. First few times I was thinking, "CHP hired themselves a Southern gal. I wonder what she's doing in California?" I finally heard a callsign or something and found out I was hearing Springfield, Missouri. Maybe there was a fantasy or two destroyed about then, too.
A friend of mine, now retired, was as an LA County deputy sheriff in the late 1960's-1970's. His last assignment was the Montrose (now Crescenta Valley) station. It was a pretty quiet suburban station, with a patrol area that included a good part of the Angeles National Forest. LASD at that time was still on the 39 MHz system.
This was a different time with different attitudes. No cell phones. Late night/overnight shifts were pretty boring and some of the units had a "game" they would occasionally play to see how far they could get out of the area and still remain in radio contact with the LASD dispatcher. My friend and his partner set the unofficial record. It wasn't uncommon to get as far out as the Antelope Valley (Lancaster/Palmdale), which was still in Los Angeles County, but not in their station's area.
One quiet night, they ventured farther. To Victorville, which is in San Bernardino County. Reception with Station B (the dispatch center) was still 10-2, the night was young and the the radio was pretty quiet, so they kept driving. The radio was still 10-2 when they found themselves in Las
Vegas and figured it was time to head back home.
Yes, there was some splainin' to do back at the station, but nothing really serious.
This was a different time with different attitudes. No cell phones. Late night/overnight shifts were pretty boring and some of the units had a "game" they would occasionally play to see how far they could get out of the area and still remain in radio contact with the LASD dispatcher. My friend and his partner set the unofficial record. It wasn't uncommon to get as far out as the Antelope Valley (Lancaster/Palmdale), which was still in Los Angeles County, but not in their station's area.
One quiet night, they ventured farther. To Victorville, which is in San Bernardino County. Reception with Station B (the dispatch center) was still 10-2, the night was young and the the radio was pretty quiet, so they kept driving. The radio was still 10-2 when they found themselves in Las
Vegas and figured it was time to head back home.
Yes, there was some splainin' to do back at the station, but nothing really serious.
Eng74
Member
When my department was UHF an engineer at my station would always key the mic a couple times after a certain Batt Chief would talk on the radio, not during emergencies. He was in a county vehicle in Sacramento that had a radio and was picking up our main dispatch channel. The BC was on the radio then we heard a click, click, click and we knew who it was.
Fun fact - back when LASO was on 39 Mhz, they had ONE frequency for car to car - Frequency "Charlie" (39.480 Mhz).
That frequency is now used by the LASO EOC to put out LA County EAS alerts for the TV/Radio broadcasters. Tests are conducted on a monthly basis, with the next test scheduled for Tuesday July 26th. Listen between 10:15am - 10:30am. (10:25am if I were a bettin' man!).
ENGINEERCARL1
Member
Back when I was working at KFI we didn't really care (our EAS receiver was carrier squelch), but do you know if they PL that transmitter? I might have to remote into my SDS200 and find out.
EC
We actually use the same Station 51 Structure Fire Tone as ours. We just copied the audio file into the Phoenix G2 System we use for station alerting. I have used the Station 51 tones on my cell for "Important" Overtime calls, cha-ching, for 15 years. PM me and I can just send the ringtone files to any iPhone or Android device.
Actually, there were eventually three common car to car channels:
Charlie 39.489 MHz
Henry 39.600 MHz (helicopter to car)
Mary 39.520 MHz (mountain rescue and CP)
Plus a few others that were for detectives, admin, etc.
