TV Show Emergency Station 51 Tones

PaulNDaOC

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I can share my personal observations from two County Fire stations back in the 70's.
15's had one of the first SCU base units issued and over the station speakers you would hear only most of the second tone for their station followed by any other tone -outs that were selected as well as a bell that would ring for about three seconds.
At 59's, which received a new unit when Whittier was merged into the Consolidated FPD, the second tone would cause the unit to open up and send out a high pitched alert tone lasting several seconds. No part of the two-tone or radio channel was heard until the alert tone ended. They did not have a bell or klaxon.

I went in to a good number of stations in the mid 70's and into the early 80's and it would be very unusual if the station radio would have been on. If the BC was at the station he would likely have his HT with him. Radio traffic was never ending so I think it would become a nuisance real quick
 
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PaulNDaOC

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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.
During the Emergency show, CHP was still only on 42 mhz. LASD had all the 39 mhz freqs here.
 

PaulNDaOC

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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.
That's a true story.I was shown a picture of the car years after the fact taken while it was sitting on the Las Vegas Strip. I think there was an arrangement with the station dispatcher to keep the unit clear that night.
 

mckinscan

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??? Web site is still there and full of audio files
Last time I was on that emergencyfans.com it was showing the domain expired and last time I talk to Ekria the site owner she told me she was thinking about take the site down since it haven't been updated in awhile and she let me download few stuff from the site except for the copyright stuff so I choose the sound files so she much decide to renew the domain
 

steve9570

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I thought it was KMG-365 or am I wrong? Any way I loved that show!
 

steve9570

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Thanks I dont have it just Cozi tv but I watch when I can anyway.
 

nokones

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The skip was probably from the LASD back in the day. The Sheriff was on Lowband (39 MHz). The LAPD, both LA City & County Fire were on VHF Highband.

If skip from LAPD was reaching Baltimore that was probably during the 50s when LAPD was on AM freqs like around 1600 KHz (KCs back in the day).

All of Jack Webb Production shows were to detail and yes real dispatchers were used and had to be card carrying Screen Actor Guild members. The Production used Technical Advisors that were real Police and Fire personnel.

Real Dispatchers and Technical Advisors (CHP Officers) were also used in the early CHIPS series.
 

nokones

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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.
Back in the day, the CHP was on 42 Megs except for the old CHP Freq used in Central LA. The old CHP Black freqs was a 45 Meg freq pair(S ch. 45.86/C ch. 45.02) and they has to have two radios in the cars so they can have the Statewide Blue Freq. The M/Cs were SOL for having the Blue freq.

The Sheriff was on 39 Megs.
 

nokones

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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!"
The 33 Meg freq was associated/paired with a 154 MHz freq. I don't remember how it was used or if it was something special for CalOES.
 

nokones

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If I remember, there was no real County Fire Station 51. The station that you saw on the show was the Station in Carson along side the San Diego Freeway.
 

kny2xb

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All of Jack Webb Production shows were to detail and yes real dispatchers were used and had to be card carrying Screen Actor Guild members. The Production used Technical Advisors that were real Police and Fire personnel.

Real Dispatchers and Technical Advisors (CHP Officers) were also used in the early CHIPS series.
Mike Stoker was a LACoFD firefighter, Sam Lanier was a LACoFD dispatcher, Shaaron Claridge was an LAPD dispatcher in Adam-12, I read that her voice appeared in movies & other TV shows
 
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