mmisk
Member
Who remembers: 42.06 and 42.22?
Times sure have changed!
Times sure have changed!
Who remembers: 42.06 and 42.22?
- Thread starter mmisk
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nd5y
Member
I used to hear OPP here in Texas every summer, sometimes I even heard them and the Missouri State Highway Patrol complain about interfering with eachother.
Didn't you also have 41.96 and 42.02 out Ottawa way?
mmisk
Member
it was the OPP
Yes, it was the OPP, I recall I could hear the comms from Pembroke to Kingston to Hawksbury using my 65 ft tower here in Ottawa. I also remember the comms from the state police in the summer.
I don't recall the 41.96 frequency but I was not aware of it. Low band sure is dead up here now.
I had built a VHF engineering kit for low band with two crystal controlled channels for the OPP.
Yes, it was the OPP, I recall I could hear the comms from Pembroke to Kingston to Hawksbury using my 65 ft tower here in Ottawa. I also remember the comms from the state police in the summer.
I don't recall the 41.96 frequency but I was not aware of it. Low band sure is dead up here now.
I had built a VHF engineering kit for low band with two crystal controlled channels for the OPP.
41.960/42.220 was the Woodstock/London channel. Airplane was on 42.000MHz.
bpsmicro
Member
I probably still have those crystals buried somewhere in the "archives" (aka "mountain o' junk"). 
uncleblackie
Member
Before my first real scanner ( a pro-2004) I used to listen to them on vhf-lo on a Radio Shack Patrolman multiband radio.
When they went to the Nor system I was forced to buy a Uniden 760xlt with the tone board.
Even though being on low band made them more skip prone, hearing the dx made the listening experience even cooler!
Sometimes when there was an inversion happening, the local dx between opp comm centres (there was more of them then), caused just as many problems.
When they went to the Nor system I was forced to buy a Uniden 760xlt with the tone board.
Even though being on low band made them more skip prone, hearing the dx made the listening experience even cooler!
Sometimes when there was an inversion happening, the local dx between opp comm centres (there was more of them then), caused just as many problems.
mmisk
Member
patrolman" radios from Radio Shack
Yes, I had one of those "patrolman" radios from Radio Shack also. It worked quite well.
That was way back in the early 70's. Then I put together the VHF Engineering kit, they worked very well also with excellent sensitivity, and a very good squelch circuit, I think I may have those boards in my mess.
Guess I am showing my age!
Yes, I had one of those "patrolman" radios from Radio Shack also. It worked quite well.
That was way back in the early 70's. Then I put together the VHF Engineering kit, they worked very well also with excellent sensitivity, and a very good squelch circuit, I think I may have those boards in my mess.
Guess I am showing my age!
Officers dispatched mainly by their local detachments, no Comm Centres. Also the detachment dispatchers could/would talk to one another over the air. No mobile repeaters let alone a portable radio.
Officers used PAC-RT's (similar to a mobile repeater) and a portable.
uncleblackie
Member
Well, not comm centres as we know them today, but I just used the term to make it more relevant to people who may be relatively new to the hobby.
After all regardless of the dispatching area covered, they still were comm centres, just on a more regional basis. And no, not every detachment dispatched themselves (unless your going back a lot farther than I am (late 70's).
Barrie was a regional comm centre that covered Orillia to Alliston and Bala / Port Carling
area as well if I recall correctly (forgive me if I'm wrong on this as it's going back some).
And I think it was Aurora that covered King, Caledon, Bolton etc. and I don't remember if they dispatched for Downsview or not as well.
This may have been around the time they switched to the Nor system as well. I remember that was one of the triggers that caused the consolidation of some of the dispatching operations. Same as they downsized to 5 comm centres when they went digital.
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moonbounce
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Wasn't the RCMP in this area also 41.280 Mhz if I remmember correctly. I also remmember hearing Springfield MO. on 42.060. How times have changed. I also remmember hearing the FBI broadcast their 10 most wanted lists on 163.925, I believe that was done on a Sunday night.
MB
MB
Barrie was a Regional Comm Centre when the NOR system came along. Back in the old days of lowband, each detachment handled their own communications. Wasaga, Barrie, Stayner, etc all had their own dispatchers. Barrie was the District 7 headquarters for this area.
Downsview was the District 5 headquarters. I'm not even sure Caledon existed back then. I remember listening to the Snelgrove detachment.
DaveH
Member
The portables and VRs such as they were, were on 151.700 if I recall.
Dave
Dave
kevin2525
Member
Good Old Days
Those where the good old days. I use to listen to them by the hour on my Pro-77.
On a warm summer day it was quite a battle between Missouri highway state patrol
and Belleville Ontario dispatch, Who would over ride who. You sure heard a lot of
10-9's or please repeat your last message. Some days where just kaos. Thanks for
the memories, I should did enjoy listening to them back then and I still do on P25.
73's:Kevin.
Those where the good old days. I use to listen to them by the hour on my Pro-77.
On a warm summer day it was quite a battle between Missouri highway state patrol
and Belleville Ontario dispatch, Who would over ride who. You sure heard a lot of
10-9's or please repeat your last message. Some days where just kaos. Thanks for
the memories, I should did enjoy listening to them back then and I still do on P25.
73's:Kevin.
I remember 458.8625 or 458.5625MHz. I could have told you for sure if I hadn't thrown out my PAC-RT that still had the crystals in it.
DaveH
Member
Might well have been though 458.8625 seems to have been used around Kanata as a
link from the detachment to the transmitter site...odd as it sounds.
Dave
DaveH
Member
I rarely listen to OPP these days, gets boring after a short time and end up
locking it out. Not that OPP doesn't do a great job, it's just mostly traffic stops,
impared driver reports and domestics.
Back in the 42MHz days I recall one time hearing "EMO clear" follow by repeater chunk;
odd as what would Emergency Measures Organization be doing on an OPP channel,
and were no repeaters around here. Turned out it was Emo Ontario, not far from the
Manitoba border. This was followed by hearing Thunder Bay, Nipigon, Marathon etc.
This in addition to Missouri State troopers (KAA201 et al). Those were the fun days.
Dave
locking it out. Not that OPP doesn't do a great job, it's just mostly traffic stops,
impared driver reports and domestics.
Back in the 42MHz days I recall one time hearing "EMO clear" follow by repeater chunk;
odd as what would Emergency Measures Organization be doing on an OPP channel,
and were no repeaters around here. Turned out it was Emo Ontario, not far from the
Manitoba border. This was followed by hearing Thunder Bay, Nipigon, Marathon etc.
This in addition to Missouri State troopers (KAA201 et al). Those were the fun days.
Dave
I too thoroughly enjoyed listening to OPP low-band back in the day. I grew up in Windsor and so would routinely hear Essex and Chatham dispatchers. On the odd occasion I'd also pick up Sombra and Petrolia. My scanner at the time was a Bearcat 145XLT and the antenna a 1/4 wave groundplane CB about 20' above ground.
From what I remember the cruiser radios were GE Rangr's putting out about 100 watts. Anyone know what antennas they used? I remember a whip and a spring mounted to the roof light bar.
From what I remember the cruiser radios were GE Rangr's putting out about 100 watts. Anyone know what antennas they used? I remember a whip and a spring mounted to the roof light bar.
902
Member
For what it's worth, there was (still is, really) a "State and Provincial Police Committee" which oversaw the licensing of certain frequencies here in the US. I was looking through the last revision in 2009 and don't see any Canadian provinces at all on it.
Our 90.20 has "Limitation 2" frequencies which need to be approved on this list. These were 42 and 44 MHz frequencies, and one 45 MHz frequency. If the committee had approved the frequency for the state, it could be licensed. If not, it required special consideration or otherwise could not be licensed. The objective was to limit the interference during highs in the sunspot cycle. These days, most of the new activity on these frequencies has been in California, seeking to expand some parts of their existing 42 MHz systems.
For you Canada guys, is there much low band use in Canada at all? It was an extremely busy frequency band here until into the 90s, when the activity all but dried up. Today there's only a fraction of the activity there once was. Most users moved up to higher frequency ranges and more advanced systems.
There's a lot to be said for the simplicity that low band offered.
Our 90.20 has "Limitation 2" frequencies which need to be approved on this list. These were 42 and 44 MHz frequencies, and one 45 MHz frequency. If the committee had approved the frequency for the state, it could be licensed. If not, it required special consideration or otherwise could not be licensed. The objective was to limit the interference during highs in the sunspot cycle. These days, most of the new activity on these frequencies has been in California, seeking to expand some parts of their existing 42 MHz systems.
For you Canada guys, is there much low band use in Canada at all? It was an extremely busy frequency band here until into the 90s, when the activity all but dried up. Today there's only a fraction of the activity there once was. Most users moved up to higher frequency ranges and more advanced systems.
There's a lot to be said for the simplicity that low band offered.
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