Tales of the old

Radio_Cowboy · Post by **Radio_Cowboy** » Sat Feb 02, 2002 10:01 pm

The Post about the old Motrac's reminded me about my last trip back home to Indiana. I went to the Indiana state fair, and was meandering about, and came across a state trooper on the fair security detail. I took a peek in his sharp looking, brand new Black unmarked 2002 Crown Vic Crusier, and time warped back when I saw what was inside. He had a State of the art Lowband 4 channel Micor (with scan! woohoo!) and carried a highband MT-500 for use with the pac-rt. 4 antenna's on the trunk, and the car was complete. I understand Indiana uses type II systems in parts of the state, but not his, I reckon. Guess the state ran out of money on all the new paint jobs they just put on the cars!!

Monty · Post by **Monty** » Sat Feb 02, 2002 10:25 pm

Hi:

Don't be surprised !

I have seen some radios in Idaho, Montana ( Helena ) and surrounding areas
that still use T-power radios. The reason
is the Solid State radios just can not operate in the extream cold....They are
dying out, but I would bet monies some are
still in service today.

I have a Old 30D 2 piece TX-Rx from the early
50's with the Cloth power Cable, and even the
wood box it was shipped in. The radio was never installed. ( And it still works )...

I was forced to change out some old dried
Filter Caps, but after some componet changes,
it still is alive and is part of my museum pieces along with the peanut tube Dispatchers, HT200's, Twin-V. T44AAV1's, Motran, Motrac's and the like.

Those were the days a radio was a radio, and
you had to be in construction to install them.

For the time period, they were the best around....Nowdays, the audio from a cheap
HT meets that of those $6.00 AM series radio
that came from Hong-Kong in the 60's

MS

James · Post by **James** » Sat Feb 02, 2002 10:58 pm

The State of Texas has a Asrto System up that they only use in 2 cities. Allthe mobile radios are asrto and all the repeaters are Astro, amd the troopers that do have portables have a mix of Astro Sabers and XTS-3000 radios all in VHF. The Simplex system they are using where I live does not cover most of Fort Worth and only parts of Dallas. But they do have alot of nice cars. They have a few 2000 Doge Ram Pickups that are marked that the use on the highways. Just goes to show that they have the money just not the no how.

techie · Post by **techie** » Sun Feb 03, 2002 1:03 am

Monty.. do you have a website for your museum?

Jim202 · Post by **Jim202** » Sun Feb 03, 2002 5:53 am

If you want to take a look at history, try and take a walk through the Mototola museum is Schaumburg, IL. They have a wide selection of the old to the new radios there.

One of the first car radios that were ever made is there. It is mounted in a nice looking Ford model T if my memory is correct.

The original two piece dog house radio sets is there. They use the old dynamotors to make the 600 volts or so needed to operate the TX. Think the RX had vibrators in it. Been so many years since working on those that I have forgot just how the RX was set up. Most of the techs today haven't even seen pictures of this type of radio.

The trip through the Motorol museum is a real trip through time. Not sure if it is open to the public. Went there about ten or 11 years ago. They probably have changed it since then.

Jim

micor47 · Post by **micor47** » Sun Feb 03, 2002 7:20 am

I am sorry to report that the Motorola museum has been closed down. It was a great place to walk down radio memory lane.

jim · Post by **jim** » Sun Feb 03, 2002 7:57 am

Okay there, OLD guys! You have me intrigued. What's with having 4 antennas on the trunk with that setup?

(I better not jack you off about being "old guys"- I'll be the one telling some 31 year-old someday about all of the problems we had back at the turn of the century with all of the CDM/HT series and that "newfangled" 800 system that just didn't quite work !!)

Radio_Cowboy · Post by **Radio_Cowboy** » Sun Feb 03, 2002 8:32 pm

Jim,

The 4 antennas are for the lowband radio (even still using the old 1/4 wave ball mount in the rear fender), the vhf Extender, the VHF convert-a-com, and for the all purpose scanner. Most of the troopers also have cb's in the cars, as well as some are hams. I counted 11 antennas on one trooper's car! Oh..and the Indianapolis area and a couple other districts use Moto type II systems as primary, and Lowband as the old trusty back-up. I guss this guy was from the southern part of the state, where 800 ain't in use. OH, another FYI...Illinois still uses Lowband too... except for the Chicago districts...

Radio_Cowboy · Post by **Radio_Cowboy** » Sun Feb 03, 2002 8:37 pm

C'mon guys...I love this old radio stories talk..... Let's keep em comin.... I'm rather new to the radio business (26 year old) but am interested in the history...nice to know where it came from, and no telling where it will go from here!

RC

mike · Post by **mike** » Mon Feb 04, 2002 10:37 am

Monty -- I think I may have some twin-v units in storage. Do you need any parts for your collection. KF4KKY

radioconsult · Post by **radioconsult** » Mon Feb 04, 2002 12:07 pm

If you ever had the opportunity to dig around in some of the resale shops, such as Goodwill, DAV and others. You could run accross old home radio receivers onf1930's and 40's, a lost of these were multi-band, broadcast and shortwave and covered the frequency range just above the am broadcast band, roughly 1700 Kcs. In Tulsa,Ok they had such a system shared between the police and fire departments. A one-way sytem with a 500 watt transmitter with a loaded series fed tower on top of the police station. If there was a fire, the police dispatches would "stand by" and let the fire dispatches use the system. In the early 40's they installed 2 watt transmitters in the cars operating on 40 Mcs. This made a two-way system. The receiver was a superregen located on the tallest building in town.
An interesting part of the police communications that hasn't really been discussed was the HF-CW nets that operated in the spectrum from 3-18 MCS. This was prior to the police teletype that was the forerunner of the present computer based network. Communications consisted of records checks and other information, usually on a regional basis. In Tulsa the transmitter was a 1 KW Collins auto tune, located in the police radio shop adjacent to the police station. The receiver(s) were crystal controlled Wilcox CW-3 receivers with a stepper relay to select individual receiver audio, this site was located just north of downtown Tulsa. The dispatching console also included a HRO-50 standby receiver. The dispatcher could change the transmit frequency and select the receiver from the console. When I went to work for the City of Tulsa in the late 60's this setup was still in use. Only after the new police headquarters was built in the 70's did we take all of the HF stuff out of service. Next installment, post WW-II communications.

craig · Post by **craig** » Fri Feb 22, 2002 5:41 am

Those type II systems in Indiana are becoming more prevelant indeed; however, still 80% of the State still has not been handed the $$$$ to upgrade their areas. Even one of the busiest counties in Indiana, Lake County, is still working on a mess of 800mhz,UHF, VHF high, and VHF low freq.s to cover somewhere around 50 agencies. Talk about not being able to communicate. As for those troopers, there are very few districts where you won't find at least a couple guys with an MT500 or older radio. SOme of the prveledged troopers in those districts are handed a non-secure Saber III. (and believe me they are lucky) I find humor in the fact that so many radio enthusiasts are surprised at the equipment that public safety is using, but face it, these Gov't agencies don't have huge budgets and when they bought those MT500's or MT1000's back in the day, they expected them to last, and they did. I justy can't wait to see what all of these agencies will do in 5 years when their new pro series stuff doesn't work anymore. (Look out Motorola) Sorry, I had to tell this stuff to someone.

Glen W Christen · Post by **Glen W Christen** » Fri Feb 22, 2002 6:15 am

When I was first employed in this business in 1969, we had to fit an 80D into the trunk of a Pinto. The 80D was a 100W, dynamotor-driven TX on 37.10. Vibrator RX. Drew about 100 amps on 12V when keyed - these units were originally 6V and would draw about 200 amps which would kill an ignition unless the motor was well revved up. The housing was the same size as a T51GGV but weighed twice as much. About the only thing that would still fit in the trunk was the jack.

jim · Post by **jim** » Fri Feb 22, 2002 7:00 am

Was there room in the Pinto for the fire extinguisher?

Glen W Christen · Post by **Glen W Christen** » Fri Feb 22, 2002 2:40 pm

No. Other details that hit me later: it was a 120D - 100 watt. The 80D was a 60 watt. For those of you who don't know what a dynamotor was, it was a motor-generator. 6/12volt to about 700 vdc. Brushes and bearings were a recurring problem.

April · Post by **April** » Fri Feb 22, 2002 7:04 pm

You learn about the old dynamotors in Alternator Whine School.
There was a story told to me by a very good two-way engineer who qouted Herchel Calvert, Pasadena Radio tech, and father of Police radio on the west coast. " the detective car had its trunk lid blowen off and down the block. The officer said he had keyed the mic to call the station and heard the dynamotor "whine out" and a real big bang. Seems the trusty (jail immate) who did the install on the 80D in the 61 Ford Galixy had dirlled a little too far and punctured the gas tank just a little. The gas fumes had worked their way into the radio housing and the sparks from the dynamotor ignited the gas vapors. KA BAM!"

Jim202 · Post by **Jim202** » Sat Feb 23, 2002 5:34 am

Back in the early days when I use to spend time as a growing up school boy, the State of New Hampshire had a split band system. The dispatch used base station in Concord, that would TX on someplace around 1710 Khz. They listened to the mobiles on a 42 Mhz frequency. Don't remember the exact frequencies that many years back.

The propagation between night and day was a real problem depending where you were in the state. Most of the mobiles used a dynamotor for the TX and vibrator for the receiver power. Think the radio was a Motorola.

Jim

Monty · Post by **Monty** » Sat Feb 23, 2002 6:12 am

Hi:

A museum will become part of my Web Site
soon as it gets all the pages completed.

It will cover all the Early 50's radios from
the 30D Series, some TV & Radio, and even
a Old Coffee Mug Set from the 50's, then
will move onto the 60's handie-Talkies, HT200,HT100, HT220 Series, then onto the MX,
MT500's, and so on

We are pretty well stocked on the Old Twin-V's, T44AAV1A's, and the like, even a OLD 800MHZ Link that used 2C39's is in the warehouse.

At some point in time, I will get a photo
together and post it here...

Sad to see these older radios go, but such
is life in the Two-Way business...I seen alot
of them go to.

Monty

Will · Post by **Will** » Sun Feb 24, 2002 12:15 pm

Whops that mention of the 800mhz link joged my memory chips realy well. I remember working on them in the 940 band "poor mans microwave". I worked on a lot of T51GGV and TxxGGT radios, even some 40/80/140D's. Motrac's were my favorite.
How about B74BBY's ?

Glen W Christen · Post by **Glen W Christen** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:21 am

Another oddity that I worked on was a used radio that the boss bought. It was similar to a T43GGV in size but had a T-power supply for RX - when keyed, a vibrator kicked in to give it higher power. Also, on arrival, it was crossband: lowband and VHF but don't remember which was which.
The only UHF radio that I worked on in the same generation of technology was triple-conversion on RX.

Radio_Cowboy · Post by **Radio_Cowboy** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:21 am

Lovin these stories Guys!

Keep em up! I read somewhere that LA used to use a 1.7 KC AM 1 way system back in the early days.. Anymore with all the movement to the 800 MHZ and up bands, there outta be plenty of Lowband freq's open for the takeing...Suppose Moto will try to trunk lowband next?

Cowthief · Post by **Cowthief** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 7:42 am

Hello.

I have a very old portable RX unit, works around 1.6 MHz, and a "Police cruiser" RX mobile, this stuff now works.
Perhaps someone would like to start a museum?.

K2XM · Post by **K2XM** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 8:13 am

On 2002-02-03 23:32, Radio_Cowboy wrote:

The 4 antennas are for the lowband radio (even still using the old 1/4 wave ball mount in the rear fender), the vhf Extender, the VHF convert-a-com, and for the all purpose scanner. Most of the troopers also have cb's in the cars, as well as some are hams. I counted 11 antennas on one trooper's car!

Gee, I wonder what my parents did with that old GE receiver that I had on 42.42? Guess it's long gone by now! I'm from Michigan City, LaPorte Co., I was able to receive the Dunes Park SP station with no problem. The tower is still there at Rt 20 and 49, but the barracks was torn down years ago. Used to be District 11, "1133, Dunes Park"
District 11 is now the Indiana Toll Road.
Ah, the good old days!!!

Later,
Pete

K2XM · Post by **K2XM** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 9:42 am

On 2002-02-22 08:41, craig wrote:
Those type II systems in Indiana are becoming more prevelant indeed; however, still 80% of the State still has not been handed the $$$$ to upgrade their areas. about not being able to communicate.

Looks like the Indiana Statewide radio network might not happen, I found this article on Trunkedradio.net

http://www.indystar.com/article.php?radio22.html

Can anybody elaborate??

Later,
Pete

Radio_Cowboy · Post by **Radio_Cowboy** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 12:12 pm

Hi Pete! I'm a former hoosier myself...Grew up in Hamilton County..Also listened to good old 42.42...could always hear the Pendelton and Indianapolis District's boom in, and knew when the band was up when I could hear Bloomington and once in a while, Jasper or Evansville. When the band would open up, I THINK Missouri Highway Patrol or someone like that also uses 42.42 and you can pick them up as well. Ahh...the good old days. Now I'm in New Mexico, and monitor the New Mexico state police on their VHF Highband simplex system.

RC

K2XM · Post by **K2XM** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 3:43 pm

On 2002-02-25 15:12, Radio_Cowboy wrote:
Hi Pete! I'm a former hoosier myself...Grew up in Hamilton County..Also listened to good old 42.42. Now I'm in New Mexico, and monitor the New Mexico state police on their VHF Highband simplex system.

RC

Hi RC,

Well, I never did have a good outside antenna on that old GE receiver, so the only
SP posts I could hear were Dunes Park (in Chesterton) and South Bend, as well as mobiles when they went to car to car on 42.42 simplex if they were close to Michigan City.

I'm in New Hampshire now, the SP here went to VHF Astro system a few years ago....so much for listening to them!!

Scan on,
Pete

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: K2XM on 2002-02-25 18:44 ]</font>

KitN1MCC · Post by **KitN1MCC** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:45 pm

My freind was telling me about puttin old Dyno motor radio in VW beetles back in the day

Radio_Cowboy · Post by **Radio_Cowboy** » Mon Feb 25, 2002 10:08 pm

I was talking to a buddy today, and he mentioned his dad was a ham since way back when Jesus walked, and he remembered his dad had converted a old single channel Motran with the control head on the front of the radio, and had it mounted in a 63 Ghia. I think the radio setup weighed more then the car!

RC