CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL MOBILE RADIO EQUIPMENT 2001

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL

MOBILE RADIO EQUIPMENT, 21st CENTURY

This page is a summary of the radio equipment currently found in most CHP patrol cars. It is best understood after reading the main CHP Patrol Car Radio History pages here.

As of August, 2009 the CHP is still using the same equipment as detailed here, although the fleet will eventually transition statewide to a new mobile radio system, the Consolidated Patrol Vehicle Environment (CPVE.) The CPVE equipment was originally supplied by Visteon Tac-Net, and it used a touch-screen computer to control all radio and emergency lighting functions, interfaced to up to five mobile radios mounted in the trunk. The new system was supposed to be funded in stages, with contract awards being made on a piece-meal basis over the next several years. Because of the current economic crisis, this may be slower in coming, however a new contract has been given to Rockwell Collins for the CPVE equipment. See the CHP 2009 radio page here.

The eventual new radio system will continue to use the existing low band analog infrastructure, however a number of new frequencies are being added in that spectrum as well as on the VHF high band. There will be more than one mobile radio "drawer" installed to allow multiple band operation. The portable radios and the associated "extender" mobile repeater will be changed to a 700 MHz P25 digital system. So far, to my knowledge, at least one contract has been awarded to E.F. Johnson for the portable radios. I do not have information yet on how they plan to equip the motorcycles, since the Visteon equipment is intended for the cars and a motorcycle prototype was being studied in 2004. I will update these pages with new information when I get it.

GE RANGR MAIN MOBILE RADIO:

In 1987, the CHP began to replace their existing Motorola MICOR mobile radio equipment (placed in service beginning in 1977) with GE RANGR radios, featuring the S810 control head. This replacement program presumably took several years to complete. Unlike the Motorola CHP product of the 1970's, the GE RANGR incorporates siren and lighting control within the control head itself, at least in the automobile version, which interfaces with a special Federal Signal siren and lighting controller box in the vehicle trunk. The S815 motorcycle version uses a scaled down control head, without that feature. The S800 series control head design was originally developed by GE solely for the CHP, although GE found that they soon became popular with many law enforcement agencies and today are widely used throughout the USA, but in different version numbers than the "made for CHP" control heads.

As always, all equipment is low band, and operates in the 42-43 MHz range, except for a number of "new" channels in the 39 and 45 MHz range. Each region typically uses two channels; a primary and a secondary channel. The primary channel is the local channel, used for routine dispatches and so forth. The secondary channel is the "Blue" channel, and is the same frequency statewide. It is used for tactical coordination, and by the spotting airplane in some areas. The Blue channel was originally conceived to allow units to have a means of contacting a base station regardless of what area they traveled into, but since the GE equipment is capable of storing all frequencies used by the CHP, statewide, in memory, the importance of the Blue channel has been diminished. It appears that the "single tone" tone burst on transmit feature, last seen on the MICOR radios, was finally eliminated with the GE contract, since it was rarely used since the 1970's.

As in the previous MICOR equipment, there is an "S" and a "C" button on the microphone. One button places the mobile transmitter on the car-to-station frequency, while the other button places the transmitter on the car-to-car frequency. This system is a carryover from the days when the mobile radios did not have dual receivers capable of monitoring both the station and the car channels. The purpose of including the S and C buttons on the microphone today appear to be 1) to prevent the dispatcher from hearing car to car traffic not intended for her and 2) to assure that mobiles with the "monitor" feature (listen to car and station channels simultaneously) disabled will still hear car-to-car traffic directed to them. The small pushbutton on the right side activates the PA function immediately such that there is no need to reach the control head to select "PA." The original shipment of GE RANGR mobile microphones did not have that pushbutton - - it was added later, in approximately 1992, presumably the same time the keypad overlays were changed and upgraded firmware installed in the control heads.

The GE RANGR is a 110 Watt mobile radio, in which the channel programming and some other features such as the CTCSS tone selection can also be carried in the "intelligent" S810 control head rather than just in the radio drawer itself, if desired. The frequency and tone information is stored in a Xicor X2212 EEPROM chip (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) in the radio chassis itself, which is normally programmed by a GE "TQ-" series suitcase programmer. In the lower cost S550 and other "ordinary" GE control heads, the control head contains just channel display circuitry and the channel/volume/squelch controls. In the S810 series control heads, there is additional circuitry which mimics the action of the TQ- series programmer such that the control head "programs" the radio by downloading to the EEPROM in the radio. However, there is still the necessity of a programmer to originally program the S810 control head with all the appropriate information.

The advantage of all S800 series heads is that far more information can be programmed into the radio system than could be done with the "stock" Rangr system, and one control head can also contain all the alpha-numeric display information and channel assignments necessary to allow that radio to be used anywhere within the State of California.

This equipment, while still in use, is now over 17 years old and has been discontinued by its manufacturer, which became Ericsson/GE, and now Tyco-M/A Com. Product support for the Rangr is becoming a serious consideration. The actual manufacturer of the RANGR equipment was JRC, a Japanese firm, which built the equipment under contract for GE. The days of the GE Rangr equipment are now numbered, although since few mainstream manufacturers are interested in producing a conventional low band radio, there are few replacement options available. As mentioned above, CHP will be gradually replacing the Rangr fleet with new Kenwood low band radios as well as VHF high band and 800 MHz equipment, controlled by the CPVE touch-screen computer control system.

The generic RANGR S825 mobile control head was made available in a number of versions depending upon frequency band and system of use. The S810 head, its firmware and software were special for CHP, as was that for the S815. Within the S810 category there were several versions. Shown below is a typical head in current service with the CHP (August, 2001), and below it an overlay with a slightly different layout, as was used in the oldest installations before standardization on the Federal Signal Vision/Signalmaster lighting system. The S810 and S815 CHP version control heads are intended to be programmed by the TQ2310 "suitcase programmer" which in turn contains special instruction set "eprom" chips unique to CHP programming. It is unknown at this time whether the more modern TQ3370 interface box and floppy-disk software is capable of programming any of the functions on a CHP version control head.

The present CHP firmware in the S810 control head allows the LCD to display information about the Signalmaster amber arrow lamp in addition to the pushbutton illumination. For example, when the Signalmaster is in use, the control head display will alternate between the current radio status and a --------> or <----------- symbol to show the pattern of the Signalmaster when it is turned on.

Thanks to Jim Opocensky for the above control head photos

GE 1988 VINTAGE MOBILE EXTENDERS:

As in previous years, a mobile extender package was added to the regular mobile radio equipment in 1988 when the RANGR equipment began to be phased in. The extender was a GE Mastr Executive II unit of identical appearance and RF circuitry to the previous generation of Mastr Executive II mobile extenders (see main CHP Radio web page,) but in this case the logic board was an improved and modernized version and the model number changed to RVR-16HS. In the motorcycles, which have had extender-repeaters in them since 1996, a GE M-PA hand-held radio was reconfigured as a mobile simplex repeater, and mounted in a small sheet metal box directly on top of the motorcycle RANGR radio, with its antenna hidden down beneath the windshield in front of the fuel tank. Either extender unit operates on 154.905 MHz, and normally listens for transmissions on that frequency from a nearby portable which is then re-transmitted through the GE Rangr mobile out on the car-to-station channel on 42 MHz. When the GE Rangr is receiving traffic on 42 MHz, that traffic is re-broadcast through the extender unit (if it is enabled) on 154.905. During the time the extender is transmitting, it is also interrupting its carrier at a preset rate to listen for traffic from the portable unit. This is to give the portable priority, and can be heard as a slight "chopping" of the signal from the car on 154.905 MHz. Further details on extender operation can be found on my main CHP Radio page hyper linked at the beginning of this page.

PYRAMID MOBILE EXTENDERS:

The GE Executive II mobile repeaters have been mostly phased out, as they are no longer supported by the manufacturer, and have been replaced with a mobile repeater of essentially the same function, but in a much smaller package, made by Pyramid Communications of Huntington Beach, California. The Pyramid unit is built into a small case about the size of an external computer modem, and is microprocessor controlled. This model is a special design made for CHP in that the connector matches that of the former GE Executive II RVR unit such that they are interchangeable. Pyramid manufactures the current line of mobile repeaters for GE (M/A Com) as the OEM . The Pyramid repeaters were initially tested in 2001 and adopted later in that year, and are probably being phased into use in motorcycles as well.

Photos courtesy of Pyramid Technical Support

PORTABLE RADIOS:

The present portable radio is the Motorola HT-1000, which recently replaced the multi-channel GE MPS synthesized hand-helds in use from approximately 1988-1997. The GE MPS radios have been surplused through the State of California Dept. of General Services and many are in use by local agencies and volunteer fire departments. The standard channel scheme of the old MPS was as follows, and should be equivalent to what is in the HT-1000:

CH 1: 154.905 Simplex, PL for Car to Station (S)

CH 2: 154.905 Simplex, PL for Car to Car (C)

CH 3: 154.905 Simplex, No PL, Portable to Portable

CH 4: 154.920 Simplex, CLEMARS mutual aid

CH 5: 156.075 Simplex, CALCORD Mutual Aid

CH 6: 155.475 Simplex, NALEMARS National Mutual Aid

CH 7: 154.905 Simplex no PL (Portable to portable)

CH 8 through 12: As channel 7 above, although after 9/11/01 most areas are programming these channels for coordination with local law enforcement agencies which still use analog VHF high band systems.

Please note that these radios will gradually be replaced with 700 MHz EF Johnson portables when broadcast TV vacates these channels beginning in 2009, and when and if the condition of the State of California budget allows. Interestingly, this means that CLEMARS, CALCORD and NALEMARS usage will no longer be possible from the hand-held radio, only from the vehicle.

MOTORCYCLE EQUIPMENT:

The CHP motorcycles also use the RANGR radio, but with a motorcycle version S815 control head as shown below. Originally, the Kawasaki motorcycles were fitted with a white fiberglass radio weather housing supplied by GE and marked "California Highway Patrol" on both sides. When the "Extender" repeaters were added to motorcycles, an extra spacer section was added to the white "GE" radio box lid to allow for the extra height of the extender equipment. Then, when the Kawasakis were replaced by BMW motorcycles, BMW supplied a streamlined radio weather housing with the cycle, and the GE boxes were surplused out (although the same contents are still in the BMW housings.)

MOTORCYCLE EXTENDERS:

As in the patrol cars, since 1996 there has been a mobile extender (repeater) which operates on 154.905 MHz and relays the transmissions occurring on the 42 MHz CHP system to a VHF high-band hand-held radio carried by the officer. See discussion above. The hand-held radios were initially GE "MPS" synthesized radios, but by the end of the 1990's they had been replaced by the Motorola HT-1000 portables as discussed above. The motorcycle extenders did not begin to be installed statewide until 1996, as there was some disagreement among state planners as to whether a motorcycle was a "suitable platform" for a mobile repeater.

The original 1996 motorcycle extender, still in use, consisted of a GE M-PA portable hand-held radio, reconfigured as a "simplex repeater" and mounted on a sheet metal tray which sandwiches in on top of the motorcycle Rangr radio and for which an extension section was added to the GE motorcycle housing. It is possible that some of these may be being replaced by the Pyramid Communications extender units, although as of 2010 the extender equipment is being migrated to 700 MHz and the portables changed to a model from EF Johnson.

The motorcycle extender antenna location has varied, but was usually it is located near the windshield of the motorcycle, between it and the handlebars. The current BMW cycles have the rubberized extender antenna located on the left side of the handlebars between the windshield and the left warning lamp housing. See photos on the motorcycle radio page. The maximum range expected of the extender is no greater than 1000 yards, hence there was originally an attenuator built into the system to reduce transmitter power and receiver sensitivity. The GE M-PA motorcycle extender differs slightly from the car extender in another aspect, in that it is configured to "defer" to a car extender should one arrive on the scene.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SPECIFIC CHP MOTORCYCLE RADIO PAGE

LAPTOP COMPUTERS:

Beginning in the late 1990's, the CHP began to add laptop computers to the mobile installations. This resulted in the re-location of the main radio antenna to the roof instead of the rear cowl area, because of radio frequency interference concerns. A typical computer installation is shown below. Most of these computers were supplied by Gateway. Some vehicles also have an 800 MHz Mobile Data Computer radio package installed; up until 2007 these used a small Motorola or Ericsson 800 MHz RF package similar to a cellular transceiver, mounted in the leftmost area of the trunk, with the 800 MHz antenna glass-mounted on the right rear windshield area. There are a few rural patrol areas in which the cars are not equipped with computers. The computers are not a true mobile data terminal, but rather a conventional PC with a modem connected to a cellular phone service data subscriber transceiver supplied by outside contractors. The systems used by the computers are not completely standardized throughout the state, nor are they interfaced with law enforcement data systems to any great extent. Hence most requests for driver and registration information are still being handled manually through dispatch.

As of late 2007, the CHP seems to have standardized on Sierra Wireless MP 775 GPS Wireless Modems, trunk mounted above the light bar controller, for the data communications, connected to either an on-glass old style cellular antenna or the new "hockey puck" GPS-cellular black antennas. See the 2009 photo below:

The photo below is of a 2001 Ford Crown Victoria in service in the East L.A. Div. in late 2001. As can be seen, little has changed between then and 2009.:

The photo below shows the interior of a 2009 model Dodge recently put into service by CHP:

Photo copyright and courtesy of Ten96

SCANNERS:

At the present time the CHP is still using late 1990's vintage Bearcat 760 mobile scanners, usually mounted on the end of the metal console underneath the laptop computer mount. It is reported that the scanners usually have broken or missing knobs ! (This was a perennial problem with the older Regency M-100 and MX-3000 scanners of the 1980's.) The Bearcat scanner replaces the discontinued Uniden MR-8100 scanner (placed in service in the early 1990's) which did not have that problem and appears to have been a better and more rugged scanner. There are still a few Uniden MR-8100's in service in CHP vehicles, although the majority have been surplused over the last five years.

RELAY BOX:

There is an antenna relay box as shown in the trunk compartment photos, for antenna sharing. This box allows the scanner to connect to the mobile radio low band antenna at the same time as the Rangr mobile radio. Inside the box, among other things, is a relay which is connected to the push-to-talk line of the 2-way radio and repeater equipment, such that whenever the transmitter of the mobile radio goes on the air, the scanner antenna line is disconnected from that line (and presumably grounded.) This keeps the scanner from being damaged when the car transmitter goes on the air. The same push-to-talk line which disconnects the scanner from the antenna also originally muted the scanner, but it is my understanding that the scanner is no longer being muted and that mute line output is just left loose at the back of the S810 control head. Apparently some installations are using the 154 MHz extender antenna to feed the scanner, and the relay box in those cases is connected in that line rather than the low band mobile radio antenna line. However, as they left Motor Transport at CHP, the relay boxes were all in the low band rooftop antenna line. The initial series of relay boxes were custom made by the CHP and State of California DGS shops, while the later boxes were made by Antenna Specialists Co. as a special order item.

SIREN AND LIGHT CONTROLLERS:

The GE Rangr control head includes an integrated control system for siren and lights, and that system is usually mated to a Federal Signal Vision "intelligent" light bar system which uses stepper motors to rotate the lamp reflectors. Not all patrol cars have light bars on the roof, some just have the red spotlight alone or a red light mounted inside at the upper edge of the windshield, with a number of rectangular blue/yellow lights mounted on the rear package shelf and a Signalmaster "arrow stick" amber light display. These vehicles are referred to as "slicktops." There are also a number of patrol cars with non-standard lighting arrangements such as the latest LED light bars, which are supplied by Whelen and use a different interface box, manufactured by Whelen rather than Federal Signal. The CHP, in late 2008, solicited proposals to retire the Vision light bars and replace them with LED lighting, which will eventually be accomplished using Whelen equipment.

Federal Signal manufactured a special junction box controller, located in the vehicle trunk along with the rest of the electronic equipment, which receives serial data from the Rangr control head. This item was custom made for CHP in order to eliminate the need for the normal Federal Signal Smart Siren / Light Bar control head and interface, and at least one version is Model CHP BB100 as shown below. I believe there are at least two other junction box controllers in use, for different lighting systems. In the current Ford Crown Victoria cars, as usual, the electronic packages are all mounted on a piece of plywood which sits atop the shelf in the trunk. The BB100 can be seen in the "inside trunk" photo below, bolted to the top of a U-shaped bracket which also contains a fuse panel and relays, and which is called the "Containment Box." The siren amplifier unit is a Federal Signal PA 500. Note that the photo below should say "Vision", not "Vector." Vehicles having the Whelen lighting systems use a Whelen-made controller and accessory pieces, but this is less common as of 2009.

RADAR :

The CHP has purchased a large quantity of Stalker Ka-band radar equipment and standardized on it. A typical installation in a 2001 patrol car can be seen below, and on the motorcycle shown on my "CHP Motorcycle" page. The newest cars with the CPVE system will have this radar control unit mounted in the trunk and controlled by the "touch screen" display. See my 2009 CHP page for information on the CPVE system.

LIDAR:

Since early 2006, CHP has purchased approximately 300 "Lidar" laser speed guns, a handheld device which uses a laser beam to gauge speed as opposed to the traditional Stalker radar shown above. These are used in certain areas only and are in supplement to the standard radar units, not as a replacement for them, although it is anticipated that eventually they may replace the traditional radar equipment. One perceived advantage of the Lidar equipment is that it is more accurate and harder, if not impossible, to detect.

SPECIAL EXTRA RADIOS:

Following 9/11/2001, in addition to M-16/AR-15 rifles, some divisions are equipping their cars with additional radios to allow direct coordination with local agencies on their channels, which are typically VHF high band and UHF, something which was frowned upon in years past but which is considered vital today. In some cases, the CHP has installed the trunk-mounted Kenwood TK-730 VHF high band mobile radio package, usually on top of the antenna relay box for the scanner. The Kenwood control head is then mounted on the center console box between the Bearcat scanner and the laptop computer base. See typical trunk installation below:

ANTENNAS:

At the present time, the standard CHP antenna configuration for the communications radios is a roof mounted Antenna Specialists loaded whip for 42 MHz and a glass mounted Antenna Specialists VHF 154 MHz antenna for the extender repeater. A few installations are still using a roof mounted 1/4 wave VHF antenna for the extender rather than the glass mounted version. The ball and spring mount, so familiar in the 1960's through 1990's, has been discontinued although it is still found on some special vehicles such as trucks. There is usually also a glass mounted 800 MHz antenna for use with the mobile laptop computer for data applications, but this setup varies throughout the state and is not present in all vehicles. Commercial enforcement vehicles still carry CB radios with ball and spring mounted whips, see 2007 photo below (note-commercial enforcement vehicles usually do not have the standard black & white paint schemes.):

UPDATE: As of early 2008, the CHP has changed the antenna installations to use all roof-mounted antennas. The main two-way radio antenna is now an Antenex (Laird Technologies) loaded whip electrically identical to its Antenna Specialists predecessor, the extender antenna is an 18 inch whip, the scanner is a second short whip (apparently the whip length varies by division depending upon agencies it is desired to monitor,) and a "hockey puck" cellular/data subscriber and GPS antenna. All drilled through the roof. The on-glass antennas are not featured on these vehicles. Apparently the antenna relay box for the scanner is no longer used, a short whip taking its place. See photo below.

Photo below copyright and courtesy of Ten96

Here's a slightly different antenna arrangement on an '09 Dodge:

Photo below copyright and courtesy of Ten96

Note also that some divisions are having radios installed by the local agencies they wish to communicate with, usually involving trunk mounted antennas. A typical example would be a VHF high band radio and antenna for coordination with a local sheriff's radio system. There is no standardization in this case.

MOBILE VIDEO:

Mobile video has been installed on some cars for a number of years, and as of October, 2009, the CHP will now be installing it on all patrol vehicles leaving Motor Transport in Sacramento as well as retrofitting vehicles in the field, until it is standard on every patrol car. This will include interior and exterior cameras and a wireless microphone on the officer. The initial systems are being integrated into the existing aging GE S810 control system although this is expected to rapidly transition to the new CPVE control and radio system as shown on my CHP 2009 page. Details of the system will be provided on that page as well.

AIRCRAFT:

The CHP uses aircraft in various roles. The setup used in the late 1990's consisted of the following:

VHF Low Band: Technisonic TFM-30

VHF High Band: Technisonic TFM-500

Aviation Frequencies: Bendix Com Radio and Garmin GNS 430 GPS/Radio

800 MHz Band: Motorola XTS3000 HT in Convertacom console, and M/A Com EDACS HT

Scanner: Uniden

Satellite Phone: Globalstar (formerly Qualcomm)

In 2008 the CHP added the Technisonic TDFM 7000 radio in place of the TFM-500. The TDFM 7000 is a multiband radio which contains VHF high band, UHF and 700/800 MHz with Motorola SmartZone and SmartNet capabilities as well as P25, which will be compatible with the new EF Johnson handhelds.

The aircraft generally communicates with the ground units on the BLUE channel, car-to-car.

Thanks to A.York for this information!

FOR CHP RADIO FREQUENCIES AND ZONE MAPS, see this link (note that these will soon be out of date as of 8/2009, though):

http://www.freqofnature.com/frequencies/ca/chp.html

FOR A COPY OF THE CHP's DIVISION AND TRANSMITTER SITE MAPS, see

http://harrymarnell.net/CHPsiteMAP.pdf

FOR A PROGRAMMING TUTORIAL FOR THE REGULAR (NOT CHP) GE S820 and S825 CONTROL HEADS, CLICK HERE

This page is maintained by Geoff Fors, Monterey California. You can reach me at the addresses listed on my home page.

I am always looking for interesting CHP photos to add to these pages. If you want to share any, let me know.

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