CHP RADIO SYSTEMS

This web page primarily covers California Highway Patrol radio equipment used in the patrol cars from 1938-1988. There are separate web page for the motorcycle equipment and the equipment used from 1988-present. 

NOTE: THIS IS A VERY LARGE FILE AND THE PHOTOS MAY TAKE SOME TIME TO LOAD IF YOU USE A DIAL-UP INTERNET CONNECTION. IN CASE ANY OF THE PHOTOS FAIL TO COME UP (red x in box), RIGHT-CLICK ON THAT PHOTO, THEN CLICK ON "SHOW PICTURE" TO RESTORE THAT PHOTO.

INTRODUCTION

Information on the earliest years of radio in the California Highway Patrol communications system is scarce, so if you can share anything, please contact me ! 

CHP Chief E. Raymond Cato approved a number of early radio experiments in the summer of 1931 to evaluate the feasibility of dispatching patrols by radio, with favorable results, however it was not until some years later that radio equipment was formally and uniformly placed into most of the patrol's fleet.   In 1935, the CHP completed its first transportable radio station, a mobile unit built into a trailer with the callsign KAPA.  It was described in the April, 1937 issue of Highway Patrolman magazine, and was used primarily as a method of bringing radio coverage to areas in need of it on a temporary basis, such as the site of natural disasters, etc.

This trailer went through a number of different equipment configurations.  A 1937 photo of it, shown in the new book California Highway Patrol by Rick Mattos, shows a National NC-100 receiver (for monitoring other base transmitters, incorrectly described as an HRO by the 1937 author) and a home made rack and panel transmitter.  The CHP began with one-way radio, i.e. receive only, in 1936, initially using modified automobile broadcast radios and later Philco and Galvin (Motorola) police receivers, which were themselves essentially modified car broadcast radios. 

The first base station transmitters for the CHP, including that in trailer KAPA, were home-made by George Moynahan, amateur radio operator W6AXT, who was the son of the deputy chief of the highway patrol at that time, assisted by Communications Division employees Tom Oates, Jim Allen, Marv Carmin and several others. Funds were scarce due to the depression, and the CHP had little money to finance construction of transmitters, so they were hand-built with parts funded by donations, raffles and fundraisers held in the particular counties where the stations were to be installed. The transmitters came in three models: a 500 Watt, a 1,000 Watt and a 2,500 Watt AM version. The stations initially operated on 1682 KHz and later, during the War, a secondary frequency of 1690 KHz was added. Los Angeles County had three of the 500 Watt stations in use. One of the first stations was located on an oil derrick in Baldwin Hills, California !  

The CHP did not have station transmitters in place to cover the entire state prior to WWII, particularly in the "experimental" years of 1933-38 . In many areas, the CHP frequency was shared by local agencies, and local agencies would often relay messages to CHP units, while also dispatching their own officers on the same channel.

In late summer 1941, the CHP ordered 70 mobile FM transmitters from Galvin Mfg. Co. (Motorola) to add 2-way capability.  Forty of these transmitters were placed in use in cars in the San Francisco Bay area from Santa Rose to San Jose, including bridge patrols, with the rest being used throughout the state. (APCO Bulletin, November 1941.)  These Motorola "Deluxe" line FM transmitters were a single channel unit, tuned on 39.78 MHz, and were added to the existing "1 way radio" cars. (Until the late 1940's, the 42-50 MHz range was allocated to FM entertainment broadcast).  

After the events of December 7, 1941 and formal entry of the United States into the war, funds were made available to the CHP for increased radio presence, as well as adding two-way capability to all cars.  In mid 1942 the CHP contracted to purchase 369 additional FM transmitters for the patrol cars, as well as 41 additional medium wave patrol car receivers and 210 additional motorcycle receivers. Those transmitters appear to have been supplied mainly by Motorola with a number of GE and RCA units also being purchased, probably due to wartime shortages and allocation of priorities. The type of medium wave patrol car receivers purchased is unknown although they are believed to have been Motorola Police Cruiser models, either the original pushbutton models or the crystal controlled version (P69-13.)  The funding also allowed expansion of the CHP's 118 MHz mountaintop relay system, which forwarded the 39 Megacycle FM signals from distant patrol cars to the dispatch points in a few urban centers such as Sacramento.

The APCO Bulletin for February, 1943 provides some useful statistics on the CHP's use of radio as follows:  In October, 1942, CHP's radio system still consisted of 9 land stations, 488 patrol cars, and 434 motorcycles. All mobile receivers were AM medium wave one-way (receive only,) with the exception of 76 two-way "FM" patrol cars in operation in the Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento areas (as mentioned above.) As mentioned above, where the CHP did not have land stations within range of their patrol cars, approximately 35 municipalities cooperated by supplying radio service to CHP mobile units via their own systems (it is thus assumed that those municipalities also shared the CHP channels.)  Apparently the equipment ordered in mid 1942 had yet to be installed! 

Shortly after 1945, the CHP purchased substantially more base station equipment, from a variety of manufacturers.  One of the more interesting of these was the Robert Dollar Company of San Francisco, which sold the CHP a number of 200 Watt class transmitters which contained a pair of receivers as well, all in a six foot rack cabinet.  At least one of these transmitters has survived, in near mint condition,  and is in operation on the amateur 160 Meter band today.

After World War II, the CHP generally followed a policy of keeping a piece of equipment in service for almost exactly ten years. There were some exceptions to this rule which shortened that time span, such as when the auto industry switched to 12 volt cars and when the FCC switched mobile radio systems to mandatory "split channel" narrow band operation.

The CHP's radio equipment was maintained by radio service facilities operated by the State of California throughout the state, under the Department of Finance, Division of Communications. Initially, these service shops were located in Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and dealt almost exclusively with CHP radio equipment. Later, as other state agencies became radio equipped (such as the California Division of Forestry,) they would also maintain and upgrade equipment for those agencies, and many more shops were constructed throughout the state. Eventually the radio maintenance division came under the newly formed State of California Department of General Services, or "DGS." Today, all radio equipment used by California state agencies is maintained by the State of California DGS Telecom Division.

THE FIRST MOBILE INSTALLATIONS, 1938-50

The first mass-scale mobile radio installations in the late 1930's used "medium wave" receiving equipment supplied by Philco, and later, Motorola (Galvin). Both models were modified car broadcast radio designs. The Motorola set was the P-69-14 "Police Cruiser", and the Philcos are believed to have been the DPV, 821PV and 822PV models. Both the Philco and Galvin sets were tunable. The Philco set tuned via a speedometer-style flexible drive cable which connected to a small chromed control head, which also contained an on-off switch and a red pilot lamp, apparently identical to their broadcast radio head other than the dial scale.  The Galvin set was also tunable, but in addition had 6 preset channels, which were selected by a somewhat temperamental cam, motor and solenoid arrangement, shown on the separate Motorola Early Equipment Index web page.. The Philco sets tended to drift (in frequency) more than the Motorola sets. The DPV was Philco's first mobile police receiver, followed by the 821PV and 822PV respectively. Although not used by the CHP, Philco also offered single channel crystal controlled versions of the 821 and 822, namely models 821P and 822P, probably as an alternative to the drift-prone variable tuning models. All of the Philcos as well as the Motorola receivers were powered by a 6 volt input vibrator power supply. In general, the antenna used was a broadcast type telescoping whip on the left side of the vehicle.  The receivers were mounted on the firewall under the car dashboard.  However, by 1946, the CHP had purchased a number of Motorola "Police Cruiser" P-69-18 SP2 receivers, which were a special model of the standard P-69-18 Police Cruiser crystal controlled receiver featuring a trunk-mounting adapter box which duplicated the connectors found on a Motorola "Deluxe Line" FM receiver.  The P-69-18SP2 receivers were mated to a variety of transmitters, as listed below, and located in the car trunk.

As mentioned above, two-way capability began to be gradually added to most cars (but not motorcycles) on an experimental basis in 1941 and then extensively by 1943. This was accomplished by adding a VHF FM transmitter, the Motorola FMT-30(D) dynamotor powered "Deluxe" line equipment, in the trunk of the patrol car, along with a separate transmitting antenna on the left side of the rear fender. Some vibrator powered Motorola FMT-25(V) transmitters were also purchased, which were the same as the FMT-30(D) mentioned above, other than having slightly less output power.  The CHP also purchased  GE 4TSA-  series and RCA CM-1 series FM VHF  transmitters, in smaller quantities, sometime between 1945-48.  These cars were readily identified by two radio antennas: the rear fender "tripod" mounted Motorola antenna being used for transmitting and an "extra-long" broadcast style whip on the front fender. The car transmitting frequency was 39.78 MHz FM, statewide. The medium frequency AM Philco or Galvin receiver was retained, and the system was, for all intents and purposes, "full duplex." The most common early installations used a handset rather than a microphone.

The CHP never used AM transmitters in any of their vehicles; the first mobile transmitters were FM and the system performance was significantly better than the AM systems in use by most other law enforcement agencies at the time. In some vehicles, such as those used by high-level officials in the CHP, and in the governor's limousine, a Motorola 39 MHz FM receiver was also installed, evidently to allow direct car-to-car operation between them and other cars similarly equipped. That receiver was the FMR-13V, Motorola's intended match for the FMT-30D transmitter.

Please note that the transmitter above uses a Carter dynamotor. The earliest versions of this transmitter used a much larger, round dynamotor, and the FMT-25(V) used a vibrator power supply where the dynamotor is shown in this model.

THE SHIFT TO VHF DISPATCHING, 1950

In approximately late 1950, the CHP began moving all operations to VHF, and rapidly discontinued dispatching on the old 1682 and 1690 KHz AM channels. Those frequencies were then retained for point-to-point land station intercommunication, for at least several years afterwards. The changeover to VHF was complete by 1952. It is presumed that until the changeover could be completed, the station broadcasts were simulcast on both medium wave AM and VHF FM.  The first all-VHF two way radios were supplied by GE, operated on a single new 42 MHz FM channel pair, and were two piece sets.  They were commonly referred to in the mobile radio industry as 8th MO (I have no idea what that means!) and later more commonly  as "Pre-Progress Line" (starting in approximately 1945, a quantity of two piece GE sets which pre-date these units were purchased to evaluate the GE product.) The Pre-Progress GE radios were very reliable, well liked, and many remained in service into the early 1960's, when they were hopelessly obsolete. Use of the old 39.78 MHz car-to-station frequency was discontinued during the changeover to VHF dispatching beginning in 1950, and replaced by the new statewide 42 MHz channel. At least in the northern California area, the GE radios were supplemented by RCA "Fleetfone" sets of the CMV-3 series, a 60 Watt one- piece chassis unit of equivalent performance to the GE equipment. It is estimated that the new 1950 radio fleet consisted of 70% GE Pre-Progress sets and 30% RCA "Fleetfone" CMV-3 sets. It is believed that all of this equipment was supplied with microphones rather than handsets.   It is also believed that these radios had single frequency receivers and two frequency transmitters, to allow "car to car" traffic on the dispatch channel as necessary. 

From the mid 1950's to 1963, the CHP supplemented the GE and RCA sets of 1950 with a variety of standard off-the-shelf  radios, bought in moderate quantities, rather than ordering a single type in large numbers as we will see they did with Motorola and RCA in 1963. Some of the two-piece "Pre-Progress Line" mobiles were gradually replaced beginning in approximately 1958 by  GE "Progress Line" one-piece 6/12 volt mobile equipment, model MA/E-17, as well as a number of Motorola 15" inch width one-piece "Twin-V" mobile radios. It is presumed the RCA Fleetfone series equipment was gradually retired at the same time. Probably the main reason for that change was the American auto industry's switch from 6 Volt to 12 Volt vehicles, which made the GE Pre-Progress Line and RCA Fleetfone equipment subject to somewhat expensive modification as 12 volt vehicles began to enter the CHP fleet. The first Progress Line GE's and the Motorola Twin-V's continued in service through at least 1963, the GE equipment being field modified for 12 Volt operation.  It appears that the CHP went to the trouble of even modifying most of the GE Pre-Progress mobiles to 12 volt operation as the cars were replaced, rather than purchasing new radios.  About 1960, a quantity of GE Progress Line model MT17N CPM312 mobiles were also purchased, which were the last version of the Progress Line, and featured a transistorized power supply for 12 volt operation. Those continued in service for a number of years, after 1963 possibly mainly in administrative vehicles rather than patrol cars. It is believed that all the Progress Line MT17 mobiles were retired when delivery of the 1966-contract RCA and Motorola fully solid state radios was completed, and that after 1963, the only radios being purchased by CHP were the RCA and Motorola sets.   A recent book on "State Police Cars" contains a photo of the interior of an early 1960's CHP patrol car, showing a Progress Line control head in use. 

 The photo below shows a barely-visible Progress Line control head in a 1961 Dodge CHP car, and the photo below that shows a generic GE Progress Line low band mobile which is similar to (but NOT the same as) the CHP item.

THE 1963 MOBILE RADIO FLEET 

In 1963, large contracts were completed to purchase an entirely new radio fleet for the CHP's patrol cars, from both RCA and Motorola, for a special radio which would be unique to the CHP. A major change for 1963 was that the state was broken up into regions with different dispatch channels in each.  Previously, the entire fleet, statewide, had all been dispatched on a single frequency!  There were now three channels,  Blue, Red and Green, and in the following years many additional color coded channels were added. The system of color coding the channels was created by CHP's communications engineer Jim Angliss and Motorola sales engineer William Lieske, Sr..  

These 1963 radios were the first to use a "four-channel" arrangement, and were a creation of a committee which included Motorola's Lieske, top CHP staff, and State of California communications engineers Jim Angliss and Stu Nashke. Lieske then presented the plan to Motorola in Chicago, which created the specially modified radios to meet the necessary requirements.  Presumably the RCA sales team did the same with their radio design.

The 1963 radios were also the first ones making extensive use of transistors, and the control heads were custom designed to CHP specifications. The frequency selection was to be marked with four labels, namely "S-C-S-C". "S" refers to "station", while "C" refers to "car to car." The left-most S-C labels refer to station or car-to-car operation on the first channel, while the right-most pair of S-C marks refers to station or car-to-car operation on the second channel. The second channel in all radios, regardless of location, was the original statewide "Blue" frequency of 42.34 MHz. The first channel was whatever frequency was in use in the area of operation of that particular patrol car. Control heads were marked with a removable paper color dot above the left-most S-C pair of labels; this refers to the CHP color coding system for radio channels. The right-most color dot was always Blue. There was a tone-burst switch with 5 tones available; this switch is next to the channel selector and when placed in any of the five positions, would cause a short audible beep-tone to be transmitted whenever the pushbutton on the microphone was depressed, before the officer began speaking. The tone burst was used to activate remote mountaintop receivers in some areas, but generally was not used. The "PL" tone switch activated a sub-audible tone squelch circuit, such that only signals from the proper CHP radio transmitters would be heard. This eliminated static from power lines and other interference from being heard in the patrol car's radio during idle periods and also prevented hearing the occasional "skip" transmissions from distant non-CHP state police transmitters, and to a limited extent offered the opportunity to re-use the same channels within the state. As a practical matter, the "PL" function seems to have been little used in the cars and officers from the late 1960's report having regularly heard "skip" signals from eastern police agencies during the excellent sunspot cycle years of 1968-73.

MOTOROLA 1963 RADIOS:

The 1963 Motorola radio was a specially produced Motrac model radio, type X51HHT-3190A. It was a two channel receive, four channel radio without a noise blanker ("extender") but with "PL" (a single "Private Line" CTCSS subaudible  tone). The radio drawer is a special extended-case model to allow for the extra two transmitter channels, and thus these radios can be recognized by the longer case. Motorola sold approximately 2000 of these to the CHP in 1963.  The control head is a special model made for the CHP (see photo below). Note that it does NOT say "California Highway Patrol" on it, just "State of California." The basic layout of this sheet metal control head had already been used some years earlier to supply numerous state and regional customers, such as the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, California Department of Forestry, and others.  Only the faceplate needed to be custom-engraved.

RCA 1963 RADIOS:

For some reason Motorola did not receive the entire contract for new radios in 1963; at least half of it went to RCA.  The 1963 RCA radio was a specially produced "Super Carfone" model radio, type CMFA-50-X-MBR4020S. It was identical in features to the Motrac radio supplied by Motorola. The control head was also a special model made for the CHP, and looks almost identical to the Motorola, although the two are quite different electrically and can not interchange. The RCA control head contains the audio amplifier transistors, while the Motorola radio has all active circuitry contained within the radio itself (see photos below).  An interesting feature of the RCA radio is that it used instant heating tubes in the transmitter, with a filament switch wired to the microphone hang-up box, so that upon lifting the microphone from its hang-up box, the tubes would be lit and ready to use in less than one second.  This significantly reduced battery drain compared to the Motorola competitive product, but the officer needed to remember to replace the microphone on its hang-up box when finished.  The unpopular 1951 "Avia" CHP motorcycle radios used this same feature. The transmitter in the RCA radio used fewer tubes than the Motorola product, as it had more transistorized stages, however the RCA equipment was generally considered of cheaper design. It is unknown at this time how many RCA units the CHP purchased, other than the presumption that at least 2000 were ordered to allow the special production control head and radio modifications to be made economically.

In 1966, the CHP added fully transistorized versions of both of these radios to the fleet, in the process retiring any remaining pre-1963 vintage equipment.

The photo below shows the two versions of the RCA hand microphones supplied with the CHP contract equipment. 

MOTOROLA 1966 RADIOS:

The new 1966 contract Motorola radio was the "Motran" model, type X51LLT-3490A. Also a custom made radio, it featured a noise blanker (finally) and was fully transistorized with no moving parts. The control head was changed in that a switch marked "Extend" was added (noise blanker) and a circuit was added to dim the pilot lamps automatically depending on ambient light inside the patrol car (a small photocell behind a window on the front panel senses interior light conditions). The 1966 control head is the first Motorola head to actually be engraved "California Highway Patrol" on the front panel, unlike the RCA, which used this logo in 1963. The Motran was supplied with two different "PL" tones, the first being automatically selected for the two "S" channels and the other one being automatically selected for the two "C" channels. Evidently the CHP specified this dual PL requirement to Motorola but later changed its mind, as the State of California radio shops wired jumpers into all the radios I have seen, such that only one PL tone was possible.  The Motran radios were shipped to CHP from mid 1966 through 1968 but supplemented, rather than replaced, existing equipment.  Most of the Motran radios were used in southern California, while northern areas seem to have mainly used the RCA radios.

RCA 1966 RADIOS:

The 1966 contract RCA radio was their fully transistorized "Super Fleetfone" model, otherwise identical in appearance to the 1963 radio but intended to compete with and meet the specifications of the Motorola Motran.    It is model CMFB5-A-MBP9085D. The control head is identical to the 1963 version, except for the addition of an "extender" switch in the lower left corner. The RCA version of the pilot lamp dimmer is just a manually adjustable military style dimmer lens on each lamp, in other words a cheaper design. The RCA radios were shipped to CHP throughout 1967-68. Interestingly, all RCA 1963 and 1966 radios were seen in original service using the Motorola speakers from the previous radio fleet, or speakers concealed in the vehicle dash, rather than the low-profile RCA speaker. Evidently the CHP tried to economize by re-using the old Motorola speakers, or possibly RCA was unable to supply a speaker which met CHP standards (the RCA speaker is indeed a poor performer compared to the Motorola). Anyone with further information on this strange situation, please contact me !  As with the Motorola equipment above, the 1966 contract RCA equipment supplemented, rather than replaced, the 1963 equipment already in service. 

The photo below shows the interior of a new 1969 Dodge Polara, just after installation of the radio and emergency equipment. Note the use of a Motorola speaker with an RCA 1963 contract "Super Carfone" radio ! (Thanks to Ron Hurwitz and Tom Yaeger for this photo)

Note that the silk-screened OFF-VOLUME letters have been completely worn off on the above head! 

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:

A number of specially made radios were used, primarily in supervisor vehicles and special service applications. Some of these were one-of-a-kind and little is known about them. One of the special radios made in some quantity was the "5 and 9", a 13 channel  CHP administrator's vehicle Motrac radio (circa 1964) which had 5 receive and 9 transmit channels, compared to the 2 receive and 4 transmit channels of the regular Motrac. The "5 and 9" consisted of two Motrac mobile radio drawers patched together (!) with a short "Siamese" cable. The control head was similar to the standard Motrac head, except that the channel selector had more positions and smaller print. The second radio drawer did not contain a receiver, it only contained an additional transmitter section.  These radios were sold to CHP by Motorola's William Lieske, Sr., in what is presumed to have been a small quantity, which is interesting since the tooling and design work to create them must have been substantial.   None are known to have survived, although it is possible, since several of their control heads were seen at electronics flea markets in the 1990's.  These radios were rare enough that the service manuals were required to be kept in the vehicle with the radios at all times!

ELECTRONIC SIRENS:

In approximately 1966, electronic sirens began to be added to the patrol cars on a test basis, by various manufacturers including Federal Signal.  By 1967, electronic sirens became standard equipment in addition to the previous  mechanical ones. The initial shipment was supplied by Federal Signal to CHP specifications and did not feature the yelp or riot modes, nor was the radio rebroadcast feature wired in. These first electronic sirens were similar to the Interceptor model but pre-date it. (More information is welcomed !)  A Federal Signal Interceptor PA-20 Siren/PA unit was installed in almost all cars in 1968, which was wired to a separate PA style speaker under the hood, unrelated to the "radio outside" speaker, and with the riot and "yelp" functions disabled.

The siren speaker was added to the under-hood area behind the vehicle grille. There were then two speakers under the hood; 1) the "outside" speaker for the two way radio, and 2) the speaker for the Federal Interceptor. The CHP did not use the "radio rebroadcast" feature available on the Federal PA-20A. With some exceptions, the mechanical siren under the hood remained at least into the early 1970's, this comment being based on the 1969 wiring diagrams for the Dodge vehicles from CHP Motor Transport which show both the electronic and mechanical sirens in place, and from interviews with retired officers.

NOTE: ALL OF THE 1963-66 RADIOS WERE IN SERVICE SIMULTANEOUSLY UNTIL 1977, WHEN THEY WERE ENTIRELY REMOVED FROM SERVICE AS THE VEHICLES THEMSELVES WERE RETIRED. THIS PROCESS TOOK SEVERAL YEARS TO ACCOMPLISH BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF THE VEHICLE FLEET.

The somewhat aged photos below were taken in late summer 1969 of the under-hood area of a Dodge CHP station wagon in the Sacramento area.  The speaker shown is an experimental siren-PA speaker branded "Fyr-Fiter"  which was used on approximately 50 Dodge Polaras in this time frame on an experimental basis (thanks to Ron Hurwitz for this information!)  The "radio-outside" speaker is not visible.

Photos courtesy Dale Poppleton

THE FATE OF THE 1963-66 RADIO FLEET

Throughout 1977, the CHP began replacement of all radios in its mobile fleet, after purchasing a new model from Motorola as described below.  This was the first time that all previous equipment was surplused and a single manufacturer and model of equipment purchased to replace it, and the last time CHP would buy equipment from Motorola.  All old equipment was traded-in to Motorola, and Motorola destroyed all of the RCA CHP radios as "foreign equipment". Motorola did not attempt to refurbish or sell any of the Motorola branded CHP trade-in equipment either, however a few Motorola employees came up with a plan to sell the radios, as-is and without accessories, to radio amateurs (who were required to sign a waiver that they would never re-sell the radios back to commercial users.) The radios were sold for $ 50 each, plus shipping, primarily from Hank Arnold at Motorola's Foster City, California used equipment office, throughout 1978. Apparently the El Segundo, California office also briefly participated in this arrangement.  When I acquired some at that time, there were no control heads or cables available, although these later showed up at electronics flea markets throughout California. At the time, the best radio available through this surplus program was the CHP Motran, and that was primarily what Motorola offered to amateurs, although the earlier CHP Motrac was also available for the same price. It is doubtful that more than a handful of the Motracs, if any,  were sold to amateurs, so they are very rare today. Because all of the RCA equipment was destroyed by Motorola, it is extinct, although a few units survived because they were spares still sitting on state radio shop shelves during the trade-in period, or were saved by radio technicians as "souvenirs".

Please note that there is incorrect information on the CHP's official website regarding this, where it states that in 1977 "Motorola took over the radio contract from GE."  Prior to 1977, both Motorola and RCA supplied mobile radios to CHP, not GE.  At that time, GE had not received business from the CHP other than a small order of Progress Line mobiles in the late 1950's. GE would not receive further business from CHP until 1988.

THE 1977 RADIO FLEET

In 1976, the specifications for a new generation of CHP mobile radios were prepared. This radio would retain the current four channel scheme, however there would be a few differences. The microphones would have a special "rocker" switch as described below, the radios would have dual receivers, and the power output would be increased to 100 Watts.  This contract was awarded entirely to Motorola.  

The 1977 radios were the "Micor" model, a special production unit. Types X71RTA-4413AA and X71RTA-4413AK, under purchase orders 00118 and 01399. These were 100 Watt transmitters with dual receivers, such that the patrol cars could hear the transmissions of nearby cars as well as the station, even when the other cars were transmitting in the usual "car to station" mode. The microphone was a special model with a "rocker" switch for push-to-talk. Depending upon which side of the "rocker" was pressed, the radio would transmit to the station, or in the "car-to-car" mode.

The five single-tone burst feature was retained in this series of radios, and is the row of "ST" buttons across the top of the control head. However, there is little evidence of this feature being used.

Most of the installations of this equipment used the factory stereo speakers in the dash of the vehicle rather than the stock Motorola speaker.  Hence the lack of visible speaker in original photos of vehicle interiors.  The Ford Mustangs of the 1980's were ordered with stereo speakers of an impedance designed to match the Micor radio output, for this reason.

The control heads as delivered from Motorola have "California Highway Patrol" lettering on the right side of the upper section. The buttons across the lower row are OFF, Primary channel, Secondary channel, MON and PL. MON refers to activation of the second receiver, the purpose of which, as described above,  is to allow reception of transmissions from other cars when they were talking to the dispatcher. PL is the standard PL "Private Line" sub- audible tone switch as used in the earlier radios. Activating the PL switch mutes the receiver except to transmissions having the correct PL tone.  The noise blanker ("extender") feature of the earlier radios was retained, however it is always on, and there is no way to turn it off as there was on the Motran and Super Fleetfone CHP radios.

The CHP Micor radio drawer unit itself is considerably longer than a regular Micor, to accommodate the additional receiver added across the rear apron. Since channel scanning was available at the time, it is not known why a second receiver was supplied, since it would appear that a priority-scan control head would have accomplished the same purpose without the need for a costly second receiver, particularly when the frequency separation involved was small.  The Micor radio was mounted on a sheet of plywood which was fastened to the hump in the upper rear trunk of the patrol car.

A number of the CHP contract Micor radios were also delivered to the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation, tuned to their 45 MHz channels rather than CHP frequencies, to supplement their aging RCA 700 and 1000 series mobile radios.   Parks and Recreation abandoned their low band channels, statewide, in approximately 1979 through 1980 and moved to an 800 MHz analog system, and it is presumed that the CHP Micor equipment used by them found its way back to CHP inventory at that time.

The only control heads to escape later modifications were those transferred to the Department of Parks & Recreation in 1977.  The heads shown below are as they would have been found in CHP service 1977-1980, except that the SEC and ST5 buttons would have been blue in color.  Apparently the Parks & Recreation Department changed the button colors.

The photo below shows the final version of the CHP's Micor control head, as modified by GE to allow the use of a vehicular VHF high band repeater, as explained below.  These were used from 1980 to the end of service in 1987-88.

THE GE "EXTENDERS":

  Although hand-held radios had been experimented with in the late 1960's, is wasn't until late 1979 that it was decided that the patrol officers should have hand-held personal radios. These are technically impractical in the frequency range which CHP equipment operates  (42 MHz). CHP therefore obtained a VHF "high band" frequency assignment of 154.905 MHz, on which to operate its fleet of hand-held radios. In order to use these radios, it was decided that each car would have a mobile repeater system which would take the high band signals from the hand-held radio and interface them with the low band mobile radio in the vehicle. A decision was made to purchase GE hand held radios and mobile repeaters, evidently because they were the low bidder, and a purchase order was released to GE on June 4, 1980 (P.O. Number 22433.) This was quite unusual, because the GE equipment would have to be wired into the existing Motorola Micor radios, necessitating partial disassembly and modification of the Motorola radio, to interface it with a competitor's incompatible product. This was the first major CHP mobile radio contract given to GE in twenty years and was in the amount of $ 3.7 Million. (Details reported in the APCO Bulletin, November 1980.) GE supplied the repeater unit and the necessary modification kit for the Motorola mobile radio, and the Micor radio fleet was then gradually modified over a period of approximately one year, by State Of California communications technicians, in the field at the various regional shops and in the Sacramento shops as new vehicles were placed into service. The bulk of the work in the field was carried out by traveling communications technicians Gary Eberle and Jerry Short, with occasional assistance from technicians in the area shops. Eberle recalls personally installing over 800 of the kits, and would probably prefer to never see another one!

The modifications included a new circuit board with two pushbutton switches, added to the control head in the upper right corner, labeled "reset" and "rpt". A new adhesive faceplate strip was supplied for the control head's upper deck, such that the control heads no longer said "California Highway Patrol" on the right upper face.  A somewhat crude extra cable was added, coming out of the rear of the control head, which terminated in a plastic Molex plug a few inches from the rear cover. A GE "MASTR Executive II" mobile "repeater" unit, model MVR16HS-SPL, was added in the cruiser trunk adjacent to the MICOR radio drawer unit . The MVR16HS is actually a 100 mw output low power simplex relay unit, which the CHP called a "mobile extender" or just "extender". The word "extender" was somewhat of a misnomer as it normally refers to Motorola's trademarked ignition noise blanker circuit. The "extenders" began to be installed in CHP vehicles during the fall of 1980. By late 1981, all CHP vehicles should have had the modification completed. The portable radios were MPR Series hand-helds, model P2BJJ65BEN-SPL, as shown in the photo below.  These were two-channel radios; the main "RPT" channel was 154.905 MHz while the second channel, "CLE", was 154.920 MHz, the California Law Enforcement Mutual Aid channel (CLEMARS.)

The first systems were designed to feature an "emergency" switch on the handheld radio which would automatically place the MPR handheld in the transmit mode when activated, sending a special PL tone to the MVR repeater unit. This was intended by GE to send an emergency tone to the dispatcher via the patrol car's Motorola low band radio, but the CHP originally planned to install a tape recorder in the patrol car. When the officer made a traffic stop, he would record the license number, location and other details before exiting the patrol car.  If the emergency button was pressed later, this message would go out over the air along with an "emergency" tone.  However, for rather obvious practical reasons the CHP never installed the tape recorders.  Thus, the only thing which would happen when the emergency switch was activated, was that a "beep" tone with no unit identification would go out over the air.  In Sacramento, for example, it was typical to receive about 30 false alarms during each shift from accidental activations of the emergency toggle switch on the officer's GE hand-held radios, so the portables were systematically called in and the emergency switches and circuitry entirely removed !  The cable for this function can usually be seen still hanging from the connector of the original MVR cable assembly.

An interesting anecdote is that the GE MVR units, as originally supplied, failed to meet contract specifications due to the use of solid core rather than stranded wiring inside. GE was forced to supply technicians to make the wiring changes, who spent months at the State of California Communications Division warehouse in Sacramento rewiring the thousand-plus mobile repeaters already delivered !

HOW THE EXTENDERS WORK: The "extender" mobile repeater transmits and receives on the same channel. It works by pulsing the signal it is transmitting, so that it can still listen on its own frequency to check to see if the officer's hand-held radio is transmitting to it. During periods of no activity from the dispatch system, the mobile repeater is idle and simply listens on the 154.905 frequency. When it receives a signal from the hand-held on 154.905, it puts the car's low band radio on the air and relays what it hears (on 154.905) out on whatever 42 MHz CHP channel the main mobile radio is on. When the channel is active with dispatch traffic on the 42 MHz channel, the mobile repeater re-transmits it on 154.905, but interrupts it with short pulses, so that it can listen to see if the hand-held radio wishes to break in. The mobile repeaters had a range of perhaps a mile or less. In order to prevent interference when several CHP patrol cars arrive at an accident scene, the mobile repeaters have a priority scheme, which basically shuts down all mobile repeaters except the last one to arrive at the scene. Hence the "reset" switch on the control head.

GE's original intent was to have a vehicular charger in the patrol car, and when the hand-held was pulled from the charger once the patrol car arrived on the scene, the "reset" function would be automatically performed. However, most CHP cars never had the vehicular charger console installed. Instead, the hand-held radios were stored in rack chargers at the CHP offices and removed as officers went on their shifts. Therefore, it was necessary to manually activate the "Reset" switch on the radio control head. The extender system appears to have been an improved copy of a system "invented" by a California firm named PSI in the late 1960's, which was installed in the patrol cars of at least one central California sheriff's department, and evidently a number of them were purchased by the CHP for evaluation in those years.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SPECIAL TEST FIXTURES USED ON THE GE MOBILE REPEATERS

THE ANTENNAS: 

Until approximately 1997, the CHP used a black painted die-cast "ball and spring" style mobile antenna for the full size patrol cars, which was a full quarter-wavelength in size, mounted on the left rear upper quarter panel. Throughout the 1950's and 1960's, this antenna often had a black painted spring as well. Sometime in the 1970's, the spring appeared in its natural stainless (or plated steel) color. Interviews with the radio service technicians who worked in that era indicate that directives from CHP headquarters were sent to the shops requesting that the antenna springs be painted black. The reason for this is unclear, other than perhaps to minimize sunlight reflections in the vision field of the officer or to make the antenna seem "stealthy."  The supplier was the Antenna Specialists Corp. of Cleveland, Ohio. (Note - The CHP did not use the more expensive all-stainless steel Motorola ball mount on the regular patrol cars. That antenna can be recognized by a Saturn-like ring separating the ball's hemispheres, a gray plastic mounting base and an unpainted finish. There are some photos of such antennas in use on administrator and supervisor wagons and trucks, such as shown below, but they were not used on the standard patrol cars other than perhaps an isolated example or two.)

1974 Dodge Monaco, Photo courtesy CHP--> 

1969 Dodge wagon, photo courtesy Dale Poppleton from late summer '69 (footballs not CHP issue.)

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THE CAR ABOVE

Beginning in approximately 1997, the CHP began installing rooftop antennas (Antenna Specialists) on the new patrol cars, and the ball and spring antennas were no longer used. The antennas for the GE VHF mobile repeaters first installed in the early 1980's were an 18" whip mounted on the rear center of the roof. Those antennas were a "wideband" model with a tapered spring and thicker than normal whip, by Antenna Specialists. When the main lowband antennas began to be mounted on the roof, that antenna was replaced by an "on glass" antenna cemented to the rear windshield glass.  For a number of years after ABS brakes and engine management computers were first fitted in patrol cars, the original style ball and spring style antennas were often mounted on the passenger side quarter-panel of the vehicle instead of the normal method of left-rear quarter cowl-panel installation. This was evidently because of a problem with radio frequency interference to the automobile computer systems. Mounting of the antennas on this "wrong" side appears to have been on a case-by-case basis depending upon the particular year and model of vehicle and its computer system. When laptop computers began to be installed in nearly all patrol cars,  the main two way radio antenna was changed to a roof mounted, loaded whip (due to interference to and from the computer.)  By 1997 the roof mounted antenna should have been standard.  Some of the Mustang patrol cars were already fitted with the rooftop antenna and an on-glass antenna for the "extender" by late 1992.

OTHER EQUIPMENT IN USE 1977-87:

DASH CONSOLES: Beginning in the early 1970's, the CHP installed the control heads on various styles of consoles or bracket trees mounted on the transmission hump of the vehicle floor, braced to the dashboard. In other words, the control heads were not necessarily bracketed to the dashboard lower lip as the manufacturers intended, but were instead attached to these frames. This is one reason why the control heads are never found on the surplus market with the brackets attached.  The frames included some form of map lamp and space for a clipboard. In those vehicles, the frame would have mounted the radio control head, a Federal PA-20A electronic siren unit, and the radio speaker. The frames were made by the CHP shops, and were primarily of steel stock (and sometimes included painted plywood pieces.) Few have survived, and this is one of the most difficult aspects of the restoration of a vintage patrol car. If anyone has a good photo of one of these vintage consoles, prior to 1977, I would like a copy of it to place on this web page.  Sometime later, after the adoption of the GE RANGR equipment, the sheet metal box-shaped console which mounted over the transmission hump became standard.  It is also believed that various consoles and brackets were manufactured by Folsom Prison Industries.

CB EQUIPMENT: There were a number of other radio devices installed in CHP patrol cars from the mid-1970's through the mid 1980's. . During the CB radio craze of the late 1970's, CB radios were installed in most traffic cars, particularly those in rural and interstate freeway areas. These were usually identifiable by a black or fluorescent orange fiberglass CB antenna located on the rear deck lid center edge, or in some cases on a second standard CHP ball and spring base on the opposite side of the car from the CHP radio antenna. Some cars which came equipped with the CB radios from Motor Transport used a second CHP whip antenna for the CB.  There was little standardization of CB equipment throughout the state; various department store Japanese-made brands were used, such as "Superscope" in the San Jose area. (Thanks to Nick Timashenka, retired,  of the San Jose DGS Telecom office for this information.)  The CHP divisions acquired the CB radios on their own using non-recurring funds, primarily from a federal grant, and the local Department of General Services radio technicians purchased them "off the shelf" locally and installed them at the CHP division garages. CB radios in patrol cars had generally disappeared by the late 1980's, although even today, commercial enforcement (trucks, scales, etc.) vehicles are equipped with them for the purpose of monitoring and communicating with truckers.  The CHP official website, for some reason, seems to proclaim the installation of CB radios as a milestone event, when in actuality they were less than useful and the whole project was abandoned after the first purchase.

SCANNERS: Scanners were installed in some of the CHP patrol car fleet in the 1973-80 period, and were initially Regency TMR- prefixed crystal control models, modified with a muting circuit such that when the patrol car radio went on the air, the scanner was disabled and muted. They were usually installed at the local level, in other words, there was not a fleet-wide large scale purchase of them.  On June 30, 1980, the CHP ordered the new Regency programmable scanning receivers to be added to all patrol cars on a fleet-wide basis.. These were Regency M-100 models, and were usually located under the dash to the right of the main radio control head and siren/lights control box. The M-100 scanners were also modified to have a "mute" circuit which would mute all sound from the scanner speaker during transmissions from the patrol car's Micor CHP radio (to prevent background noise and feedback interference). These scanners were used for a few years and replaced in approximately the summer of 1987 with the Regency TurboScan 800 (TS-2) scanner, which seems to have remained in service through the early 1990's. In 1983, Regency also sold a large quantity of model MX3000 scanners to the State of California, primarily for the Transportation Agency (CalTrans), and those were also used by the CHP in 1983-87 together with the older M100 scanners. The TurboScan 800 scanners were eventually replaced in the early 1990's by Uniden MR8100 public safety scanners, which feature computer programmability and an alpha-numeric display. The MR8100 probably represents one of the most interesting scanners ever made, despite its use of somewhat cut-rate components. The Uniden scanners have in turn been replaced by the Bearcat BC760 scanner, sometimes mounted in-dash in the patrol cars, a departure from the "everything in a console" style of years past, but usually mounted in the lower rear of the standard sheet metal console box.  A few Uniden MR8100's are still in use as of 2008 although most were replaced after 2000 with the Bearcat units.  The scanners use a "coupler" box which allows them to share the low band antenna or the "extender" antenna on the vehicle and be disconnected from the antenna when the mobile transmitter goes on the air.  The initial examples of these "coupler" or "relay" boxes were made at CHP and DGS Telecom shops, although by the early 1990's these boxes were being manufactured by Antenna Specialists as custom order items.

PLEASE NOTE: I have a separate web page which details modifications to the Regency M-100 to allow extended band coverage, including the 10 and 6 meter amateur ranges. Click here to be redirected:  M100  

RADAR: The CHP traditionally did not use radar, mainly because it had no budget for it, into the 1980's. However, in some high-accident-rate areas radar was used, which was usually paid for and provided by local organizations including cities, counties, and civic groups. The radar equipment in the 1980's was typically older model Kustom Signals X and K-Band equipment; there was no standardization. Into the 1990's, older Kustom KR-10 and KR-11 equipment was seen in use, although CHP has today standardized on the "Stalker" brand Ka-band radar and nearly every patrol car and motorcycle is so equipped.

SPECIALS: There were many special radios produced by Motorola, RCA, GE and also the CHP's own radio personnel. These included 1970's-80's era portable base stations and repeaters built into aluminum Zero-Halliburton carrying cases, and GE Porta-Mobil II low band 20 Watt "lunchbox" pack set radios (used for special events and command posts). Motorola L01F tube type desktop monitor receivers (circa 1954) were extensively used in stations and were later replaced with Motorola M01CNB series solid state sets (1968).  In some instances additional mobile radios on other-agency channels were installed in special purpose vehicles, upon request, although these were rare. Generally, other agencies did not want to allow CHP vehicles to be able to transmit on their channels, especially since the CHP was technically not licensed to do so.  This is an inter-operability problem which continues today on a nationwide basis!

SIRENS/EMERGENCY LIGHTING UNIFIED CONTROL BOXES: Until approximately 1977, the CHP controlled the emergency lighting via a row of toggle switches mounted on a metal plate installed where the broadcast radio would normally be. The plate included a pilot lamp.  The switches in that plate, from 1960-77, were 1) "Radio inside-outside," 2) "Siren-Horn" for the mechanical siren to horn-ring connection, and 3) the on/off switch for the rear yellow/red rear deck lamps (center "Off.")  This plate, at least in the Dodge vehicles, also had some warning language about turning off the air conditioner above a certain high speed!

After 1977, the CHP began using an integrated lighting control and siren unit made by Federal Signal, the model PA-1000-8Z. The full model number of the PA-1000 was PA-1000*012-8Z and it was a special production version made specifically for the CHP. The special features mainly involved the function selector, which deleted the "Hi-Lo" sound and "Yelp" functions from the function switch, although there was a timer circuit which activated the "Yelp" feature via the horn ring contact, and then reverted to "Wail" after a predetermined time.  The photo below shows the interior of a 1978 Monaco. The siren front panel functions were "Manual," "Radio," and "Wail."  The "Radio" feature connected the radio speaker line to the outside PA speaker via the siren amplifier.  Statements from retired officers indicate that some of these PA1000's were also either the standard model or a variation of the 8Z which did in fact include the YELP and RIOT modes.

Notice that in the above photo, interestingly, there is neither a CB nor a scanner in evidence...

From the 1977 Micor installations onward, CHP began to use a standardized mobile mounting "console" consisting of a hand welded steel rack affair which mounted over the transmission hump on the vehicle floor.  Below is a clearer view of one of these racks.  The later CC-1* siren and lighting control also fits in this rack, although it is not known whether the CHP modified the racks to take into account the lower total height of the Micor control head and the CC-1* console compared to the earlier PA-1000 setup.  Note that the rack in the above photo appears somewhat different and has the microphone hung across its front rather than the side. There were obviously several rack styles in use, and variations over the years.

The Federal CC1* Equipment

In June 1982, the CHP entered into a contract with Federal Signal of Chicago to produce a custom siren/lighting control console for the patrol cars. This model was the CC1*, which controlled the MPA2 siren amplifier (100 Watt). Shortly after installation, many of the CC1* consoles were modified to include an extra switch and a blue pilot light on the upper edge, which was used only in cars equipped with the Federal Jetsonic light bars, to cut-off the front lights on the light bar.  The blue pilot lamp was to warn the officer that the front-facing lamps were in the "disabled" mode.  This modification was not made on the CC1*  used in cars with "slick-tops" (no light bar) and Mustangs. (Thanks to Mike at SpecialServiceMustang.net for figuring out this info). 

Like the PA-1000 8Z before it, the CC1* did not feature the "Yelp" mode as a front panel switch option, although it was technically available via the horn ring switch (Federal called this the "Tap II" mode) depending upon the wiring arrangement chosen.  It is believed the CC1* was only supplied to CHP as no other agency has been found which used them.  The photo immediately below is a scan from the service manual and the one below it of two actual units removed from service.  It almost looks as if the "VOL" slide control is missing a knob, which could have been fitted, but that's the way they were delivered.  This makes it inconvenient to adjust the PA volume, but perhaps it was rarely necessary to do so.

Shown below are the two versions of Federal CC1* used by CHP, the bottom example having the added front lamp cutout switch and blue indicator lamp for use on light bar equipped cars.  The "NOR-DIM" switch refers to the panel illumination; there is a lamp with a blue lens which shines onto the switches via a cutout slit on the upper panel approximately where the "Federal" logo is.

Shown below is the noise-canceling microphone supplied by Federal for these units, which I believe is an Astatic item OEM'd to Federal.  Note that during the production period, both gray with black grille (shown) and all black versions were supplied.  The connector is a molded-on standard 1/4 stereo style plug.  There was usually a white plastic strain relief clamp around the cord which clamped the cord to the right front screw under the CC-1* console, preventing the possibility of the cord being pulled out inadvertently.

The TS-100 speakers as used were all-black in color.

Starting in early 1988, and continuing for a number of years, the CC1* equipment was retired as cars were taken out of service, and replaced with the GE RANGR integrated radio/siren system, where the siren, lights, shotgun lock and so forth were controlled from the radio control head, which in turn controls a relay box in the trunk via a serial data line.  Light bars, when used, were wired to a Federal Signal control-junction and relay box in the trunk. Shotguns in the passenger compartment were discontinued with the introduction of the laptop mobile computers, although in recent years they, along with CAR-15/M-16 rifles, have returned, mounted vertically between the left and right front seat backs due to passenger-side air bag requirements.

THE 1987 GE RADIO FLEET

(Note: Because this equipment is still in use, the photos and more details are found on my separate web page described below)

GE RANGR RADIO:

In 1986, the CHP began the evaluation process for the purchase of new radios. RCA had already exited the land mobile radio business, which left a choice of Motorola or GE. For reasons known only to those who made the purchasing decisions, but mainly because they were willing to design a "special for CHP" control head and were also the low bidder, the contract this time went to GE (later Ericsson-GE). GE supplied their RANGR 100 Watt low band mobile radio, with the series S810 alpha-numeric display integrated control head, which is still in use.  It would take more than two years to completely replace the existing radio fleet with the new GE equipment, which was for the most part not retrofitted into existing vehicles in the field.  Thus, in 1990, for example, there were a few area offices still using the older Micor mobiles and original GE MVR-16 repeaters in their vehicles.  The RANGR equipment began to be phased into the fleet in approximately late 1987 or early 1988 and probably wasn't fully integrated until perhaps 1992.

The RANGR mobile radio was manufactured in Japan by JRC, to a GE design which is basically a copy of their Delta-SX USA-made radio, and then merely labeled "GE". Apparently the "Buy American" policy in place at State of California purchasing overlooked this issue.  It was developed specifically for the CHP but has since found widespread use in other agencies and on other frequency bands. It is small, rugged and reliable, mounted in a cast aluminum frame. It is synthesized and programmable; the frequency storage and all personality aspects of the radio are contained in the "smart" control head. The GE control head also controls the siren/PA equipment via a serial data line. There is a mobile repeater as in the previous generation of radios, although in this case it originally consisted of a newer generation of the original GE Executive II MVR which had a redesigned and modernized logic section, but was otherwise identical in appearance to the originals. The model number was RVR-16HS and it was apparently made only for CHP.  That repeater has now in turn been almost completely replaced by a Pyramid Communications repeater, made in Huntington Beach, California. The motorcycles, starting in 1996, were also equipped with a mobile repeater, but in that case it consisted of a modified GE MP-A series portable radio mounted in a small box with a voltage dropping circuit to allow it to run from 12 volts. The M-PA is software programmable and in this case has been specially programmed to act as a "simplex" repeater.  Presumably the MP-A repeaters were also phased out in favor of the Pyramid equipment.

The S810 RANGR control head was developed by GE specifically for the CHP but later redesigned as a "stock" "over the counter" item, re-numbered S825, and called the "System" control head by GE.  The CHP version contains older and completely different firmware, as well as a different rubber keypad overlay, but it is actually, in a way, more versatile than the "off the shelf" S825 head.  There have been at least three versions of the overlay supplied to the CHP. The RANGR is also used on motorcycles, but with the somewhat simpler head numbered S815, which GE refers to as their "scan" version S820 control head in the "off the shelf" model. The S815 does not have the lighting control right-hand keypad buttons as used on the S810.  When the majority of the motorcycles began to be equipped with the M-PA vehicular repeater mentioned above, that repeater was attached to the top of the RANGR radio, which required a spacer under the top lid of the white fiberglass weather housing as supplied by GE. The current BMW cycles use a streamlined radio housing made and supplied by BMW, and the GE housings last used on the Kawasaki KZ1000's have been retired and surplused.

The GE Rangr CHP equipment can be programmed by either the TQ-2310 "Suitcase" programmer, or the TQ-3370 interface box, although it is believed that software for the CHP specific heads was only made for the "Suitcase" programmer.  In both cases, only the S810 or S815 control heads are programmed.  The radio drawer itself is then programmed by the control head each time the head is powered up or a new bank of channels is selected.

Photos and information on the present CHP mobile radios can be found here:    CHP 2001

In approximately late 1987,at the same time the mobile fleet began to be modernized, the hand-held radio was upgraded to the GE MPS, a 12 channel synthesized (programmable) radio otherwise identical in appearance to the existing older 2 channel MPR unit. Some of the MPS radios featured voice encryption (scrambling); those were used for dignitary escort and were kept in Sacramento and only issued for special needs. The MPS is programmed by use of the special GE TQ- series "suitcase programmer" and an interface cable which plugs into a series of pin-sockets on the back of the radio mother-board. In late 1996, the GE MPS hand-helds were replaced by the Motorola HT-1000 portable. The HT-1000 is presently in service although as of 2008 the CHP is transitioning to a 700 MHz "extender" system and has awarded at least one hand-held radio contract to EF Johnson. 

The frequencies programmed into the MPS were as follows:

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, subject to change per area office involved.

THE FATE OF THE 1977 MOTOROLA/GE RADIO FLEET:

In 1987, GE did not accept the Motorola Micor radio fleet as trade-in credit for the new RANGR radios.  Instead, CHP participated in a program where most electronic equipment was sent to the State Office of Emergency Services in Sacramento where it was warehoused and recycled. By recycling, it is meant that city, county and state agencies as well as the Red Cross, Explorer Scouts and so forth could draw whatever they needed from this warehouse essentially without charge. The GE RANGR radio changeover was apparently complete by about 1990 although there is evidence the Micor equipment was for some reason still being installed in Mustang cars as late as 1989.  Thus, the 1977 fleet was saved from destruction, although pieces of it have been scattered throughout the State of California and beyond as a result.

Concluding Notes: Every time I think I have all the details straight, I learn something which throws me a curve, or I find new material, and it's then necessary to re-write part of this page. Sometimes inaccurate information creeps in, an unavoidable aspect of a project this large, which is an ongoing effort of refinement..  So don't be surprised if you check back later and find that some of the information has changed.  Please also note that the dates shown for when equipment was put into service are not absolute as far as when the previous equipment was removed from service.  In other words, it took anywhere up to three or four years to completely replace the entire radio fleet, and was done as each new vehicle left Sacramento. Some installations were modified in the field so that they were not technically the same as the way they left Sacramento.  In a system as large as this, there will always be variations, and always some exception to the "general rule."

NOTE TO POLICE CAR RESTORERS:  It has come to my attention that certain websites catering to police enthusiasts may contain quite a bit of incorrect information concerning CHP radio systems, as well as photos of "restored" CHP cars and motorcycles containing bogus radio installations.  These cars and cycles are also occasionally offered on eBay and at collector auctions as "totally authentic," which they are not.  It is suggested that before you waste a lot of money purchasing one of these fakes, or equipment which is represented to be genuine, that you do your homework!

This page created by Geoff Fors, Monterey California.   Not officially sponsored by the State of California or the California Highway Patrol.  If you have any additional information, historical data or photos, or have any suggestions, please do contact me by e-mail, at geoff  @wb6nvh.com.  I hope to find others who are also interested in preserving this history.  I am always looking for CHP radio equipment, parts, manuals, etc. for this "virtual museum" and my collection, particularly the pre-1960 equipment, as well as almost any ancient land mobile radio equipment and documentation. I am still trying to find the RCA radio drawers for the CHP-Special Super Carfone and Super Fleetfone 1960's radios, motorcycle equipment pre-1978, and control heads for the Philco prewar police receivers and the RCA CMV-3 "Fleetfone."   Don't let history wind up in the landfill !  I also need photos from the 1970's and earlier (full credit will be given) especially of the car interiors, people involved in CHP radio systems, and of the equipment in actual use. 

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Last updated: 2/12/2010                  © Geoffrey C. Fors , 2000