LAPD Radio Equipment 1949
I've obtained these three magazine-type photos of LAPD mobile radios from about 1949, and am trying to identify the make/model of the rigs. All would seem to be Motorola, as the city hasn't been aware of the existence of any other manufacturers since the mid-40s at least.
At this time they had just obtained VHF-high band mobile frequencies (154/155 mHz), though the dispatchers' talk-out freq was to remain on 1730 kcs for another 16 years. Everything had been AM modulation at the time, though they were just then beginning to transition to FM... a change-over that would take the better part of a decade.
At any rate, wondering if anyone can identify these equipment models (especially the trunk-mounted car transmitter)?
The microphone?
(Photo caption only mentions a "speaker in the
dashboard")
And notice that the officer's Sam Browne belt still has the shoulder strap... easy for a bad guy to grab a hold of. Those were eliminated (the straps, not the bad guys) beginning with the police academy class of 2-10-1958.
Trunk mounted transmitter
section (154/155 mcs)
"Only two bolts have to be loosened to remove
transmitter from trunk"
Until this time, LAPD's motors had been
equipped with receiver sets only, and they were now equipping all
the bikes with transceivers. My guess would be that the
transmitters were probably FM. (Receiver section still medium
wave AM)
