PASADENA POLICE DEPARTMENT RADIO

A brief detour up the Arroyo Seco Parkway (but even before that was built) -

PASADENA (CA) POLICE DEPARTMENT

Radio Station KGJX: 1712 kcs

The Pasadena Police Department, in 1930, was the third department in California to use police radio, following the lead of Berkeley ("KSW," 2410 kc), and Tulare ("WPDA," 1712 kc).

For the first few months the transmitting station was located at the old City Hall / Police Headquarters at the northeast corner of Fair Oaks & Union, but when the new "Hall of Justice" opened on November 22, 1930, the dispatchers were provided with a sound-proof radio room.

This was several months before the Los Angeles Police Department's station "KGPL" took to the airwaves on May 1, 1931. I've found very little information, yet, so additions and corrections are most welcome. Meanwhile, here are two photographs from the old Security First National Bank's Historical Collections, with their original captions, dated 1930.

"Radio communications system of the Pasadena Police Department, in 1930"

"Two officers look at radio parts to be installed into the police car".

"A man sitting, transmitting a message."

(Believed to be Officer Herschel Calvert)

Pasadena's local "monopoly" on the 1712 kcs (1.712 mcs/mHz) frequency was short-lived, only lasting until Los Angeles Police went on the air on the same frequency in 1931. In those early days of police radio, the Federal Radio Commission (predecessor of today's Federal Communications Commission - FCC) assigned only eight radio frequencies for all police departments nationwide, and required that all departments in a geographic area share the same frequency. (By 1935, San Bernardino PD was also sharing the frequency as KGZY, but was generally too far away to create interference). At that time it worked satisfactorily; for example, "all-points" broadcasts would be immediately heard by other nearby departments. Radio calls were infrequent enough in those days that interference was seldom a problem, except occasionally at night, when, because of atmospheric conditions, the local transmitters in Los Angeles and Pasadena would have to compete with powerful signals booming in on 1712 kcs from such cities as St. Louis (KGPC), Dallas (KVP), and even Chicago (WPDB, WPDC & WPDD).

In 1933, the Pasadena Police entered into an agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs's Office to provide "dispatching service" to the new one-way radio-equipped patrol cars assigned to the Sheriff's Altadena substation. LAPD began providing similar service for the Sheriff's other substations. This continued until 1938, when Sheriff Biscailuz presided over the opening of the LASOs own two-way radio system on 31.90 mc (simplex), with the FCC callsign of KQBV.

In 1937 Pasadena began installation of two-way radios in their patrol cars, with the mobiles transmitting on 33.22 mc. The dispatch frequency was moved to 1714 kcs a few years later. The department's motorcycle officers had receive-only radios for another decade, until Officer I. M. Frakes' bike received PPD's first two-way motorcycle radio in November, 1947.