FDNY Radio History from New York Times newspaper articles
June 28, 1930 - FDNY applies for radio license from FCC for 125 watt
base station at Empire Blvd at Washington Ave in Brooklyn on 1596
kilocycles
Aug 31, 1936 - 9 fireboats will get 2 way radios funded by $30,000 in
the 1936 FDNY budget - the radio base station will be at Long Island
City - radio receiver sites will be at north end of Staten Island,
Brooklyn Museum, high school in northern Manhattan, and the Municipal
Building - 35 fire department cars also might receive the radios - no
radio frequency has been allocated by the FCC yet
Feb 25, 1949 - FDNY orders first 2 way portable radios - $250 each -
applied for FCC license - crystal controlled radios - delivery within
45 days - primary use will be for inside bld to outside bld comms
Oct 30, 1949 - FDNY will soon utilize a new $250,000 radio system on
150 mhz to 160 mhz - this band has only been used by the Federal
Government previously - presently FDNY uses non exclusive shortwave
radio channels on 200 megacycles (???) - units on West Side Highway
would be confused by calls meant for eastern New Jersey fire units -
each borough will have its own channel - a 6th channel will be used
citywide - radio bases will be located at Bronx Park, Empire Blvd at
Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Forest Park in Queens, Borough Hall on
Staten Island, and Central Park in Manhattan - International Telephone
and Telegraph, Motorola, and General Electric will be involved - all
sizeable fire apparatus will have radios - previously just the
commissioner, fire boats, chiefs, and special units had radios
Feb 3, 1952 - new FM radio system is 95% completed - based on 1950
contract for $586,000 - 5 bases and 500 two way mobiles - in 1951 the
new two way radios were installed in engines, ladders, and chiefs in
Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond - in 1951 in Manhattan and Bronx just
the Chiefs got the new radios
March 1, 1953 - new radio system dedicated at 83-98 Woodhaven Blvd,
Forest Park - all apparatus have radios now
March 3, 1953 - dedicated new citywide radio system - Motorola -
$586,000 - replaces system in use since 1937 - photo shows portable
radio which is the size of a small suitcase on a shoulder strap (radio
appears to extend from ribs to thigh and is larger than the lunchbox
size I have seen in other photos from other agencies - ps)
April 20, 1956 - FDNY has placed a mobile command post in service -
based at Engine 66, it is staffed by 1 Lieutenant and 2 firefighters -
there are 7 mobile radios on board - photo shows 2 standing
firefighters with 7 handsets mounted over their heads - unit responds
on all ?2nd alarms and ? some first alarms - plan for 2nd unit in 6
months - first HTs were used in 1938 but they fell out of use during
WW2 because (?hard to purchase?)
Oct 19, 1963 - Elizabeth NJ sold 153.77 to NYC for $42,000 and another
radio channel - the money will be used to purchase modern radios for
Elizabeth FD - 153.77 is close to existing FDNY radio channels - (I
suspect that Elizabeth got 166.25 or 170.15 in the deal - ps)
Oct 11, 1969 - FDNY is purchasing 1,055 small portable radios (HT) -
27 ounces - 6 channels - Motorola is the only provider of such radios
- $978 each - 7 inches high by 3 inches wide by 1.5 inches thick -
will be carried on Sam Browne style belt - the FDNY radios are smaller
than HTs recently tested in Brooklyn by NYPD - FDNY will have 3 HT per
Ladder and 2 per Engines, Rescue, Squad, and Chief - 100 HTs will be
in reserve - presently FDNY has 250 older bulky HTs mostly for
officers
March 22, 2001 - FDNY pulls $5M worth of digital radios from service
Aug 7, 2001 - FDNY will reprogram digital radios
(there are a few more articles concerning 2001 era news - fire union
complained about radios - interop was increased - etc)
note - 1953 - price jumped from 250k to 586k
No comments:
Post a Comment