 
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 660
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 11:43 am: |    |
I met a guy down at the Belle Isle Casino the other day who was promoting the history of Detroit Police Mobile Radio.
I told him about this site, and invited him to join. He has two tons of old photos, equipment, and gads of historical information.
Since he is new, I said I'd start a new thread for him and for you.
He is a very nice guy and wants to get the word out about a Historical Plaque that will be unveiled this spring.
So, welcome to the forum... |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2670
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 12:43 pm: | |
Boy, I hope he can post some of those old photos here, Gnome! Over and out, KQA-371 and KQA-414! |
Stinger4me
Member
Username: Stinger4me
Post Number: 163
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 1:34 pm: | |
Maybe there will be photos of George Rawls and Walter Kilgallen. "OK, pal." KQA 414. I think the DPD disc jockeys were on the seventh floor of headquarters. "7-14 dial 801." Another shot at going back to the fateful days of yesteryear. |
Slick
Member
Username: Slick
Post Number: 1
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 3:14 pm: | |
KQA 414 if you had a nickel for every time you heard that. This is the radio guy, worked at Belle Isle radio for 20 years. Now work on the State wide MSP radio system.
Dispatch was on the 6th floor of HQ. They moved to Lyndon and myers about 4 yea |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 663
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 3:35 pm: | |
Welcome to the forum Slick, I think you'll find some new friends here. |
Stinger4me
Member
Username: Stinger4me
Post Number: 164
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 3:45 pm: | |
Slick; Do the names George Rawls or Walter Kilgallen ring any bells? It may have been before your time. |
Slick
Member
Username: Slick
Post Number: 2
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 3:57 pm: | |
Stinger,
No they do not, but I did not spend my time up at dispatch. I was on the island with screwdrivers and soldering irons. In the days when you could fix things and even see the components. |
Birwood
Member
Username: Birwood
Post Number: 68
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 4:17 pm: | |
Slick
Did you ever know a Fred Hiles, DPD retired Lt from B.I. Radio, went to work for MSP radio repair
Did you ever meet or know any of the people over at KQA-205 DFD |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2672
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - 5:35 pm: | |
Slick, is that transmitter building at 9999 Iris still in service? |
Slick
Member
Username: Slick
Post Number: 3
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 10:29 am: | |
Ray,
9999 Iris was shut down as a service facility in the 1990's. It still has a transmitter there. All the old radio towers for the UHF 400 mghz system were converted over for the 800 MHZ system. or as I like to say "Detroit came back to haunt me, when they upgraded the 800 mhz to digital and now have interoperability with the State system.
Birwood, never knew a Fred Hiles, the Lts that were there were Felix Arendash and Charlie Shropshire, I beleive they have both went to the big radio shack in the sky.
I knew a couple of guys that worked fire dispatch, the old building on Monroe, behind Greek town???? Cannot remember any names. sorry. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1114
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:47 pm: | |
Slick: I'm just curious if you know the year that DPD adopted radios for communication...my dad was a beat cop in the 5th in the pre-radio days...we still have his call box key that he used to report his whereabouts. Maybe the cars had them at that point? He joined in 1924 at age 20 and retired in 1950...he had to work an extra year because he had lied about his age. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2678
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:04 pm: | |
Thanks, Slick. It was 1941 and I started kindergargen at the Parker School right next to the old west side transmitter. For some reason, the place fascinated me and I wondered for years what radio station it was (being sure it was WJR or some such). Years later, of course, I knew. |
Slick
Member
Username: Slick
Post Number: 4
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:25 pm: | |
Ray, I dont think Parker school is there anymore. In fact I just remember houses all around the place and a city park adjoining.
Go blue, Detroit started one way communications April 7 1928. That is the reason for the 80th Anniversary historical marker in April of this year. Two way radio started in 1932 in Bayonne, NJ. Detroit was not far behind. Portable radios were issued in 1966. I am sure your Dad remembers the old bricks as the PREPS were called. |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 669
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:34 pm: | |
Slick, I think you need to explain to everyone the Historical Marker. Most folks don't anything about it. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2682
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:49 pm: | |
"Ray, I dont think Parker school is there anymore."
Nope, a casualty of school closings. All the schools I attended are no longer open.
Parker School, Detroit -- kindergarten
William Ford, Dearborn -- 1st thru 4th
Monnier School, Detroit -- 4th thru 8th
Mackenzie High, Detroit - 9th thru 12th
And even.....
Wayne University. Before the State acquired it, so technically it no longer exists. LOL |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1116
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 2:58 pm: | |
Slick: Thanks for the info...if it was about the DPD I'm sure my dad remembered it. Badge #1052 collected his pension for 34 years...Ray1936 is out to break his record and we're all pulling for him! |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2683
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 4:51 pm: | |
I'm wrapping up year #24 this summer, Blue. Ten to go and I'm in amazingly good shape.
What was George Burns' favorite line? "If I knew I was going to live so long, I would have taken better care of myself......." |
Stinger4me
Member
Username: Stinger4me
Post Number: 168
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 6:19 pm: | |
I forgot about the George Burns line, but I did tell a doctor the same thing a couple of weeks ago. He told me I was in pretty good shape for my age.
Stinger
(Message edited by Stinger4me on February 06, 2008) |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1123
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 8:51 pm: | |
Ray...you're doin' damn well...for a Westsider...it must be the Eastside influence of your better half. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2686
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 8:54 pm: | |
Ain't no doubt about that, Blue. She reminds me of that fact continually. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1125
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 9:14 pm: | |
Lord knows I understand Ray...mine's from Indiana...told her that on the Eastside we always told jokes about Ohio...but never about Indiana...because there's nothing funny about Indiana...my 7 day sentence to the barn is up in two more days...which is good because my cellmate, the damn gelding, farts constantly!! |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2687
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 9:36 pm: | |
Oh, I dunno, the funniest thing to come out of Indiana was Bobby Knight, but now I'm threadjacking so forget I said it. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1126
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 9:59 pm: | |
Already forgotten...but couldn't agree more...to the chagrin of my IN relatives. |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 672
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 10:30 pm: | |
Hell, if I was a gelding I'd fart all the time too. |
Slick
Member
Username: Slick
Post Number: 7
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 2:59 pm: | |
80 Years of Detroit Police Dispatch
April 7, 1928 to April 7, 2008
The Belle Isle Police Station on Inselrhue Drive built in the 1860s has a long and heralded history on Belle Isle. In this building on April 7, 1928, Detroit Police Radio began dispatching police units and has been doing it continuously since that time, albeit in various locations. The exact location for the first dispatch center is the second floor above the garage. This was one-way communication, dispatcher to vehicle. This is the documented beginning of using radio for Police dispatching nationwide.
While early radio transmissions began as early as 1921, it took advances in technology to make it practical. One obstacle was to develop a receiver that would work in a moving vehicle. To demonstrate the radio receiver it is said that Officers Ken Cox and Robert Batts dropped the unit on the floor of Commissioner William P Rutledge office and it continued to operate. Other improvements included a move away from the noisy downtown area to Belle Isle, a better antenna system, a method to fix tune the receiver and approval by the Commerce Commission, precursor of the FCC, to establish Police radio communications.
To mark the Eightieth Anniversary of this historic occasion, The Michigan Chapter of Associated Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), has worked with the Michigan Historical Commission to have a historical marker erected on the site.
The dedication of the marker will be April 13, 2008, Sunday afternoon at 2 PM. This is not only the Eightieth Anniversary; it coincides with Telecommunicators week established by APCO.
The Fiftieth Anniversary was marked by the dedication of a plaque from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This marker is on the front south west corner near the main entry door to the building. |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1130
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 11:29 pm: | |
Gnome: Yeah...the mare is pretty disgusted with him...actually she's disgusted with both of the geldings. Last such post on this thread...maybe one is needed about the DPD Mounted Division. |
Stinger4me
Member
Username: Stinger4me
Post Number: 170
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 4:17 am: | |
Waiting to see what is posted about the DPD Mounted Section, there must be a few stories floating around. |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 682
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 4:39 am: | |
How about some photos Slick? I'm sure a lot of guys would like to see your collection. The wooden radio you has on display was quite interesting. |
Tompage
Member
Username: Tompage
Post Number: 52
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 6:57 am: | |
Yes I remember the PREP (Personal Radio-Equipped Patrolman) radios: Brick shaped with brick weight. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 2696
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 1:06 pm: | |
Yup, they were even heavier and bulkier than those initial "brick" cell phones from about 1985. But they worked pretty good. |