Radio Nottscops

It’s a far cry from the days of whistles on chains (I believe the Met still have them!) Communications have come a long way for Nottscops. Nottingham City Police was the first force in the country to use mobile radio communication and as our photos show, they were somewhat cumbersome pieces of kit.

As the years have gone on the personal radios issued to individual officers have got smaller. I remember the original PYE Pocketphone that came in two parts. The receiver clipped on to your tunic lapel and fell off whenever you ran, and the transmitter had a spring loaded aerial which shot out like a humane killer bolt when you pressed the transmit button. Reception was always iffy and if you were in a blackspot you were often seen to be waving the sets around in the air like semaphore flags to receive anything. In the late 1970s these were replaced by Burndept sets which were blue, metal and heavy. At least they were self contained into one piece but had to be carried around your neck in a small harness similar to how a St Bernard dog carries brandy. The next radio was a Philips which comprised a small speaker and microphone which could be clipped on your eppaulette and connect into the main part of the set which fitted into a harness. The interconnecting lead was always too long and got caught around door handles. Various multi channel Motorola sets were used by the force until Nottinghamshire took up the national Airwave radio system in use today.

While personal radios used UHF for transmissions, vehicles were fitted with VHF, which had a much greater range and enabled vehicles to be in radio contact with their central force control room. From the time of amalgamation the combined force’s control room was at Epperstone Manor, annexed to the training school. This later moved to the new Force Control Room at Sherwood Lodge. Force VHF was on two channels. Channel 1 was for the northern area of the county while channel 3 was for conurbation use around Nottingham. As PNC became more frequently used, a third channel, Channel 2 , was used solely for PNC checks.

In the early days everyone had to be careful with VHF radio and strict “radio procedure” had to be used at all times. This was because everybody who had a VHF (or FM) domestic radio could tune in and listen to the police messages. The frequency was around 100 – 101 cycles (just down a bit from Radio Nottingham). This did have its advantages for Nottscops as many of us carried a small portable VHF set with us so we could leave the vehicle, visit a tea-spot, and listen out for if we were called.

Rumour has it that when I was on Traffic I used to go home in duty time and mow my lawn with my Dansette transistor radio on the garden wall tuned into the police radio. Not true! It was a Phillips radio anyway.