DIRECTORATE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
HISTORY; POLICE ON MF
page 5 of 6

Document written by Brian Pears (no other details available)


In the days of the early telephony MF and VHF radio schemes the phonetic alphabet in civilian use was that of the GPO. Its use within the police schemes varied enormously. Some Schemes used it for mobile callsigns only "RL to Benjamin 5' (Northumberland on MF 1946-1951), others used it for both base and mobiles "Lucy Lucy to Lucy 2' (South Shields' scheme from 1951), while a few did 'not use it at all "LK to K6 '(Newcastle's scheme from 1942). From 1956 the NATO alphabet was used instead - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie ...... Zulu.

In fact, oven before the first of the Regional Wireless Stations opened in 1939, it had become clear that future of police communications lay not with MF, but rather with VHF systems. Experiments at Manchester's Heaton Park station in 1937 had demonstrated that, despite popular belief, VHF could indeed be used for base-mobile communication, even in cities. After further work by the Metropolitan and Birmingham City forces, the Home Office Communications Branch conducted tests in several areas of the country, and in 1940 they asked GEC to design and produce suitable fixed and mobile VHF telephony equipment.

When this became available, the Home Office approved its use in urban areas with populations exceeding 75,000 and offered generous grants as an incentive. Many city forces took up the offer and from 1942 the two types of system operated side by side, two-way systems in some cities and the MF Regional Scheme elsewhere. The spread of VHF schemes was only limited by the availability of the equipment, much of which was being diverted for use by the ARP (Civil Defence) services.

After the war the move from MF to VHF resumed and not just in the cities, the plan called for multi-station schemes covering county areas too. Four Home Office test teams, recruited mostly from the National Fire Service, toured the country carrying out coverage tests, and one by one the VHF schemes were installed.

The first two, in 1946, were for Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, previously served by the Cheveley Regional Wireless Station. Police forces were still joining the MF schemes; Northumberland Constabulary and South Shields Borough Police began using the Marley Hill Regional Wireless Station as late as 1946 and 1947 respectively - but it was a temporary measure and by 1950 virtually the whole country was served by police VHF schemes operating in the 95-100 MHz band.

Heddon Laws Police Wireless Station Northumberland's Technological Folly

In 1941 Northumberland Constabulary decided to opt for a VHF system for their relatively populous south-eastern areas and to use the MF Regional Scheme elsewhere in the County. All their initial energies were aimed at the VHF scheme, and after the usual bureaucratic delay they built a mast costing £3758 at Heddon Laws Farm - a County Council smallholding north-east of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. By mid- 1943 it was completed and only then did they find out that they were not to get any equipment whatsoever it was no longer available. They immediately authorised the expenditure at £750 on receivers for the MF scheme, but they were too late for MF apparatus too - all wireless Production was being aimed exclusively at the ARP and military.

In the event, Northumberland County had no radio service until 1946 when the Home Office loaned them some old MF equipment so they could belatedly join the MF Regional Scheme. When plans for multi-station VHF schemes in the area were being finalised in the late 1940's, Northumberland Constabulary suggested that their Heddon Laws mast could be incorporated into the scheme - but it was not to be. Home Office tests revealed that the site was not at all suitable - in fact it would have been difficult to find a worse location - apparently it was originally chosen simply because it was within the required service area and was already council owned! In March 1951 they reluctantly ordered the demolition of the mast - a mast that had stood for 8 years and never carried a single transmission or even a single aerial array!


Source: Kevin Carrig

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