My younger Buff years

[nfd2004]

After my first ride with the FDNY in Brooklyn on Rescue 2 in 1968, Brooklyn became my favorite Boro to listen to nightly on my newly acquired crystal controlled scanner. For those who are not aware, in those days there were no programmable scanners. You had to buy and install a small crystal for each channel you wanted to listen to. In my case, it was an eight channel scanner with five crystals for FDNY and the rest two local FD and one local PD. Brooklyn Fire would be Non Stop. I'd stay up as late as 3 AM and the activity was still going strong. I remember hearing those many locations that Chief "68jk09" mentioned in the above post. In fact, just as most FDNY members knew those box numbers and locations, I knew many of them also, just by hearing them so often.
  My father (RIP Smoke), who was a Firefighter on the job in Bridgeport, CT would even sometimes come into the my room and be amazed at the amount of fires and activity going on. I remember how he was also so impressed with hearing those Progress Reports. In most other places you would only hear it reported as a "Working Fire". After that Nothing. With the FDNY you could picture Exactly what was going on. Another thing was that the FDNY was one of the first that you could hear units calling because of the use of "Repeaters". Strange, but I could hear the FDNY Companies calling from Sixty miles away, but couldn't hear the local companies calling from Six Miles away. The FDNY was just so way ahead of everybody else, even in the late 60s.
  And as I started buffing down there, seeing electrical wires jury rigged from one building to another, or directly from a light pole was a pretty common thing as the Chief "68jk09" says. Not counting the Arson, no wonder there was so many fires.

 

[firstdue2dq]

After my first ride with the FDNY in Brooklyn on Rescue 2 in 1968, Brooklyn became my favorite Boro to listen to nightly on my newly acquired crystal controlled scanner. For those who are not aware, in those days there were no programmable scanners. You had to buy and install a small crystal for each channel you wanted to listen to. In my case, it was an eight channel scanner with five crystals for FDNY and the rest two local FD and one local PD.

My grandfather passed down his crystal controlled scanner to my cousin and I. We've got a few crystals but the only one we use is for the Hartford Fire Freq. It's in our apartment and you can hear it clearly from pretty much any room, still works perfect after many years of use. Best house warming gift a kid could ask for 

 

[memory master]

I still have a "MonitorRadio" from Lafayette electronics. Radio itself is in great shape but all it receives is static. I guess it finally needs tubes.

 

[bklyndisp54]

I still have a "MonitorRadio" from Lafayette electronics. Radio itself is in great shape but all it receives is static. I guess it finally needs tubes.

Don't throw it out!  It's a piece of history.

My first buff radio was also a tunable tube job from Lafayette.  Ran it constantly day and night, much to
the annoyance of my parents.

I think that MonitoRadio was a sub-brand of Regency sold in Lafayette stores.  I remember seeing them on a number of housewatch desks in the 60's and a little later.

After the tunables, and before scanners, came a few crystal controlled rigs from Sonar, such as the FR-103 portable and the FR-105 mobile/base rig (still have one of them floating around somewhere!). Their factory was at 73 Wortman Avenue in the Borough of Fire (that's Brooklyn, for you Bronx guys!  ;D) They moved on into making scanners, along with their competitors Regency, Tennelec, HyGain, Electra-Bearcat, and a few others whose names escape me.  Newcomer Radioshack seems to have outlasted them all.

Thanks for the memory jog!

 

[69 METS]

I still have a "MonitorRadio" from Lafayette electronics. Radio itself is in great shape but all it receives is static. I guess it finally needs tubes.

Don't throw it out!  It's a piece of history.

My first buff radio was also a tunable tube job from Lafayette.  Ran it constantly day and night, much to
the annoyance of my parents.

I think that MonitoRadio was a sub-brand of Regency sold in Lafayette stores.   I remember seeing them on a number of housewatch desks in the 60's and a little later.

After the tunables, and before scanners, came a few crystal controlled rigs from Sonar, such as the FR-103 portable and the FR-105 mobile/base rig (still have one of them floating around somewhere!). Their factory was at 73 Wortman Avenue in the Borough of Fire (that's Brooklyn, for you Bronx guys!  ;D) They moved on into making scanners, along with their competitors Regency, Tennelec, HyGain, Electra-Bearcat, and a few others whose names escape me.  Newcomer Radioshack seems to have outlasted them all.

Thanks for the memory jog!

I still have an FR 105 in a storage drawer in my garage, I bought it from Firecom Communications when they first became available. They were excellent radios.

 

[bklyndisp54]

I believe that Firecom was operated by Brooklyn Disp. Mike Espo (a/k/a "the turtle").  He would always individually check out everything he sold, so the buyer would be sure to get nothing with factory defects.
Wow.  That goes back a while!

 

[68jk09]

I got a midland crystal hand held from mike around '76 i believe.......I have every radio i ever got ....starting with a Harron Labs Fire Pal late '50s up to a Uniden Bearcat BC560XLT programable.....about 15 different models in between mostly crystal & mostly still working .........in the early sixties my friend had a Harron Labs Fire Pal for his car.....the one in a perforated metal box rather than the table model in maroon plastic...he had it in his '49 plymouth & it was set up for six volts.......another friend borrowed it one time & put it in his '57 pontiac but he didnt realize it was a 12 volt system.......boy did that radio light up as it fried.......i have an original Sonar FR 105  6 channel manual crystal controlled as shown in someones previous post......i also have one of Sonars first scanning models as well as an original Lafayette crystal controlled manual car only unit........a real simple & dependable 2 channel crystal non scanning unit about the size of a pack of cigarettes i have is a Radio Shack model.......& several other models ..............someone mentioned stuart electronics in QUEENS .....he is still there & has been there forever but if you are dealing with him you better know your shit or he will sell you what HE wants.....when i got out of the USMC Sonar had started making their first scanners ...i went to stuart to buy one & he said "you dont want a scanner in NYC its too busy....buy one of the manual FR105s"  so i did.......i found out later he was trying to unload his manual units since scanners were taking over.......lesson learned.

 

[69 METS]

....starting with a Harron Labs Fire Pal late '50s up to a Uniden Bearcat BC560XLT programable.....about 15 different models in between mostly crystal & mostly still working .........in the early sixties my friend had a Harron Labs Fire Pal for his car.....the one in a perforated metal box rather than the table model in maroon plastic...he had it in his '49 plymouth & it was set up for six volts.......

I had a Harron Labs hand held. I think it held five crystals. That was my first crystal controlled unit.

 

[Atlas]

The tune able radio in the firehouses for a good number of years in the late 50's - early 60's was either the Fire Pal, or the S-95 Civil Patrol by Helicrafter (check spelling).
Regency had a mobile radio that the cystals had to be soldered in place. When The Bronx was taken off of the Manhattan frequency in the later 60's & switched onto Staten Island, if you got the wrong cut cystal, either high or low, for the frequency, you were able to listen to TV Channel 31 & ON THE JOB training program for FDNY right in your own car. THOSE WERE THE DAYS!  How about BRONX DISPATHER 40?  Remember that voice????? Or even "BRONX DISPATCHER 7" ??????? If you do, you are really showing your age!

 

[raybrag]

It was Hallicrafters, Chief.  In the photo below, fourth shelf down on the far right is the S-94 Civic Patrol.  Was that the one?

 

[Atlas]

Yes it was. I think the '95' model was for high band.  Boy that brings back memories. Thanks!!!!!

 

[68jk09]

Atlas ....since you mentioned receiving tv over the radio...here is some of my ramblings from another site awhile ago...the last few sentences deal w/the opposite.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Years ago when "tapping in" was still in effect .....we had some Dispatchers who were partial to our Co (single Truck).......while a box or phone alarm was being recd. in their office ......one of them would click the taps a few times ....& the HW would turn us out way before the last digit of the box came in on the bells (1st or 2nd due)......as soon as the last # hit we were out the door.... seem to remember 11-11 s at 0830 & 1730 as well as 0900 & 1800..... also years ago certain establishments in close proximity to the F.H. would pick up static on their AM radio... each click could be counted as the box was being sent. ....& any Member in a Co. for awhile had all the box locations commited to memory.....as a kid i lived about 3 blocks from one of the Dispatch Offices...we did not have a TV initially but a neighbor did.....i accidentally found out that if you put Channel 4 NBC on the TV then played w/the focus knob it would recieve FD audio.....they never understood why when they had me over to watch TV the picture was always out of focus.......they thought i had vision problems. 

 

[3511]

I remember 11/11 at noon in the Bronx, and occasionally anytime if testing the circuits.

Three rings on the HW phone from the dispatcher to turn out the first due CO's on a phone alarm for a structural fire.

Ever hear the box number get messed up and the dispatcher just keep pounding the bell, then stop and start the sequence all over again?

 

[johnd248]

Correct me if wrong, but I remember 11-11 rung at 9AM and 6 PM; I believe the bell at Noon was just 2.

 

[bklyndisp54]

Correct me if wrong, but I remember 11-11 rung at 9AM and 6 PM; I believe the bell at Noon was just 2.

Correct.  "2" at noon.  The other daily sig's were those two rounds of 11 on both the primary and secondary circuits.  I think we also sent a single 11 at 830am and 530pm.

 

[guitarman314]

I remember 11/11 at noon in the Bronx, and occasionally anytime if testing the circuits.

Three rings on the HW phone from the dispatcher to turn out the first due CO's on a phone alarm for a structural fire.

Ever hear the box number get messed up and the dispatcher just keep pounding the bell, then stop and start the sequence all over again?

YES, that happened quite often

 

[Atlas]

Its funny that around NYC & I have to assume that the Fire Pal & some of the other well known radios were always found in fire stations or with buffs. But when you got away from the big cities, you would most likely find PLECTRON radios. Maybe some volunteers on Long Is, or up-state had them, or even the vol depts that are located in NYC might have used them. They were used as part of the dept's alerting system. By some people they were advanced for their time.

 

[mack]

This might not fit in this thread, but here is a good collection of Newark FD from the 50s and 60s:
http://www.newarkfd.com/index.php?view=category&catid=11&page=1&catpage=16&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=73#category

 

[mikeindabronx]

Thanks for the link, vintage photos are great to look at.

 

[811]

This ad is from 1961 Fire Engineering, and yes, I did have the Fire Pal.  I lived in a smaller city then and a radio friend in school adapted it where any (rare) night transmissions on the tuned frequency would activate a light and buzzer to wake me; but then any noise or static would do so it wasn't 100% effective.

Like the chief, I also messed up a TV tuner with the set screws behind the channel selector knob trying to get the FD frequencies.