Pye Westminster-Whitehall mobile UHF-VHF Repeater

During the late 1970's Police dog units were equipped with VHF-UHF repeaters to allow officers to use portable UHF radios in areas where there was only VHF radio coverage. As long as the dog handler was within UHF range of the vehicle, communications were possible via the VHF radio network.

The equipment was imported from Pye in the UK, and consisted of a dash mounted control unit (pictured right) and two remotely mounted radio units. The radios were a 20 watt Pye Whitehall operating in the 75 MHz AM band and a 15 watt UHF-FM Westminster, operating in the 460 MHz UHF band.

The control unit provided separate channel and volume controls for each radio, so they could be used independantly as normal radios. When the repeat mode was selected, all messages received on VHF were re-transmitted from the UHF radio to the officers portable (normally an RCA Tactec). Messages from the portable were recieved by the UHF unit and retransmitted from the VHF vehicle radio.

Westminster UHF-FM radio (left) and Whitehall VHF-AM (right) with the control unit