After reading Rhonda Braudis’ article about the changes to the career of an emergency dispatcher, I am compelled to add some ancient history background to the changes she has seen.

My wife and I moved to Marshalltown in 1974; when we arrived, I maintained all of the radio communications for Marshalltown PD and Marshall County Sheriff. They shared a common base station, located in the basement of City Hall, which was manufactured in 1949. It was controlled by two remote controllers (each about the size of two bread boxes), one each on a filing cabinet in the tiny PD office in City hall, and one on a desk in the front office of the jail.

Every law enforcement agency in the state, with the exception of the major cities and the Highway Patrol, was on a common frequency (37.10 MHz) which was prone to skip off the ionosphere. One deputy told me of the night when he took a call from Marshall County; after a few moments the address didn’t sound right and he called back. “No. We didn’t call you???” A few minutes later he received a call: “Iowa car, please disregard that Michigan assignment.”

Another example of the changes in communications is in size. A single-channel portable of that era was about the size and half the weight of a brick.