1970 Motorola Base Station

In the early 1970s, Motorola produced the Base Station with Encoder, which was normally found in hospitals and dispatch centers. The unit would be connected to the transmitter via telephone lines. Each base station would have it’s own access number that would set off a tone at that base station to alert the staff they had an incoming radio report or message. Ambulances were also equipped with two-way radios that had an encoder for contacting the hospitals to provide patient reports via radio while in transit.

Back in the early 1970’s, the FCC established the frequency 155.340Mhz as the National HEARS (Hospital Emergency Alert Radio System) channel. This was one of the first “attempts” to establish a nation wide communications system to enable ambulance’s from any part of the country to communicate with other ambulances and hospitals/agencies. However, many states and regions found that the HEARS system was not suitable for their area due to either the frequency range and terrain or the cost involved to implement it.

Submitted to NEMSM May 2011 by Fred Swihart, additional information from NEMSM volunteers (2016)