Name/Title
Sussex Police Pye PFX personal radio c1985Entry/Object ID
2534Description
Grey plastic personal radio complete with detachable aerial and battery with twist attachment. Marked to the front "Pye Telecom" and with "Pye" logo. Marked to rear "Pye Telecommunications Ltd Cambridge England" and "Cat. No. PFX LVU serial No. 526005". There is a label marked "CHICH TRF" and a dymo tape marked "526005". On the side marked in pink pen is "TWS CHI".Use
For use in Sussex Police for radio communications.Context
In the 1980s there had been significant developments in radio communications and the UK Home Office began to look for more sophisticated radios for the police to replace the then in use Burndept 3 channel radios. One of those that were approved was the Pye PFX, which had up to 99 channels as well as other features. These radios were adopted by police forces in the UK along with other similar models such as the Motorola HT600E, and gave valuable service until they were eventually replaced with the Airwave system.
This particular example is marked to the rear "CHICH TRF" which indicates that it was used at one time by Sussex Police traffic officers based at Chichester. From the marking on the side " TWS CHI", it appears that the radio was subsequently allocated to traffic wardens also based at Chichester. It is not known how common the use of the PFX was across Sussex Police, but it is believed, to have been initially used by both traffic officers and those in other specialist units such as the force's Special Operations Unit. Most retired officers remember using the Motorola HT600E instead, which seems to have been in more common use. It may be that the PFX was initially used by specialist units and that when multi channel radios were rolled out for use by other officers in Sussex, the HT600E was the radio of choice. This example is one from c1985 when these radios were first manufactured, as it has "Pye" markings on it. The company was completely absorbed by its parent company, Phillips, in 1986 and subsequent PFX units were marked "Phillips".