Pye PF1 the the start of it all.

In response to a home office requirement for a small light weight handheld portable radio for the Police a number of manufacturers GEC, STORNOPHONE, COSSOR had submitted designs for consideration. These were for operation on the VHF bands. However as this trial was taking place PYE had come up with the PF1 design, a two unit radio with seperate transmitter(PF1T) and receiver(PF1R) in the UHF band. Unlike the GEC LANCON and the other VHF sets the PF1 didn't have any external leads and was felt more suitable for use by a Police officer. An advantage was also found in the selection of UHF. Following trials at 100Mhz 150mhz and 450Mhz it was found that at UHF frequencies the proximity to the body had less effect on the transmitting antenna and the effect of man made electrical noise falls off at UHF, allowing increased receiver sensitivity. This coupled to a very good price from Pye stole the deal. The original channel scheme was a 50Khz spacing with 23 channels and this was then increased to 44 channels with the introduction of 25Khz spacing in the 451-453mhz band. The set was expanded to include Intrinsically safe versions and also the PF1C AKA the Compact although why it's called this is a mystery as it is bigger than a PF1T and PF1R together. I had the obligatory PF1's as an amateur in the early 80's when many of these came on the surplus market nice little set for what it was and the receiver could be modded to fit a bnc or a mini tnc ala PF2 and use a quarter wave or external antenna for extra coverage. The sets used a Yellow 9v battery for the RX and a Red 18v battery for the TX.      

PYE PF2 AKA Pocketfone 70 Series

Pictures to come

What's the difference between a Pye PF 2 and a Pocketfone 70? well all PF2's are Pocketfone 70's but not all pocketfone 70's will be PF2's  You might ask how do I know what it is then? It's all in the letters that come after PF2 E.G. PF2AM, PF2FM, PF2U. Pocketfone 70 is the series name and has no bearing on the modulation or frequency range and is also used on the PF3 and PF5. PF2AM is an AM set but it could be highband or low band VHF equally a PF2FM is FM highband or low band VHF the PF2U being UHF and only in FM. Also is it a PF2FMB or PF2FMH the final suffix indicating B Bodyworn or H Handheld. These sets were all 3 channel with the channel change switch being the large silver knob on the front. very often the channel change mechanism is disconnected when only one channel is crystalled to prevent inadvertent operation of the channel change switch. These sets also came in intrinsically safe models which had orange bits and needed a special tool to remove the battery and usually had a sticky compound over the boards to meet the Intrinsically safe regulations for use in an explosive atmosphere. These sets usually have the letters "is" as a suffix as in PF2FMHis The PYE PF3 this is a variant of the PF2 with higher output power and a more sensitive receiver externally the sets are identical. The model naming convention remains the same . Used these professionally and boy could they take some punishment and still work, one time left one on the back bumper of a Landrover drove off down the road and apparently it came off at 50mph Bounced down the road and was picked up by a nice member of the public who handed it in. I thought, here comes a report to do as to how the radio came to be damaged, but it only had a few scrapes on it and once a new battery was fitted worked fine.  At VHF an interesting concept was the antenna being in the leather strap of the case which you hung over your shoulder, I wonder what the antenna efficiency was under a wet raincoat and right next to your body, ah well at least at the power output, frequency and modulation method used you didn't have to worry about pulsed signals and tissue heating.  

WHAT NO PF4 

Not as far as I'm aware unless anyone knows any different or perhaps can explain why not?

PF5

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The PF5 is a single channel variant of the PF2. I had one of these as a ham in the late 80's but the cost of converting it wasn't cost effective and eventually used it for parts to keep a PF2 going..   

PF6

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Essentially a 10 channel version of the PF2

AGAIN NO PF7

The only reason I can think there is no PF7 is that with the Pocket fone 70 series being called PF70 by so many people it was thought best not to use that number. But do you know different?

PF8

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An interesting design concept with two microphones one at the top and one at the bottom with a two way PTT which depending on where you pressed it selected the appropriate microphone. Made famous by Bodie and Doyle of CI5  in the The professionals. Although I can't work out how they managed comms using these throughout the home counties and London without the use of an extensive linked repeater network. I have seen it mentioned on other sites that the radios were considered good and used widely by the Police. I have used these and the radios performance was not particularly good and I'm not aware of any widescale use by the Police, the Burndept BE470 being the radio that won the PF1 replacement contract..

PF9

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A modern version of the PF1 and an example of a good idea updated consisting of a PF9R and a PF9T. The receiver had a circuit that would detect a strong local RF field and turn the receiver off when you were transmitting. I liked these they were light and easy to carry audio quality was good and with the addition of an induction earpiece was very discrete.. The transmitter had a red LED which lit when transmitting and the receiver had that quiet reassuring battery economiser tick reminiscent of the PF1R. The frequency element was modular and it was possible to change frequencies within a narrow band easily by opening the battery compartment in the base and changing the complete module. This was supposedly a replacement for the PF1 but the only force I think (it was 25 years ago) I saw using them was Strathclyde Police.