Unique museum of police wireless sets.

GSM and telephone networks can get jammed at the most crucial times, as they did during the 2011 serial blasts in Mumbai. During such times, the police have to resort to their wireless networks. To highlight the important role of wireless networks in policing, a unique museum of police wireless sets has been set up in Pune.

The Directorate of Police Wireless was created in December 1946 when the police depended entirely on the telegraph to transmit urgent messages.

S.M. Nabar, its first director, is called the Father of Police Wireless and is credited with having revolutionised communications for the police after World War II. The police have, of course, switched to satellite technology since 1998, but honouring the police communications technology is the Wireless Museum on Pune’s Pashan Road. Set up in 2007, its fabulous displays include:

• The Canadian Marconi 10-inch spark transmitter was used by the Titanic to send out its first SOS.
• A wireless telephone set was loaned to the mountaineers by the Maharashtra police in 1998. This was done for an expedition to Mount Everest to celebrate 50 years of Indian independence.
• A 1975 teleprinter. An Inmarsat Satellite phone.
• Communication machines from both the World Wars.
• A GE524 HF transmitter with 10 channels was made by Bharat Electronics in 1972.
• A multi-channel tape recorder was made in 1981.
• Innumerable charts show ancient and recent means of communication from the USA, Germany, Russia, Britain, and Greece, among others.