"Data Transmission" and a bus company?

[RedPenguin]

My local bus company, CamTran, just registered a new frequency with the FCC and the Information Systems person told me that it's a "data transmission" frequency.

What possibly could a "data transmission" frequency do for a bus company? And does that probably mean, like how EMS sends patient information to a hospital over Med frequencies?

 

[zz0468]

Bus companies are very big users of mobile data. It can be used for vehicle location, dispatching, status messaging, remote diagnostics for the buses, and other such things.

 

[n2mdk]

Could be anything that they want to monitor about the buses. If I had to guess I would say something like GPS info so they know the locations of the buses.

 

[RedPenguin]

Oh

Oh I see, that makes perfect sense, both replies.

 

[Jay911]

I saw a transit company trunk system last year that was sending more data than voice calls. I think they were reporting every stop the bus made at which time.. which to me implies you could have an automated system identifying which buses are on time (or not!).

 

[RedPenguin]

Hmmm

I saw a transit company trunk system last year that was sending more data than voice calls. I think they were reporting every stop the bus made at which time.. which to me implies you could have an automated system identifying which buses are on time (or not!).

They claimed one time, they (my bus company) were going to have a system that announces the bus arrival times at the main "Transit Center", but that was like 2+ years ago.

EDIT: I found the exact words here: "introduction of electronic bus audio Announcement system." That was in 07, it's 08 now. They just got the freq yesterday (1-31-08).

 

[kd5dga]

I have heard of allot of transportation companies and mass transit using mobile data terminals to keep the strain down on the drivers, so they dont have to pay close attention to radio traffic. Like mentioned above the performance of the equiptment is monitored and the ammount of revnue that is taken in is also monitored. Keeps a honest man honest!

 

[SkipSanders]

I have seen articles on remote monitoring of busses, and things like transmission temperatures, along with engine temp, oil pressure, etc, all can be telemetered to the base so that it can be watched constantly for problems.

This can, first, warn the driver if something is going bad, before they notice, usually, and also provides maintenance with a record that lets them schedule maintenance when it's needed.

 

[RedPenguin]

Bus company with a 2 watt radio?

Does anyone know what a bus company would perhaps do with a 2w radio?

My local bus company is registered for a 2w frequency:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?licKey=1233675

Yet, no one seems to know what the heck it would be used for. Not even some of the actual employees.

 

[jerk]

Does anyone know what a bus company would perhaps do with a 2w radio?

My local bus company is registered for a 2w frequency:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?licKey=1233675

Yet, no one seems to know what the heck it would be used for. Not even some of the actual employees.

Portable radios fro work crew or cleaning crews. Better and easier than a loudspeaker.
either that or an intercom for illegals riding in the baggage compartment.

Seriously, it would most likely be used in the yard and around the area for bus workers to communicate with the office and the office to call them... bus 14 just arrived and the toilet is broken...

AL

 

[fineshot1]

Does anyone know what a bus company would perhaps do with a 2w radio?

My local bus company is registered for a 2w frequency:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?licKey=1233675

Yet, no one seems to know what the heck it would be used for. Not even some of the actual employees.

This is actually one of a few licenses. Go to the FCC web address below and do a
FRN search on FRN 8286833 and it will pull up the rest of the license info on
more frequencies they are licensed on. Pay attention to the FCC Emission
Designator codes on these licenses as they are a clue as to what they may be
used for. The second web address is a pdf that may help you decode the
emission designators.

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp

http://www.comsearch.com/articles/emission.pdf

 

[key2_altfire]

Hey, check this out. I listen to AM radio most of the time while driving. Whenever I drive near an L.A. MTD bus I get a loud "woo woo woo" sound in my radio. Don't know if that's RFI or EMI, but it comes in loud and strong!

 

[morfis]

In the Uk most bus companies use some form of data system as well as voice radios.
Many are using MPT1327 trunked systems with a data layer for Real Time Passenger timetabling info.
The bus stops are fitted with electronic signs that show when the next buses are due, what route number they are running and if the bus is going to be late. This data is also sent on the data freq.

See the web sites of companies such as ACIS (http://www.acis.uk.com/) for informatiuon on the systems and who is using them. Several of these also have the information live on www.

 

[RedPenguin]

Speaking of

Speaking of bus companies and frequencies, why would a bus company register their input frequency by it self instead of with the output?

They have two licenses to just use the input by itself
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1203238&__newWindow=false
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1221647&__newWindow=false

Then they have their output registered by itself:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?licKey=1238249

 

[RedPenguin]

Could the 2W frequency work as a bus-2-bus frequency?

I was talking to a bus driver once, and he ended up searching the radio, and Ch. 2 says Bus-2-Bus, would that probably be the 2W frequency?

No one ever uses Ch.2 because I monitor the bus a lot, but would it make sense for a 2W to be bus to bus? Or would they most likely use a talkaround?