amtrak and/or Boston MBTA radios

[matt131]

Hi Everyone,

I know that in the future railroad radios will be changing and the band will be switching to 12.5khz and 6.25 khz. I know this is over the next couple of years but maybe even sooner than that. I have heard rumors of railroads trying out different radios such as different kenwood and Icom units. It maybe possible that they are trying out these units because kenwood NXDN and Icom IDAS are basically the same. Has anyone heard of Amtrak or the Boston MBTA trying out these radios or any future plans for the radios?

I do know that right now the MBTA commuter rail is using the Motorola HT1250 VHF full key pad portables and some HT1000's.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[garys]

The MBTA doesn't use transit frequencies for subway, bus, or surface lines. MBTA commuter rail is operated by Mass Bay Commuter Rail, which does use them. That probably doesn't help you other than maybe to point you in the right direction. The transit system is moving (slowly) from UHF to an 800 MHz Pro Voice EDACS system.

[n1oty]

I can confirm that MBCR has purchased quite a few Icom radios with the iDAS digital module installed.

John

Originally Posted by matt131

Hi Everyone,

I know that in the future railroad radios will be changing and the band will be switching to 12.5khz and 6.25 khz. I know this is over the next couple of years but maybe even sooner than that. I have heard rumors of railroads trying out different radios such as different kenwood and Icom units. It maybe possible that they are trying out these units because kenwood NXDN and Icom IDAS are basically the same. Has anyone heard of Amtrak or the Boston MBTA trying out these radios or any future plans for the radios?

I do know that right now the MBTA commuter rail is using the Motorola HT1250 VHF full key pad portables and some HT1000's.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[radioman2001]

I sure hope they aren't going the NXDN route. Our testing found that system to be absolutly terrible. We had much better success with MOTOTRBO. Plus you get 2 channels for the same 12.k bandwidth, while using only one transmitter. Great for space savings, and site rental costs.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by radioman2001

I sure hope they aren't going the NXDN route. Our testing found that system to be absolutly terrible. We had much better success with MOTOTRBO. Plus you get 2 channels for the same 12.k bandwidth, while using only one transmitter. Great for space savings, and site rental costs.

Maybe because FDMA helps more with the high need for simplex and multiple sites for coverage in the RR world as opposed to just repeater capacity in most systems.

[n1oty]

Originally Posted by radioman2001

I sure hope they aren't going the NXDN route. Our testing found that system to be absolutly terrible. We had much better success with MOTOTRBO. Plus you get 2 channels for the same 12.k bandwidth, while using only one transmitter. Great for space savings, and site rental costs.

NXDN has been adopted by the AAR, so I think you will see a lot of railroad NXDN purchases over the next few years.

John

[Lynch_Christopher]

Is there any chance that the railroads may go to MOTOTRBO?