Dedicated railroad portable

[silverbk]

I am toying with the idea of programming one of my VHF portables for monitoring the railroads.

I am in upstate NY and proficient in programming radios. I even have a VX-150 but I may use one of my Icoms or even better an M-PA portable. Last time I checked Metro North was still using the M-PA.

Anyway I am a total newbie to rail monitoring and I am looking for ideas on how to set it up. How many channels will I need ?

I also want to be able to take the portable to other areas and be able to copy some train traffic. ie my folks are in PA and they have tons of freight traffic in their area.

Any ideas are appreciated.

[Astro25]

The 99 standard AAR frequencies at least, for sure. Between that, some railroads use mixed TX/RX pairs between dispatchers and trains. I don't know these off hand, because it's not used in my area.

It's always nice to have a few MURS frequencies programmed in as well. (Do the MARS/CAP mod. on that radio). Railheads tend to use MURS for comm's at events, altho not limited to that.

[JESSERABBIT]

Ok, here goes. Do a Google Search of http:\\www.uiec.edu The first item SHOULD contain "roma" in it. It lists railroad locations, frequencies and much more for all of the railroads. If that doesen't work, let me know and I will work on it.

[kb4ytm]

I couldn't find any info on that uiec link.

Thanks
Richard

Originally Posted by JESSERABBIT

Ok, here goes. Do a Google Search of http:\\www.uiec.edu The first item SHOULD contain "roma" in it. It lists railroad locations, frequencies and much more for all of the railroads. If that doesen't work, let me know and I will work on it.

[Spec]

Originally Posted by silverbk

I am toying with the idea of programming one of my VHF portables for monitoring the railroads.

I am in upstate NY and proficient in programming radios. I even have a VX-150 but I may use one of my Icoms or even better an M-PA portable. Last time I checked Metro North was still using the M-PA.

Anyway I am a total newbie to rail monitoring and I am looking for ideas on how to set it up. How many channels will I need ?

I also want to be able to take the portable to other areas and be able to copy some train traffic. ie my folks are in PA and they have tons of freight traffic in their area.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Try this for your area :

NYS MTA PD Frequency Use - Mobile Unit setup

Rx / Tx
161.2200 / 161.2200 PL 123.0 / CSQ North Region Dispatch F-1
160.5600 / 160.5600 PL 123.0 / CSQ North Region F-2 Car – Car

161.4900 / 160.3200 PL 151.4 / 114.8 Penn Station Repeater
160.4550 / 160.4550 PL 151.4 / CSQ East Region Dispatch “E-1”
160.6050 / 160.6050 PL 151.4 / CSQ East Region Car- Car “E-2”

161.5200 / 160.8300 PL 179.9 / CSQ NJ TPD 1
160.8300 / 160.8300 PL 123.0 / CSQ NJ TPD 2

160.3650 / 161.2950 PL 131.8 / 131.8 Amtrak PD Penn Station
160.3650 / 161.2950 PL 156.7 / 156.7 Amtrak PD SNYD
161.2050 / 161.2050 PL CSQ / CSQ Amtrak Car – Car



Metro North Railroad

160.9500 PL CSQ Hudson Division RTC
160.5450 PL CSQ New Haven Division RTC
161.2800 PL CSQ Harlem Division RTC
160.3350 PL. CSQ Park Ave. Tunnel Emergency
161.1600 PL. CSQ Grand Central Terminal SMO
160.7700 / 160.7700 PL 123.0 / CSQ Local Talk-around
160.4100 / 160.4100 PL 123.0 / CSQ New Haven MOW (Maint of Way)
160.1600 / 160.1600 PL 123.0 / CSQ New Haven MOW 2
160.8000 PL CSQ NJT Port Jervis Division MNRR
161.4000 PL CSQ NJT-Rail
161.0700 PL CSQ CSX Poughkeepsie - Albany

Long Island Railroad

154.1150 / 160.3800 PL 151.4 / CSQ LIRR – RP 1
153.8450 / 160.7850 PL 151.4 / CSQ LIRR – RP 2
160.6200 PL CSQ LI-Crowd
160.9200 / 160.9200 PL 151.4 / CSQ Tunnel Emergency East Region
161.3850 / 161.3850 PL 151.4 / CSQ LIRR MOW 1 (Maint. Of Way)
160.7250 / 160.7250 PL 151.4 / CSQ LIRR MOW 2

[Northe]

I think what you want is at:

<<http://zippy.ci.uiuc.edu/~roma/rr-freqs/index-old.html>>

It was a good resource, however, the owner stopped updating it in 1997.

Northe
N6KO
Green Valley AZ