200+ Channel NXDN Capable Radios To Monitor Railroads

FloridaRailRoadRadio · May 31, 2015

Hi all, new member here seeking some advice, since all the railroads appear to be transitioning to the NXDN protocol which Kenwood & Icom Radios support, I've been looking at the 128 channel Icom ICF-5121D mobile & Icom ICF-3161DT/T portable however the new AAR railroad bandplan consist of 197 frequencies, the clean cab radios contain the entire AAR railroad bandplan but they don't scan so that's a dealbreaker, anybody know of any NXDN capable radios with at least 200 channel capability that I may have overlooked & how much they cost? Any help would be greatly appreciated & thanks all.

cabletech · Jun 1, 2015

First off, where do you get or see 200 channels or frequencies? The North American Railroad system to include Canada, work in the frequency range of 160.110 to 161.565 and each channel (frequency) is 15khz from each other. That comes to 97 channels.

Example: here are the first 10 channels---also know as AAR

AAR 1 1160.1100
AAR 2 160.1250
AAR 3 160.1400
AAR 4 160.1550
AAR 5 160.1700
AAR 6 160.1850
AAR 7 160.2000
AAR 8 160.2150
AAR 9 160.2300
AAR10 160.2450

Also, unless you are doing a lot of nation wide travel, why would you want to put all of the channels in a radio?

I have friends that work in the rail road system and they have been telling me that the AAR Association has not made the decision to go to NXDN or DMR but they are doing testing on those systems but as of now all frequencies are still on narrow band analog.

The Icom 3161 will do what you want to do. And it has 512 channels over 28 zones or banks if you have the display version.

Citywide173 · Jun 1, 2015

cabletech said:
First off, where do you get or see 200 channels or frequencies? The North American Railroad system to include Canada, work in the frequency range of 160.110 to 161.565 and each channel (frequency) is 15khz from each other. That comes to 97 channels.

Note that he said "new" bandplan

DPD Productions - Railroad Frequencies: New 12.5 kHz / 6.25 kHz AAR Radio Plan

I count 197 as well.

kayn1n32008 · Jun 1, 2015

FloridaRailRoadRadio said:
Hi all, new member here seeking some advice, since all the railroads appear to be transitioning to the NXDN protocol which Kenwood & Icom Radios support, I've been looking at the 128 channel Icom ICF-5121D mobile & Icom ICF-3161DT/T portable however the new AAR railroad bandplan consist of 197 frequencies, the clean cab radios contain the entire AAR railroad bandplan but they don't scan so that's a dealbreaker, anybody know of any NXDN capable radios with at least 200 channel capability that I may have overlooked & how much they cost? Any help would be greatly appreciated & thanks all.

Kenwood NX-200. 512 channels, 128 zones, the NX-700 is identical in almost every way, but in mobile form. NXDN conventional right out of the box.

kayn1n32008 · Jun 2, 2015

kayn1n32008 said:
Kenwood NX-200. 512 channels, 128 zones, the NX-700 is identical in almost every way, but in mobile form. NXDN conventional right out of the box.

There is a NX-200 6key portable forsale on P25.ca right now. Rapid charger, 2 or 3 antnnas and a noise cancelling speaker mic.

Edit.

It's not my radio, and I do not know the guy.

Having said that, I own a NX-200 with the noise cancelling speakermic and I love it. It has become my go to radio. Has more than enough room for EVERYTHING I listen to on VHF. Currently I use a motorola wideband VHF armpit tickler due to having my company channels(spread from 152MHz to high 173MHz), a couple of rail channels for the sub that runs through the town I live in and a bunch of ham repeaters) I do have the original Kenwood antenna, but do not really use it. Audio is loud, crisp and clear, both receive and transmit. I have even played a bit with both wide and narrow NXDN on simplex, and it sounds pretty darn good too.

KB7MIB · Jun 2, 2015

Unless I'm mistaken, and that's entirely possible lol, it would seem to me that he would want to be able to scan the entire band, all channels, from end to end.

If a radio like the NX-200 divides the channels into multiple zones, can that radio scan multiple zones, like a scanner can scan banks/favorite lists (Uniden)/scanlists (GRE), or is it limited to scanning only the channels programmed into one particular zone?

I'm not familiar with professional grade radios with mulitple banks/decks/groups/zones, and what their capabilities are as far as scanning more than one b/d/g/z.

John
Peoria, AZ

mmckenna · Jun 3, 2015

NX-200 can have up to 250 channels per zone.

You can scan channels that are in different zones.
I'm not aware of a limitation on the number of channels that can be scanned, but it would be worth noting that the scan speed is likely less than that of a consumer scanner.

kayn1n32008 · Jun 3, 2015

KB7MIB said:
Unless I'm mistaken, and that's entirely possible lol, it would seem to me that he would want to be able to scan the entire band, all channels, from end to end.

If a radio like the NX-200 divides the channels into multiple zones, can that radio scan multiple zones, like a scanner can scan banks/favorite lists (Uniden)/scanlists (GRE), or is it limited to scanning only the channels programmed into one particular zone?

I'm not familiar with professional grade radios with mulitple banks/decks/groups/zones, and what their capabilities are as far as scanning more than one b/d/g/z.

John

Peoria, AZ

b/d/g/z? Not entirely sure what that means.

The NX-2/3/7/800 portables and mobiles are VERY flexible when it comes to scanning multiple zones.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

kayn1n32008 · Jun 3, 2015

mmckenna said:
I'm not aware of a limitation on the number of channels that can be scanned

How ever many channels you have in a zone can be scanned with in said zone.

mmckenna said:
but it would be worth noting that the scan speed is likely less than that of a consumer scanner.

While the NX-2/3/7/800 radios do scan slower(talking conventional only, I do not use my NX-200 or NX-700 on a LTR or NXDN trunk system) than a Uniden or GRE scanner, it is still pretty decent. I have a zone of around 55 channels and it is defiantly faster than any of my amateur radios, including my TM-V71a.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

mmckenna · Jun 3, 2015

kayn1n32008 said:
How ever many channels you have in a zone can be scanned with in said zone.

Scan type = multi will let you scan channels from different zones. I've got the mobile in my work truck set up that way. It's scanning channels from the "work" zone as well as a few from the "amateur" zone.

kayn1n32008 said:
While the NX-2/3/7/800 radios do scan slower(talking conventional only, I do not use my NX-200 or NX-700 on a LTR or NXDN trunk system) than a Uniden or GRE scanner, it is still pretty decent. I have a zone of around 55 channels and it is defiantly faster than any of my amateur radios, including my TM-V71a.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That's good to hear. I've never set any of my radios up with more than a few channels. I normally find constant scanning of heavy traffic channels rather tiring. That, and the only scanner I own is from the last century...

ScanWI · Jun 3, 2015

ICOM Radios

You are correct the IC-F5121D radio is only capable of 128 channels, but the IC-F3161D is capable of 512 channels in 128 zones, You can put all 512 channels in the same zone if you really want to.

The following ICOM IDAS/NXDN radios have a 512 CH 128 Zone capacity
Portables
IC-F3161/4161
IC-F3261/4261 - replacing the IC-F3161/4161
IC-F5061/6061

mmckenna · Jun 3, 2015

Do the Icom's now decode 12.5KHz NXDN? Last time I took a close look at them they only did 6.25KHz.

probably not an issue, but if I was going to buy a new radio, I'd want the capability to do both. While the railroads might only plan on using 6.25, there may be other agencies you'd want to listen to who use 12.5 NXDN. Might be worth keeping your options open.

Josh · Jun 3, 2015

With iCom and Kenwood both selling to the railroads, and some mixed systems with NXDN already up, they must use the 6.25khz digital in order to be compatible. So really, either brand will fit the bill.

Kenwood does go above and beyond, having both digital bandwidths available, and I have been to places where the 12.5Khz NXDN was in use, but I could not listen to the communications because I "assumed" that everyone uses 6.25Khz and programmed my radio incorrectly beforehand. But that agency was a police department in a town I was staying at on a business trip, so that wasn't too bad.

ScanWI · Jun 3, 2015

This is true, the upside either way will be

Kenwood - 12.5khz & 6.25Khz
Icom - will monitor trunking in conventional mode the Kenwood will not umute on trunking traffic

It's really up to you and what you want to do with the radio long term.

rapidcharger · Jun 3, 2015

Icoms are usually more budget friendly for the hobbyist. Then again VHF gear goes for crazy bucks if you want to buy used. So be careful at that action site were people sometimes spend almost as much for a used one as a new one would cost.
For mobile, 5061 or portable 3161 of 3261. All with plenty of channels and scan lists can be set up how you want. I own some of each. I wouldn't trade them for any other nxdn radios unless 9600 baud/ 12.5khz was needed.

KB7MIB · Jun 3, 2015

kayn1n32008 said:
b/d/g/z? Not entirely sure what that means.

The NX-2/3/7/800 portables and mobiles are VERY flexible when it comes to scanning multiple zones.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

bank/deck/group/zone. I didn't want to write it out twice, so I abbreviated the second time

Thanks all.

John
Peoria, AZ

kayn1n32008 · Jun 3, 2015

KB7MIB said:
bank/deck/group/zone. I didn't want to write it out twice, so I abbreviated the second time

Thanks all.

John

Peoria, AZ

Fair enough, I missed the written out one the first time! Thank you for the clarification

ScanWI · Jun 3, 2015

Kenwoods are very multi-zone scan friendly but not very multi scanlist friendly.

Yes you can have multiple scanlists in the Kenwood but you can't change them on the fly like in the ICOM.

Either way the radios will work great for Railfaning, it is just a question of weather you want it to do anything else. If not just get the radio you like and can find for a good deal.

FloridaRailRoadRadio · Jun 9, 2015

200+Channel NXDN Capable radios To Monitor Railroads

Thanks all for sorting this out for me, obviously Kenwood has the edge on Icom with the already in place 12.5 kHz/6.25 kHz capability, the NX-700 is a go but the NX-210K2 is the better choice over the NX-200 for me as it's keyboard is more robust, as for those who question loading the entire AAR bandplan in the radios, I like all available frequencies already loaded, best to have them & not need them instead of needing them & not having them, again, thanks all & take care.

200+ Channel NXDN Capable Radios To Monitor Railroads

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