CW ID on 161.265 (AAR 77)

I monitor both Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX Railroad. When I am sitting in the parking lot of my workplace during lunch listening to the CSX comms, it stopped on AAR 77 (161.265) and I heard a CW ID, before it resumed scanning. It sounds like it may be a repeater/PBX.

Probably a base station identifying itself. Sounds like it might be a yard channel with a base station for the yardmaster. CSX does it here on the yard channels (008, 012, 028, 070, etc)

WB4UR_Sean said:

I monitor both Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX Railroad. When I am sitting in the parking lot of my workplace during lunch listening to the CSX comms, it stopped on AAR 77 (161.265) and I heard a CW ID, before it resumed scanning. It sounds like it may be a repeater/PBX.

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161.265 is a fairly common PBX repeater output for CSX, at least on former Chessie lines. Several locations in Ohio have it.

Usually used around here for crews to call the mechanical desk, or the central yard office to report setouts or pickups along the main. I used to hear quite a bit of activity on it when the dispatchers were in Jacksonville, and now that they're moving back (heaven help us all) I wouldn't be surprised for it to pick up again.

I hear a Morse ID on a rail channel around my area. It was not a callsign but the model number of the piece of equipment that was sending the ID.

DaveNF2G said:

I hear a Morse ID on a rail channel around my area. It was not a callsign but the model number of the piece of equipment that was sending the ID.

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lol, nice.


Where I worked, there was a dozen or so repeaters in service in various places, and I don't believe that any of them sent any sort of identification.