BNSF changeing Road Frequency.

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Allan_Love_Jr

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This morning I knowced the BNSF had changed their road channel south of Lincoln. I heard the Train Dispatcher all the way from Blair. And the transmitter was at Firth,Nebraska. I think. The Dispatcher was on a repeater too. And another thing. If you go Railfanning south of Lincoln. Make sure you monitor 160.455 the old CNW MofW Channel. AAR Channel 23.
 
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timkilbride

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I must add it is rare for road channels to be changed. Road channels for a lot of lines date back to when they got thier first FCC license.
 

icom1020

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Or they just license multiple freqs at each location, like state police agencies do. So yes, it's possible for the road freq to have changed recently, they issue a bulletin(update) to the special instructions manual. It happens more often than you think. What may have happened is they moved the dispatchers area further south north east west? from what it was.
 

timkilbride

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I checked all licenses, nothing at all licensed for 160.455 in Nebraska. Closest thing for the BNSF on 160.455 is near the Twin Cites in Minnesota.

General Orders are issued when there is a radio change, at least my last radio change was issued under a general order.
 

KC0YNL

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icom1020 said:
What may have happened is they moved the dispatchers area further south north east west? from what it was.

Not likely. Nearly all BNSF dispatchers are based out of the NOC (Network Operations Center) in Ft. Worth, TX. They don't move those around on a whim either. Even if there was a move of dispatchers, that would not warrant a change in radio channels.
 
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icom1020

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KC0YNL said:
Not likely. Nearly all BNSF dispatchers are based out of the NOC (Network Operations Center) in Ft. Worth, TX. They don't move those around on a whim either. Even if there was a move of dispatchers, that would not warrant a change in radio channels.
Im not talking about a dispatchers physical location...how about territory
 

KC0YNL

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icom1020 said:
Im not talking about a dispatchers physical location...how about territory

That still wouldn't be a reason to change radio frequencies. All that stuff is probably computer based at the dispatching centers. It would be easy to reformat a new desk to accept new towers. However, all the stuff in the field is not going to be so easy to reprogram. It would probably involve physically going to all base station sites and changing or reprogramming equipment. All that in addition to issuing new general orders to inform everybody of new radio channels in use. It would be a major chore.

The physical extents of a dispatching territory doesn't change often either. It's very rare when you hear about a change in limits. That isn't the case in this situation. There are two people reporting hearing BNSF transmissions on this channel in that area. There are no records with the FCC to support this, so we are left with a mystery.
 

icom1020

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KC0YNL said:
That still wouldn't be a reason to change radio frequencies. All that stuff is probably computer based at the dispatching centers. It would be easy to reformat a new desk to accept new towers. However, all the stuff in the field is not going to be so easy to reprogram. It would probably involve physically going to all base station sites and changing or reprogramming equipment. All that in addition to issuing new general orders to inform everybody of new radio channels in use. It would be a major chore.

The physical extents of a dispatching territory doesn't change often either. It's very rare when you hear about a change in limits. That isn't the case in this situation. There are two people reporting hearing BNSF transmissions on this channel in that area. There are no records with the FCC to support this, so we are left with a mystery.

It could be a misunderstanding of what was programmed in the scanner. It could also be an unauthorized use of the freq.

However, in the last 5-10 years I can document the territory and or radio freq changes to the former BN and SP lines in the NW, especially Eugene to K Falls.

But to clarify the point, sending a radio tech to reprogram a site is not a herculean event, the towers as they appear to the dispatchers consoles stay the same, regardless of freq.

You should really bookmark http://www.on-track-on-line.com/amtrak-freqs.shtml This is the site of current Amtrak routes and their host railroads freqs. Look at the updates and how often they occur.

Hang out trackside and you will see how often remote sites are visited, dragging equipment and wayside base stations, it is ongoing.
 

KC0YNL

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icom1020 said:
It could also be an unauthorized use of the freq.

Somehow I doubt BNSF or any other class 1 railroad is going to knowingly use frequencies that aren't theirs. Individual crews, sure it happens; transmitting base stations, nope. Especially since UP uses this frequency not too far away for MOW repeaters.

But to clarify the point, sending a radio tech to reprogram a site is not a herculean event

Nope, not herculean, but not something that happens often either. Every crew member's handheld would to need to be reprogrammed, every detector, every mobile radio in vehicles that operate in that area, etc. It takes time and costs money.

You should really bookmark http://www.on-track-on-line.com/amtrak-freqs.shtml This is the site of current Amtrak routes and their host railroads freqs. Look at the updates and how often they occur.

Those updates are submitted by railfans riding the routes. As you may know, foamers aren't always the best source of information. Also, it doesn't say what was updated, just generally where it was updated. Perhaps the info that was there previously was incorrect or incomplete?

Hang out trackside and you will see how often remote sites are visited, dragging equipment and wayside base stations, it is ongoing.

I've got plenty of trackside experience.
 

icom1020

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The ontrack site does list the submissions and dates Lets look at the Southwest Chief"

"Updated 12/19/05 with data from Jeff Glinka and Randy Jenkins; updated 2/28/06 re Kansas City Terminal with data from "Big C"; updated 9/28/06 re Ellinor-Las Animas Jct with data from John Mills, Jr.; updated re Iowa 1/25/07 with data from Cliff Kendall"

Each post has a # beside it indicating the order of submissions. First number is the first date of submission 12/19/05, the 4th one was 1/25/07

You should contact Harry on that site if you know of any discrepancies...

Also I was allowed inside a detector shack to record several wayside detector messages when a signal tech was inside doing the updates, it's pretty simple as all the station names at that time were already programmed.
 
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icom1020

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To keep it simple, they already have the road channels programmed in most radios along with telephone interconnect for those with DTMF mics. Loco radios tend to be 99 channel and other MOW and mobiles/portibles are multi channel up to and sometimes beyond 24-32 channel Maxtracs, MTS2000' etc.

If you look at the ontrack-online page and actually open up a route, they are updated and show the submission. Some being railroad and Amtrak conductors and the like, I have traveled all the western Amtrak routes and they are accurate. No more or less than Radio Reference submissions.

I know some of the UP and BNSF radio techs.

Also, the dispatchers centers are just consoles, the remote bases and the like are programmed with the actual frequencies.
 
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Allan_Love_Jr

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Ok I understand what you guys are saying. But it still doen't answer my Question. Right now I am monitoring 160.455MHz,the UP MofW Channel. But still. Why im I hearing the BNSF Dispatcher on this Channel. I just heard the the BNSF Dispatcher on 160.455MHz give out a Track warrent on the Fall city sub to a Track inspector. Something isn't right here.
 

karldotcom

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You need to make sure that it isnt an image frequency....do you have two scanners? Can you service scan all the RR frequencies and see if the communications are occuring on a different channel?


And who made the crack about Foamers? haha...you are all railfans at heart.
 

Allan_Love_Jr

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karldotcom said:
You need to make sure that it isnt an image frequency....do you have two scanners? Can you service scan all the RR frequencies and see if the communications are occuring on a different channel?


And who made the crack about Foamers? haha...you are all railfans at heart.
Yup. You are right there.
 

ECPD279

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Railroads do change frequencies, sometimes for no apparent reason. In the past few years the BNSF has combined two portions of the Stockton Sub onto one channel, where it used to be split in two. Also, the UP changed the road channel for the Niles and Oakland Subs last year for no apparent reason. It is certainly not unheard of.
 

owenmcc1

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I noticed that on the IC&E KC Subdivision last year when the Excursion Trains were around, that they were using 160.370 MHz. Which isnt usually used in Muscatine. But it was a road channel north of Nahant Yard in Davenport, about 25 Miles NE of Here.
 
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