160.260 digital Usage?

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N9JIG

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I am hearing some sort of digital signal on 160.260 which I suspect is coming from the BNSF facility in Glendale. The signal gets much stronger in the area but I can still hear it (albeit weaker) at my home some 30 or so miles away.

It basically sounds like an open squelch but with an obvious squelch tale at the end.

I tried listening to it with DSD + but it did not decode.

Does anyone else in the area hear this? Each transmission is about 20 seconds long and has the same sound when listened to on a scanner. There are some occasional pops that break squelch but they may be some sort of local noise.

BNSF is listed with a PBX repeater at the Glendale depot with an input of 161.490, this could be it, perhaps they went to some sort of NXDN or other format on the old PBX system.
 

N9JIG

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NXDN seems like the logical thing.... but I did detect some digital in the Baltimore area some time ago and nothing seemed to want to decode it.

Could be but it doesn’t decide on DSD+ nor the TRX-2. Could be encrypted but at least I should see a RAN or something.
 

troymail

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Could be but it doesn’t decide on DSD+ nor the TRX-2. Could be encrypted but at least I should see a RAN or something.

My DSD+ does strange things sometimes... I was monitoring a CAP+ DMR system recently and DSD+ didn't tell me anything at all for a long time. Eventually, someone keyed up a radio and then suddenly, DSD+ gave me the system stuff (type, color code, etc.). Not sure if it would do the same for NXDN.

You're right - might be encrypted - or might just be some kind of data stream.
 

Phoenix805

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I have 160.260 as a locked out BNSF frequency. I don't keep good records, so I'm not sure when/why I locked it out, but I do get 'noise' on conventional freqs that I have always assumed were data streams, so I probably heard what you were hearing and locked it out. The best way I can describe it is kind of a brbrbrbrbrbrbrbr sound.
 

RRR

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But PBX is used on mainlines also, and some scannerGods here have admonished me in that there was No NXDN in use on class 1 Railroads in the US.....

(There is ;-) )
 

mikewazowski

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But PBX is used on mainlines also, and some scannerGods here have admonished me in that there was No NXDN in use on class 1 Railroads in the US.....



(There is ;-) )


Please, let's not start that debate again.
 

N9JIG

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In listening to it here in the car it really sounds like a repeater, there is definitely a short hang time present.

If I get a chance to head east today I will try to see if it is indeed used at Glendale and if 161.490 has corresponding mobile traffic there. If this is indeed NXDN I suspect it to be used for the container yard at Glendale.
 

FLANO

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FWIW, the signal is hearable south-east of Tucson. I have a clear line of sight to Phoenix from my home. I can barely hear the digital encoding amongst the weak signal static, except for the telltale end of transmission.

DSD+ is not getting enough signal to help from here.

I'll give it a listen to on my next trip up to the Phoenix area :)
 

N9JIG

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Mystery solved: Analog!

So I drove out to Glendale this afternoon and verified that it is indeed from the tower at the Glendale depot, now used as the yard office. The input is the known 161.490 and it is actually the old PBX system with a bad squelch.

I haven't heard BNSF use PBX in years and I don't know if the PBX system is still interconnected but it appears that the repeater here is still in place, It may have been forgotten if the system is actually no longer used.
 
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