Amtrak 173 MHz Frequencies: In Use??

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jje64

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Can anyone confirm usage by Amtrak of a group of frequencies for which they are licensed: 173.225, 173.325, 173.375?

I have seen reference to some of them being assigned to Amtrak PD. I can hear a CW ID on .325 in the Philadelpia area so a system must be on air, but I never hear any communications on the freq in either NFM or NXDN.

Any input would be appreciated.
jje64
 

kg6nlw

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You sure about that?

..,Thanks @KevinC

@franks_ham also see the FRN for them for many others above 161.000 MHz...
They may have them but I can guarantee they are not used on corridor trains or long-distance trains. If anything they would be station janitorial or other station services at best.

Regards,

-Frank C.
 

trentbob

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I live on the Northeast Corridor between Levittown and Bristol train stations, south of Trenton, your primary frequencies are 161.295 for the police and it depends on what pl tone used, mine is pl 100.0, which is the Trenton repeater, actually located in Morrisville PA across the river, the road channel south of Grundy interlocking is 160.92 and north of Grundy interlocking which is just south of Trenton is 161.01. There are mow and a low watt on board frequency used for train use only between conductor and engineer and trainman.

If you notice site one and two are on the Northeast Corridor site 1 is Rawn Street which is the address of Holmesburg Junction, that's a location that is a SEPTA train station but all external, and a interlocking and several sidings, where a lot of Amtrak rail repair equipment is stored. There's a large unused structure that was Holmesburg Junction tower.

None of the tower buildings are used anymore on the northeast Corridor between Philadelphia and Trenton.

Site 2 is the Trenton Transportation Center which is a pretty good size internal train station that is no longer operated by Amtrak, however it is a major Amtrak hub. It is operated by New Jersey Transit rail system including support staff, Station Master, police ect. Local New Jersey Transit trains operating from New York and Trenton meet SEPTA Regional Rail trains that travel from Trenton and Philadelphia.

The other two sites are on the Harrisburg line of Amtrak.

Can't confirm the use of these frequencies because I never tried but I will put them in a radio and listen. Maybe they aren't vocal frequencies and are used for some automated use..

Let you know if I hear anything.
 

ecps92

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Can anyone confirm usage by Amtrak of a group of frequencies for which they are licensed: 173.225, 173.325, 173.375?

I have seen reference to some of them being assigned to Amtrak PD. I can hear a CW ID on .325 in the Philadelpia area so a system must be on air, but I never hear any communications on the freq in either NFM or NXDN.

Any input would be appreciated.
jje64
Yes they are used and purposes may vary by location - most are simplex and not Repeaters what would CWID
But that frequency is not EXCLUSIVE to Amtrak, so the CW you maybe hearing (unless you got the Amtrak Callsign) may belong to another Business user.

for years, Amtrak Police (NE Corridor) used one of them for Pac/RT's back to the 161.2950 Repeater(s)
 

BigLebowski

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173.375 203.5 simplex was the old "PTL RPT" channel that was, as previously pointed out, used for vehicular repeaters in the cars. The repeater sites are spread out, so when working off of a portable radio away from the car, you could switch to PTL, transmit only as far as the car, and the car would retransmit out to the repeater site at high power. Vehicular repeaters usually transmit at less than 1 watt and the portables are 5 watts or less, so they are short range.

As was also pointed out, there are other licensees on 173.375 as well so you would need to confirm that it is in fact APD you are hearing.
 
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