Mprosser81996
Member
Hi railfans what's up? I am not as much of a amateur at using a scanner for railfanning like I used to but I have been railfanning the old fashioned way for a while. timetables, listening out for horns and keeping an eye out on signals or headlight to ideally know when a train would show up.
I bought the BC125AT a great scanner as recommended by the youtuber Distant Signal. I bought it since it can receive the EOT and HOT devices on the trains so if you are railfanning in dark territory I.E. in an area where they don't talk much on the radio, the EOT and HOT IIRC can be heard as far as 5 miles away or so. As soon as you hear it chirping, you know a train is nearby. Before I knew about the EOT and HOT frequencies I would listen for train crews "Toning" up dispatch, meaning you pick up the sound of them dialing in the channel followed by a tone meaning they have successfully changed channels and boy is it a sound I can listen to over and over.
The dark territory I'm talking about and not sure how many Wisconsin folks are on here, but I railfan a section of track at MP 190.27 on the UP Adams/Altoona Subdivision, the Former C&NW from Altoona to St Paul. MP 190.27 is two miles east of Necedah, a village town in Wisconsin. 10 miles east of that is Adams Yard where alot of the operations in that area start and end. But I digress, I know the channel they use out there, AAR 52, 160.890Mhz, It's both a road channel and dispatch channel for the Union Pacific trains that run on the route
And I was wondering if in your experience of railfanning, what antenna suits the hobby best?
I got 3 currently, the standard uniden rubber duck which we all know how mediocre it is, I also have the Diamond 77 which to alot of railfans say it picks up the railroad frequencies really well despite it being a general purpose antenna. I also bought a TW-999. It's a telescopic antenna and imo has done a great job with gain.
For an example, from where I was at home, I had the antenna that was 127cm in length fully extended. I am 2 miles away from my train station at MP 48.5. there's a detector at MP 44.6 in Grayslake on the CN Waukesha sub. I'm about a good 5-7 miles away from that detector and heard it almost clear. you heard some static but it was quite clear.
I haven't tested the TW999 bnc in Necedah yet, but the Diamond and rubber duck did okay but now it's the 999's time to shine.
I'm thinking about buying an antenna soon and I was wondering if you know some good antennas that are at least 18 inches or so that has a BNC male connector.
Thank you for your time and hopefully you enjoyed reading this.
For the railfans out there who are looking for some new fans out there. Allow me to give you some samples. Not trying to like grow my channel or anything like that but figured I'd show you who I am in terms of a railfan.
You also get to hear soundbytes of the scanner I have used previously, the BC75XLT
1st link, Reviewing it amateur.
2nd link Railfanning finally got to catch some railroad transmissions, hear the excitement I had
3rd link Railfanning in dark territory in Necedah with some scanner activity Union Pacific #5439 Necedah Wi
I bought the BC125AT a great scanner as recommended by the youtuber Distant Signal. I bought it since it can receive the EOT and HOT devices on the trains so if you are railfanning in dark territory I.E. in an area where they don't talk much on the radio, the EOT and HOT IIRC can be heard as far as 5 miles away or so. As soon as you hear it chirping, you know a train is nearby. Before I knew about the EOT and HOT frequencies I would listen for train crews "Toning" up dispatch, meaning you pick up the sound of them dialing in the channel followed by a tone meaning they have successfully changed channels and boy is it a sound I can listen to over and over.
The dark territory I'm talking about and not sure how many Wisconsin folks are on here, but I railfan a section of track at MP 190.27 on the UP Adams/Altoona Subdivision, the Former C&NW from Altoona to St Paul. MP 190.27 is two miles east of Necedah, a village town in Wisconsin. 10 miles east of that is Adams Yard where alot of the operations in that area start and end. But I digress, I know the channel they use out there, AAR 52, 160.890Mhz, It's both a road channel and dispatch channel for the Union Pacific trains that run on the route
And I was wondering if in your experience of railfanning, what antenna suits the hobby best?
I got 3 currently, the standard uniden rubber duck which we all know how mediocre it is, I also have the Diamond 77 which to alot of railfans say it picks up the railroad frequencies really well despite it being a general purpose antenna. I also bought a TW-999. It's a telescopic antenna and imo has done a great job with gain.
For an example, from where I was at home, I had the antenna that was 127cm in length fully extended. I am 2 miles away from my train station at MP 48.5. there's a detector at MP 44.6 in Grayslake on the CN Waukesha sub. I'm about a good 5-7 miles away from that detector and heard it almost clear. you heard some static but it was quite clear.
I haven't tested the TW999 bnc in Necedah yet, but the Diamond and rubber duck did okay but now it's the 999's time to shine.
I'm thinking about buying an antenna soon and I was wondering if you know some good antennas that are at least 18 inches or so that has a BNC male connector.
Thank you for your time and hopefully you enjoyed reading this.
For the railfans out there who are looking for some new fans out there. Allow me to give you some samples. Not trying to like grow my channel or anything like that but figured I'd show you who I am in terms of a railfan.
You also get to hear soundbytes of the scanner I have used previously, the BC75XLT
1st link, Reviewing it amateur.