Hearing different things on the same channel with two radios

[oldsoulsignco]

Hello, I am new to this forum and have a question that maybe someone can easily clear up for me.

I have a Baofeng UV5R that I normally use for railfanning. However I just acquired an old Bearcat 3 police scanner (not handheld, plugs into wall socket). This radio takes crystals that correspond to the frequency you want to listen to. So, I got a few for the railroads around here. I live right by the Chicago mainline in Cleveland Ohio.

To test out the Bearcat, I just put it on 161.070 and had my Baofeng tuned to the same. The Bearcat comes in much clearer, however, sometimes the Baofeng picks things up while the Bearcat is silent, and vice versa. What confuses me is that sometimes I can barely make out hearing the dispatcher on the Baofeng, while the Bearcat doesn't pick it up. I thought the dispatcher should always come in clear, and if you don't hear the conductor or engineer, usually means they are more than 10 or 15 miles away.

Does anyone know why they pick up different signals on the same frequency?

Thank you in advance.

 

[paulears]

The thing with the Bearcat, is the mention of crystals - it dates it back to when channel bandwidths were wider - typically 50KHz or 25KHz, nothing narrower. As a consequence, it may have a 161.070 crystal in it but how did you tune it? My guess is you just stuck it in? It may be receiving on 161.06, or 65, 7, or even 8 - as a centre, but it's filtering is wide - so your 161.07 comes through OK, even though the radio is not listening there. Compared to the Baofeng, it will probably be a bit deaf - it is what? 30yrs+ old? The most likely result will be it is picking up maybe 3 separate channels - but is a little 'deaf'. when it hears something the Baofeng doesn't, quickly switch the baofeng up or down a channel or two and I bet you find it. If you're a bit naughty and remove the Baofeng antenna and key up and blow into the mic - you can test how far up and down you can move away from the Bearcat frequency before the audio vanishes - I bet you can go up or down quite a way before the audio stops. In fact, the Baofengs are actually quite wide on receive, so the Bearcat is just even wider. Back in the 80s, my Bearcat had a crystal in it for UK Ham channel 21. It let me hear 20 and 22 perfectly well, but my main radio would need to be tuned to the right one to reply - just like you seem to have.

 

[dave3825]

You also need to look at what antenna each radio is using. One may be tuned differently than the other. Having an antenna tuned for freqs of interest will usually yield better results.

 

[AK9R]

I thought the dispatcher should always come in clear...

You may be hearing different remote bases. For example, I live in Indiana near the CSX Crawfordsville Branch. From my house, I could be hearing the dispatcher through the Indianapolis base, the Avon base, or the Lizton base. The dispatcher can select which base to use depending on where the train is and how well each base receives the train that the dispatcher is talking to.

 

[gary123]

Crystal scanners are still very good for rail. You may have to align the individual scanner channels on frequency. Any competent radio shop or maybe even a local ham with a frequency counter and or calibrated signal generator can do it. This is not expensive. You could do it your self it your technically inclined.

The differences in perfomrance on what your hearing can also be related to the antennas and overall sensitivity of the equipment. Again if the scanner is just for rail use you can retune it to work best in the 160/161 mhz area. NOTE: Check to make sure your not living next door to a NOAA transmitter .

 

[kudzu_kid]

NOTE: Check to make sure your not living next door to a NOAA transmitter .

Boy you're not lying! I'm about 5.2 miles from KIH27 (For Tulsa NWS) and it frequently interferes. SDS200 and Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck 160 MHZ.
Pondering if maybe I might do better with a Diamond of some flavor. I wish there was a DECENT indoor antenna that would do well AND had a 90° elbow (it's a horizontal BNC on the SDS200). Ooopps! Sorry! Didn't mean to hijack this thread - but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[cbehr91]

Scanners and most CCRs have bad filtering of unwanted frequencies. A different antenna probably won't help. With 2m radios (Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu) I've never had NOAA WX images on the nearby rail channels unless I was within a literal stone's throw of the transmitter. However, there's been discussions in the past about NOAA broadcast images and bleedover with feed hosts and those in the industry. Another problem is a filter for the NOAA WX channels a hobbyist would want to afford would likely hurt reception for the rail channels.

When I worked next to a hospital I would get pager images on one of the rail channels on my Icom, but it wasn't across the entire rail band.

 

[jtwalker]

Boy you're not lying! I'm about 5.2 miles from KIH27 (For Tulsa NWS) and it frequently interferes. SDS200 and Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck 160 MHZ.
Pondering if maybe I might do better with a Diamond of some flavor. I wish there was a DECENT indoor antenna that would do well AND had a 90° elbow (it's a horizontal BNC on the SDS200). Ooopps! Sorry! Didn't mean to hijack this thread - but I'm open to suggestions.

Remtronix 830B and Comet BNC-WRX100 both have an angled joint.