NXDN

[Josh]

Kenwood NX series radios make very good monoband scanners. The iCom offering, while cheaper, has disappointed me in terms of selectivity- I get so much more noise interference from signs, power lines, automotive electrical system electronics. The Kenwood has proven much nicer, but it costs more.

For handheld radios, the battery life of Kenwood can't be beat by its icom brother. I'm sure a Kenwood dealer would be more than happy to sell to a hobbyist and could (for a fee) have all the railroad channels programmed in a zone with mixed mode (analog and digital) receive on all 97 of the primarily used channels- and scan them all too.... the only issue is that it takes about 5+ seconds to scan all the channels and odds are you'll miss some activity somewhere.

 

[N8OAY]

For the record, the NXDN protocol is owned by the NXDN Forum, not Kenwood or any other radio manufacturer NXDN Forum Website The NXDN Forum has released the protocol into the public domain NXDN™ Forum To Open Technical Standards | News | NXDN Forum Website and it is available to download at NXDN™ Forum: How to Obtain the NXDN™ Open Standards | Instructions | NXDN Forum Website by anyone including the general public.

Whether or not that makes it easier or less expensive for the scanner manufacturers to add NXDN to new scanners, I have no clue.

It should also be noted that NXDN is being used by some Amateur Radio operators. There are NXDN repeaters in New England, Florida, Texas and Illinois.

 

[AK9R]

I quote from the NXDN™ Open Standards Suite Download page on the NXDN™ Forum:

By agreeing to this notice, the user accepts the conditions below.
a. The content of this website, the NXDN standards provided herewith for download, the content of the documents and any and all future content that may be provided is the copyright of the NXDN Forum and the NXDN Steering Committee.
b. The NXDN Steering Committee is the owner of this website, the NXDN standards provided herewith for download, the content of the documents and any and all future content that may be provided.

While the NXDN™ trademark may be held by Icom and Kenwood, the NXDN™ Open Standards are owned by the NXDN™ Forum of which Icom, Kenwood, and others are members. It's worth noting that Uniden is not listed as being a member of the NXDN™ Forum.

 

[RadioDitch]

Kenwood NX series radios make very good monoband scanners. The iCom offering, while cheaper, has disappointed me in terms of selectivity- I get so much more noise interference from signs, power lines, automotive electrical system electronics. The Kenwood has proven much nicer, but it costs more.

For handheld radios, the battery life of Kenwood can't be beat by its icom brother. I'm sure a Kenwood dealer would be more than happy to sell to a hobbyist and could (for a fee) have all the railroad channels programmed in a zone with mixed mode (analog and digital) receive on all 97 of the primarily used channels- and scan them all too.... the only issue is that it takes about 5+ seconds to scan all the channels and odds are you'll miss some activity somewhere.

CSX is finding that out the hard way around NYC. The primary portable in the Albany Division is the Icom F3161DT, and they're a pain in the *** in the Bronx, which is intermod hell. There's multiple cell sites, pager sites, and not to mention Amtrak overhead around Oak Point and Hunts Point Market. Friend of my went and bought the Kenwood version...cut his issues in half while on the job switching out The Point.

 

[burner50]

Kenwood NX series radios make very good monoband scanners. The iCom offering, while cheaper, has disappointed me in terms of selectivity- I get so much more noise interference from signs, power lines, automotive electrical system electronics. The Kenwood has proven much nicer, but it costs more.

For handheld radios, the battery life of Kenwood can't be beat by its icom brother. I'm sure a Kenwood dealer would be more than happy to sell to a hobbyist and could (for a fee) have all the railroad channels programmed in a zone with mixed mode (analog and digital) receive on all 97 of the primarily used channels- and scan them all too.... the only issue is that it takes about 5+ seconds to scan all the channels and odds are you'll miss some activity somewhere.

The problem with mixed mode is that the radio takes a little time to decide what it is listening to, and you're likely to miss something.


For what it's worth, I can program the kenwoods and I'll do it for shipping costs.

 

[Josh]

Yeah, then I forgot to also mention that the software can be purchased at a reasonable price as well, and a serial cable for the mobile can be made fairly easily, but the portable is a bit more tricky.

 

[rhicks6000]

Kenwood NX series radios make very good monoband scanners. The iCom offering, while cheaper, has disappointed me in terms of selectivity- I get so much more noise interference from signs, power lines, automotive electrical system electronics. The Kenwood has proven much nicer, but it costs more.

My 5061 hasn't had any issues with any type of interference.

 

[burner50]

Yeah, then I forgot to also mention that the software can be purchased at a reasonable price as well, and a serial cable for the mobile can be made fairly easily, but the portable is a bit more tricky.

I bought a single cable off of fleabay that will do both of them. It was around $20

 

[steveng5691]

I reference to an earlier post regarding intermod, etc affecting CSX radios in the Bronx. My experience has been that switching to NXDN mode vastly improves the usuable range of the RR radios in these types of environments.

 

[Bill1957]

F3161dt

CSX is finding that out the hard way around NYC. The primary portable in the Albany Division is the Icom F3161DT, and they're a pain in the *** in the Bronx, which is intermod hell. There's multiple cell sites, pager sites, and not to mention Amtrak overhead around Oak Point and Hunts Point Market. Friend of my went and bought the Kenwood version...cut his issues in half while on the job switching out The Point.

Just to let you know that I have yet to see any Icom radios other than older F30's on the Albany division. We have been issued only Kenwood NX200 portables.I work on the Albany division. The only railroad that I have seen F3161DT are on Conrail Shared assets in North Jersey. I also have a F4161DT and an F3061DT and have used them in Manhattan on both 2 meters and 70cm and never had any issues with them. They make great vhf/uhf scanners. I would recommend them to anyone.
Bill

 

[radioman2001]

Quote "The problem with mixed mode is that the radio takes a little time to decide what it is listening to, and you're likely to miss something."

We have Icom 3161's and have had no issues running mix mode. Some of our repeaters are running mixed mode and some are either analog or digital only. Even in scan there have been no cutoff messages. Most of those missed messages have been hot fingers on the PTT and talking before the radio is even transmitting. We had to put wait tones on the frequencies with repeaters, and that solved 90% of the issue. The rest is up to the user to learn to user the radio correctly.

As someone stated earlier in this post that NXDN is more spectrum efficient, and that may be true but the information I received in 2008 from the AAR was that the AAR was angry with Motorola for dropping the Astro Specta CC, and as a result went to a format not normally manufactured by Motorola. Take or leave it as a reason for NXDN.

 

[W2GLD]

I agree, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ICOM NXDN equipment when compared to the comparable Kenwood versions; most problems are created by user error and not following the proper alignment procedures outlined in the radio's service manual. Tuning and alignment procedures are required for all commercial service equipment; however, most shops, in a cost cutting measure, simply program the equipment as is from the manufacture and then field it. When a complaint comes in, then they address that radio only! The wrong philosophy, but that's what's been going on for the past 10 years or so across the country; hence why inter-mod is getting worse as time goes on...

I have an ICOM IC-FR5000 and IC-FR6000 repeater modules in-service for amateur radio and they are rock solid. In addition, I have ICOM IC-F5061, IC-F6061 mobiles, as well as ICOM IC-F50V, IC-F3161 and IC-F4161 portables, and they are ALL bullet-proof as well; even throughout various "inter-mod alleys"... The difference, I've followed the tuning and alignment procedures as recommended by ICOM; just the same as I do with my Motorola equipment as well; also a requirement/recommendation from Motorola!

The long and the short of it is both ICOM and Kenwood radios can equally rival the older Motorola HT1000's performance on the railroads; perhaps better and with better useage of their spectrum too... The AAR did a great job with their rollout of NXDN, it's an excellent choice for the railroads, cost effective and good overall coverage/propagation characteristics... Something TDMA has issues with!

 

[radioman2001]

News from Icom is that their radio is now compatable with Kenwoods trunking format and vice versa. Have no use for it, but makes business sense when you have to compete with mother M.

 

[jaymatt1978]

Now the question is WHAT would it take for Uniden to b ecome a member? I think all railfans who use Uniden scanners (hand raised_) should let Uniden know that they might want to look into it!!!

I quote from the NXDN™ Open Standards Suite Download page on the NXDN™ Forum:



While the NXDN™ trademark may be held by Icom and Kenwood, the NXDN™ Open Standards are owned by the NXDN™ Forum of which Icom, Kenwood, and others are members. It's worth noting that Uniden is not listed as being a member of the NXDN™ Forum.