rrpilot
Newbie
I hope so, lol, when the rules permit I enjoy throwing out that call with "Railroad Mobile"....always gets a response
Question for RailHams
- Thread starter dapaq2
- Start date
dapaq2
Member
The answer to that question depends... If you use amateur radio frequencies and repeaters to communicate with other RailHams about trains, railroads, train movements and other railroad related activities, subjects or topics, then yes you would be considered a RailHam. If you do not, then no you are not a RailHam, you are just a railroader who is a licensed ham radio operator. Just because you work for a railroad and have an amateur radio license does not automatically make you a RailHam... WHAT you talk about and the use of railroad terms, jargon and language (none of that Ham "stuff") while talking to other RailHams while using ham radio frequencies is the difference and what makes you a RailHam.
IC-R20
LoBand Nation
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It can be very canyony and mountainous where I live so I actually use amateur HTs for this purpose as well. I already have the license and also a 23cm repeater so it seemed like a no brainer.
I don't chase but I'll sit and wait at one end of the line and have one or 2 friends that are at various other points up and down the valley depending on what kind of composition we are trying to get so it's nice to get the call-out from someone up the line and vice versa since it's impossible to see around the geography in many places and vice versa as well as knowing if there's something stopped blocking the mainline.
I have a 100 watt quantar on some low loss hardline as it was required by the site operator and I run it through a 120 degree sector panel antenna, it was a scrap antenna I got from a cellular site so it covers from like 700-960 and 1700-2700 at 12dBi gain so theoretically one could set up a 13cm repeater simultaneously but I have no idea how to make those. I actually just recently switched on the P25 module in it and set it up for digital only now, no analog.
The coverage is surprisingly good still and with the unique geography most everywhere around my area is in direct coverage of the antenna so even knife-edging out of a the few canyons without direct line of site I can still get into it clearly. I've only had it up there for a couple years now but keep it private just for personal use between me and a small group of people I know.
I don't chase but I'll sit and wait at one end of the line and have one or 2 friends that are at various other points up and down the valley depending on what kind of composition we are trying to get so it's nice to get the call-out from someone up the line and vice versa since it's impossible to see around the geography in many places and vice versa as well as knowing if there's something stopped blocking the mainline.
I have a 100 watt quantar on some low loss hardline as it was required by the site operator and I run it through a 120 degree sector panel antenna, it was a scrap antenna I got from a cellular site so it covers from like 700-960 and 1700-2700 at 12dBi gain so theoretically one could set up a 13cm repeater simultaneously but I have no idea how to make those. I actually just recently switched on the P25 module in it and set it up for digital only now, no analog.
The coverage is surprisingly good still and with the unique geography most everywhere around my area is in direct coverage of the antenna so even knife-edging out of a the few canyons without direct line of site I can still get into it clearly. I've only had it up there for a couple years now but keep it private just for personal use between me and a small group of people I know.
I remember using 146.490 simplex, while chasing PM 1225 here in Michigan, and when it went down to West Virginia for the 1991 NRHS Convention. There were around a dozen of us chasing the 765 and 1225 as it went from Lima, south to Cincinnati and into Kentucky. Coordinating on 146.490 simplex gave us a lot of great information regarding the best directions, photo locations, restaurants, and speed traps were at.
The use of 146.490, 146.565, 223.620, 446.050, 1294.550 MHz was originated by Gary Sturm N9IJB, who wrote the now defunct "Compendium of American RR Radio Frequencies" book, listing all the radio frequencies railroads have licensed in North America, with their exact uses back in the day. I can think of several times in the 1990s when out chasing various steam excursions, 146.490 simplex was the most active. In fact, when I was in Toledo, Ohio 1993 chasing NKP765 dressed up as C&O 2765, one of the hams down in Toledo, who lived about two miles away from the railyard where the engine was serviced at, set up a cross-band repeater on 146.490 out / 446.050 in. This allowed us to communicate over a much greater distance with our portable radios.
73's
Ron
The use of 146.490, 146.565, 223.620, 446.050, 1294.550 MHz was originated by Gary Sturm N9IJB, who wrote the now defunct "Compendium of American RR Radio Frequencies" book, listing all the radio frequencies railroads have licensed in North America, with their exact uses back in the day. I can think of several times in the 1990s when out chasing various steam excursions, 146.490 simplex was the most active. In fact, when I was in Toledo, Ohio 1993 chasing NKP765 dressed up as C&O 2765, one of the hams down in Toledo, who lived about two miles away from the railyard where the engine was serviced at, set up a cross-band repeater on 146.490 out / 446.050 in. This allowed us to communicate over a much greater distance with our portable radios.
73's
Ron
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