Railroad 160.590 in Indianapolis 1-23-2012

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W9NES

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Do we have any members in the Metro Indy area that monitor Railroads like W9RXR or others from the Indy area that can answer the following question.What is 160.590Mhz being used for.When I have a train on the Zionsviile line the 160.590 is transmitting data signals when the train is in my area. When there is a train in the area it gets active.It is not active all the time.Just when a train is in the area.Could this be a data channel for the engines computer or is this being used on the back of the train or to take the place of the caboose that used to be the last car on the train.? Thank You.
 
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StephenVa

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It's probably the freq the railroad is using for the EOTD/FRED (End of Train Device/Flashing Rear End Device). It's the little box on the end of trains that did away with the caboose on most trains (like you said).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashing_rear-end_device

I'm not sure how accurate the wiki article is but they have the NS freq correct. The freq you listed is AAR channel 32. Maybe that's what they are using instead of the freq's listed in the article.
 
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AK9R

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Only Norfolk Southern uses EOTDs with transmitters in the VHF band. All of the other railroads, including CSX, use EOTDs with transmitters in the 452 and 457 MHz band.

Not sure what you are hearing, Tim. Is it a constant stream of data or is it pulses? Next time you hear it, see if you can find the locomotive and look for a flashing yellow light on the cab roof of the locomotive. That may indicate that they are using remote control.
 

W9NES

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Bob, Just had a look at the CSX engines on the Zionsviile line, I saw no flashing yellow lights on the emgines.I did see a Fred unit on the back of the train.I had the scanner on 160.590 with me and was active while the train was on the tracks.When the train went south the signal got a lot weaker and when it got south of 71Street I could not hear it anymore.I heard two pulses.
 

AK9R

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The VHF EOTDs that Norfolk Southern uses (or used, they may have phased them out by now) are on 161.115 MHz, so I really doubt that it's an EOTD you are hearing. I kinda ruled out remote control operation because I didn't think CSX used that very much on industrial switching jobs around here and since you didn't see any flashing yellow lights on the locomotives, they probably aren't set up for RCO. So, I'm stumped
 

W9NES

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I did see a fred on the back of the train Bob, This was the only signal souce as I did take off the antenna on the scanner and I was close enough to see it with my eyes and hear it on 160.590.
 

caylorman

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NS VHF EOTs have been out of service for probably close to 10 years. Plus, they were fairly distinctive from the standard UHF EOT. Not only were they on VHF, they also used DTMF tones to trainsmit data as opposed to the FSK or similar signal used by UHF EOTs.

Is the tone you are hearing a "chirp", or something else?

I'll be comkng home for the weekend, and my parents live close to Avon Yard, so I'll have that programmed into the radio and see if I hear anything.
 

W9NES

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I am heaing two tones one is short is and the other is long.Only active when a train is in my area,There are No flashing yellow lights on the engines for CSX. The Freq of 160.59 has been verified by me when I have been hearing it.*It tells me when a train is in my area** 160.590 has been programmed into a scanner around 56Th and SR 267 in Brownsburg and nothing has been heard. This would be a great freq to put in your scanner in the Metro Indianapolis/Marion County Central Indiana area and see what you hear and post what you hear with your location.Thank You.
 

caylorman

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I ran this channel in the scanner while out at Avon Yard this weekend, and didn't hear anything.

I could probably give you a better idea of what it was if I heard it.
 

cifn2

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Not that it will help you much, but thought I would chime in. I searched the FCC license for CSX railroad and everyone with 160.590 and CSX seems to show up as the logical one. In 2009 they added the emission of 4K00F1W to their transmitter. That emission is for 6.25 kHz single channel digital voice and data utilizing NexEdge.

I have heard rumors CSX is going live with the near future with Digital communications maybe they have moved EOT's that way? Might explain the data burst or beeping.
 

W9NES

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cifn2, thanks for your post.I only hear it on the Zionsviile Line when we have 2 CSX engines pulling with cars in my area.I found this frequency two years back and no one can hear it except me.I did take my scanner over to the area of the line and sat in a parking lot when the train was on the track.When I took the antenna off of the Uniden 396XT 160.590 had a very strong signal on the signal meter.I did not see any yellow flashing lights on the engines.When the train went south the signal got weaker until I could not gt any more signal. The signal sounds like a data burst.
 
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