Railroad Ops S of Seattle

[Boombox]

Hi all, this seemed like the best section of the forum for asking this question. I have a Realistic Pro-34 and it works fairly well. I used to use it all the time for railroad road ops monitoring, back between 1989 when I got it, and around 1993 when other interests got in the way of scanning. That said, I used to be able to hear both the BN (now BNSF) road channels on 161.160 and 161.100 (especially when a BN train was going to cross the UP mainline at Tukwila) and also heard a lot of activity on the UP's road channel 160.515. Even though I"m roughly 5 miles from the Seattle-Tacoma mainline, I used to hear the dispatchers all the time from this location.

But now I hear nothing, really. I can monitor a single channel for hours and hear nothing.

I know it's not the radio, as the weather band comes in well, as it used to.

I know that scanning has changed a LOT since 1989-1993, but are the local railroads simply not using VHF like they used to? Are they running narrower bandwidths that make an old scanner like the Pro-34 more or less useless when more than a mile or two away from the tracks?

 

[BC_Scan]

very likely a change in fx and throw in NXDN into the mix , I come to Seattle quite abit but dont listen to Rail as there is more interesting for me listening , that being said expand your search I hear the passenger train from WA up here on the published fx , yes agreed as you say things have changed a whole ton, maybe a dedicated listner can steer you better

 

[icom1020]

On Track On Line - Amtrak Freqs Cascades

Trains Community - On Track On Line provides information about Rail Travel and all facets of the hobbies of railroading and trains.

on-track-on-line.com

Follow the station stops to determine the freqs. There is no nxdn currently for mainline operations, if ever

 

[Boombox]

Thank you both for your responses. The frequencies listed on the RR Railroad freq database are the same as the ones I used to listen to, although the Stampede one was added. And thanks for the info on Amtrak, and the link to the frequency list -- I didn't think to check those frequencies (exc. 161.160, which is the BNSF road channel in the S Seattle region).

Would the narrower FM channels make signals weaker? I've read on RR before (and it's in the Railroad database info) that there was a move to narrow the FM transmissions from 25 kHz to 12.5 kHz.

Either way, I'll keep listening. Seeing if anything shows up on the channels. Thanks again.

 

[icom1020]

RRs were mandated like everyone else to NB by whichever effective date. It may effect quality although detectors still seem to carry the same distance

 

[Boombox]

RRs were mandated like everyone else to NB by whichever effective date. It may effect quality although detectors still seem to carry the same distance

Well, the narrowbanding must have cut the effective range of the signals, at least to older scanners. I used to hear Railroad ops almost 24/7, from the exact same location, on the exact same radio, but lately? Nothing. I can have my Pro-34 on 161.515 (the UP's road channel for Seattle to Fife) for literally hours, with nothing. I have another scanner I fired up, a Uniden BC-550A, and set it to search the Railroad frequencies -- same thing. Crickets. Air band and Weather band on both work well. 2 Meters has a few signals from time to time -- although not as much as 30 years ago. But the Railroad band is dead.

I'll keep trying.

 

[Boombox]

RRs were mandated like everyone else to NB by whichever effective date. It may effect quality although detectors still seem to carry the same distance

Thank you for that info. The closest detectors to my location are about 12-13 miles away, and I doubt I can pick them up from the house. I've found the frequencies and will keep them in mind.

I've been running the Pro-34 on the search limits for the Railroad band here for hours -- 160-161 MHz -- nothing.

 

[icom1020]

What is your antenna choice, is it attached or outside with coax?

 

[Boombox]

It's the same antenna I was using in 1990, the rubber duck that came with the radio, as well as a 2.5 foot whip that I bought for better reception, and I also tried a 2 Meter rubber duck I got at Amateur Radio Supply when they were still in business.

No external antenna. I also found my PRO-2006 (in the closet), decided to fire it up, too. It works. Using its provided antenna, I'm getting the same results. I'll keep it running for a while, though. Maybe it pulls in signals better than the PRO-34.

The thing is that just with the rubber duck, attached antenna, in 1989-1993 or so I was hearing lots of RR chatter just using the attached antenna. Obviously, something has changed in how the system gets out. I don't think it's the radio. It pulls in Weather and a few air channels fine.

 

[Boombox]

I've had my PRO-2006 running for the past 4 hours, and it's set to search between 160.000 and 161.515 and the squelch breaks for a tenth of a second about once every ten or so minutes, and at least two times I heard just a bit of voice before the squelch cut off, and it sounded like the signal was picket fencing -- i.e., mobile. So something is active that the scanner is trying to pick up. It may have more sensitivity than the PRO-34 or the Uniden BC355A.

I'll keep trying. Might have to look into a better antenna. Perhaps a dipole or loop cut for 160 MHz. Outdoor is a non-starter for the time being, but I do have enough wire to make up a loop or dipole. I'll just have to experiment.

I'm surprised the 2006 works as well as it does. I think I used it twice, after buying it in 1991 or 1992. I got out of the scanning hobby soon afterwards, and the 2006 sat unused for years. They say radios need to be used to last. I'll have to use it now that I know it works.

Time to look into some antenna building......

 

[Boombox]

I've heard a few comms, very few, though. No track warrants, though, which I used to hear a lot back in 1991. I think the reason is they probably are all digital. I finally found another thread here on RR talking about BNSF and track warrants, and one guy said they have been going digital with a lot of that.

Probably a lot of other comms, have gone digital, too (laptops, etc.). I did hear (on my Pro-2006, just off its whip antenna) a guy mentioning the Stampede Wye, or something connected to it. He was going to move some power there, or for use there. This was on 161.415, the Tukwila/Tenino road channel. I think it was in connection with the jct. between the N-S Mainline and the Stampede Sub that connects with it at Auburn. And that's maybe 12-15 miles away if the guy was near Auburn. 8-10 if he was at S. Seattle. The guy mentioned some track in connection with the Stampede line. I think he mentioned the wye.... So the radio's working, and comms are happening, just not as many. Probably the advances in tech since 1991, obviously.

 

[Boombox]

After several days and evenings of monitoring, on both the Pro-34 and Pro-2006, and doing some research, I think that the introduction of Positive Train Control in 2020 (mandated by the Federal Gov't) (which uses digital signalling, digital track warrants, digitally determined, flexible 'blocks', and other features) has reduced the voice traffic on the Railroad channels here significantly.

The Defect detectors around here seem to be mostly voice on defect only. Haven't looked into monitoring the End-Of-Train transmitters or anything like that. I might be too far away for the antennas I've got.

Obviously, a lot has changed.

I did hear a 6 Meter repeater ID the other afternoon, though. Only time I've ever heard anything on 6 Meters. First Time For Everything....

 

[amtrak8]

If you go to the streaming channels on here for railroads, you will see they are actually quite busy.

 

[Boombox]

If you go to the streaming channels on here for railroads, you will see they are actually quite busy.

Thank you for the suggestion. I've never tried those channels here on the site.

 

[flatfoot859]

I'm a hoghead. I worked prior to PTC and obviously now with PTC, radio traffic really hasn't reduced much if any. Obviously in Track Warrant Control territory you won't hear as much as warrants are delivered electronically a lot of the time but if its CTC, there's just about the same amount of radio traffic.

 

[Boombox]

I'm a hoghead. I worked prior to PTC and obviously now with PTC, radio traffic really hasn't reduced much if any. Obviously in Track Warrant Control territory you won't hear as much as warrants are delivered electronically a lot of the time but if its CTC, there's just about the same amount of radio traffic.

Hey, thanks for that info! Much appreciated. I'll keep listening.