Railroads and the 219 MHz Band?

[Alain]

Folks,

As a ham radio operator who has loved the 220 MHz band for ages, I'm always willing to learn more about what I don't know about it.

I stumbled upon this YouTube video that talks, primarily, about the 219 segment and how many railroads use 219 as ANTS licenses.

The most interesting parts, regarding the railroads is at 22:10 minutes into the video, as well as, 38:30.

Enjoy and let us all know what you think.

Did you know about this? I didn't.

 

[ComradeGlock]

217.6 - 222Mhz is used by the Railroads nationwide for PTC, and they are running out of bandwidth now in that band. I would guess the possibility of getting anything new licensed or coordinated in that range is zero, unless you're a Railroad. And if you do operate in that range without coordination, I would imagine there will be several 3 letter agencies knocking on your door. Those are safety related comm's by the Railroads mandated by Congress so steer clear.

 

[KA0XR]

Does anyone know if there is any talk of railroads petitioning the FCC to grab the 1.25 meter band for additional PTC spectrum if they are now "full"? I heard a local state that a recent rail magazine article alluded to this as a possibility. With all the equipment out there it would be a tall order for the FCC to suddenly make amateur operation on 1.25m illegal if the band were to be fully reallocated.

 

[gary123]

One thing is sure. If as hams we dont use the bands then someone somewhere will want to grab and use them for something else.
I have not heard any rail activity on the 220 band here in Canada.

 

[ComradeGlock]

Does anyone know if there is any talk of railroads petitioning the FCC to grab the 1.25 meter band for additional PTC spectrum if they are now "full"? I heard a local state that a recent rail magazine article alluded to this as a possibility. With all the equipment out there it would be a tall order for the FCC to suddenly make amateur operation on 1.25m illegal if the band were to be fully reallocated.

Anything is possible but probably not, one downside being the reason you cited. Right now, the Railroads are tucked into the 220.1275-221.7975 Mhz range with 5 kHz channel spacing, but the existing installed radio base is capable of 217.6 - 222 Mhz (so the potential is there anyhow). The Class 1's thru their representative agencies are doing a lot of research in the current 160 Mhz band to see if that's feasible for the kind of comm's they need bandwidth for. Voice will go to NXDN to provide some extra bandwidth/freq's if needed and some channels may get reassigned, but for voice comm's, that's probably it.

And you won't hear any Railroad traffic on the 220 Mhz band (at least in the US) as it's all digital data.

 

[AK9R]

With regard to railroad use of the 220 MHz band, they aren't using it for voice and don't plan to. This band is used for Positive Train Control data. Specifically, data comms between lineside equipment and locomotives.