Skunk train california western
- Thread starter cquirk
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Hi, I found some Frequencies listed under" MENDOCINO RAILWAY" on the fcc site.
160.6500
161.0850
160.2150
160.6500
161.0850
160.2150
I haven't been down there to ride/listen in several years, and I live just a bit out of radio range, but in the past 160.65 has been used as a repeater output with very good coverage from 101 to the coast, and for quite a few miles out. I think 161.085 was the uplink, but I'm not sure. The engineers would regularly call out waypoints as they proceeded along the line, so you could keep pretty good tabs on where they were. Not a lot of other chatter, and I don't recall seeing or hearing the on-board crew using their radios much if at all.qc said:
follow up
Hi Rode the train from Frt Bragg to Willits. 160.65 was used as a Road channel, always in simplex non repeat mode. Several times the train could not communicate with speeders and one other train on the same channel about 8 miles back. They just stayed on the 160.65 channel and never attempted to hit a repeater.
I heard a repeater squelch tail once or twice over a 2 day period once from the Fort Bragg office and once from Willits office. Both offices had Yagis rather than a omni antenna on them.
The train would call out some of the mileposts but the office never replied back. I think they were letting the speeders serving fire train duty know where they were so they could hang back about 15 minutes from the train
The other 2 channels were not used at all.
There was a speeder painted black and white with red and blue lights on it, and the Willits Police logo, it was towed on an a custom built trailer with a personalized plate of Railham. This thing had a siren and multiple radios and was used in fire service. Someone spent a great deal of time and money building this very unusual but wonderful looking piece of rail equipment.
Thanks for the help.
Hi Rode the train from Frt Bragg to Willits. 160.65 was used as a Road channel, always in simplex non repeat mode. Several times the train could not communicate with speeders and one other train on the same channel about 8 miles back. They just stayed on the 160.65 channel and never attempted to hit a repeater.
I heard a repeater squelch tail once or twice over a 2 day period once from the Fort Bragg office and once from Willits office. Both offices had Yagis rather than a omni antenna on them.
The train would call out some of the mileposts but the office never replied back. I think they were letting the speeders serving fire train duty know where they were so they could hang back about 15 minutes from the train
The other 2 channels were not used at all.
There was a speeder painted black and white with red and blue lights on it, and the Willits Police logo, it was towed on an a custom built trailer with a personalized plate of Railham. This thing had a siren and multiple radios and was used in fire service. Someone spent a great deal of time and money building this very unusual but wonderful looking piece of rail equipment.
Thanks for the help.
Great pic, thanks! That is (or WAS) Rod Whitney's Fairmont MT-19 motorcar, which at least used to have UHF, extended VHF (to include police, business and railroad VHF coverage) and i don't know what other radios.cquirk said:
And that looks like quite a phantom "testle" right behind it. I wouldn't trust even the speeder's weight going across there. Yikes.
Appreciate the radio info, too. Perhaps the repeaters went out of service along with most of the railroad during the storms a year or two ago. The two times I rode the thing it was customary for all trains to call out significant waypoints as they went along, regardless of whether anyone else was on the rails, and there were seldom any replies unless they were getting close to a meet, like at Northspur.
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Updated Skunk Train Info...
Hi Everyone...
I had a chance to ride the Skunk Train from Ft. Bragg to the midway point and back yesterday. I monitored all 3 channels and have the following info...
160.215 - Referred to as Channel 1 - Simplex mode only, used west of mile marker 12 on the track. Heard base, train and onboard portable coordination traffic with the conductor.
160.650 - Referred to as Channel 3 - Simplex and repeat modes, used east of mile marker 12 on the track. Base, train and onboard portable coordination traffic with the conductor.
161.085 - No channel designator heard, but was used once when returning from the trip going westbound. Train to track crews only, coordinating which siding the speeder cars were on when the train was traveling through blocks that were having maintenance work being done.
Great ride, but no steam engine this time.
-g-
Hi Everyone...
I had a chance to ride the Skunk Train from Ft. Bragg to the midway point and back yesterday. I monitored all 3 channels and have the following info...
160.215 - Referred to as Channel 1 - Simplex mode only, used west of mile marker 12 on the track. Heard base, train and onboard portable coordination traffic with the conductor.
160.650 - Referred to as Channel 3 - Simplex and repeat modes, used east of mile marker 12 on the track. Base, train and onboard portable coordination traffic with the conductor.
161.085 - No channel designator heard, but was used once when returning from the trip going westbound. Train to track crews only, coordinating which siding the speeder cars were on when the train was traveling through blocks that were having maintenance work being done.
Great ride, but no steam engine this time.
-g-
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