Texas Pacifico Frequencies and ATCS Monitor

Status
Not open for further replies.

KG5HHS

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 10, 2015
Messages
628
Location
D/FW
Hello All,
I live in San Angelo, Tx and I am interested in listening (and monitoring) railroad in my area. I'm a bit confused on some of this. There was an issue put out a couple years ago by the San Angelo Amateur Radio Club newsletter or "KiloWhat" as it was called, that listed the following frequencies: 160.9350(AAR055) - Dispatch, 160.4400(AAR022) - Yard 1, 161.4900(AAR092) - Yard 2 and 160.3200(AAR014) - Yard 3. I set up my BCD436HP to an outdoor antenna and recorded railroad frequencies from 10/10/2019 - 10/15/2019. This is what I found: AAR022 (Heard mostly), AAR055 and AAR084 to have what sounded like regular railroad related traffic. AAR066, AAR097 and AAR033 to have what sounded like NOAA Weather traffic. Many hits on EOT(457.9375), HOT(452.9375), PTC6(220.7550) and LRC Ch 7(452.9687). I did not have ATCS frequenices programmed at the time, but I will program them in, record and update. There is a license for WPWW832 160.4400(AAR022) and 161.4900(AAR092). As mentioned above, I did here 160.4000(AAR022) a lot but I did not hear 161.4900(AAR092) at all.
I don't know much about this railroad and how railroad works in general. I have looked at the wikipedia page for Texas Pacifico Transports but didn't really learn a whole lot. If anyone has any knowledge of this railroad, how it works or frequencies used, any information would be greatly appreciated.
I have recently installed ATCSMon but when I look for the railroad for my area in the files page on the yahoo group, I don't see any. I don't know if i'm just not looking in the right place or if they just don't exist. Also, If there is not any for my area, is there a way to make them? I want to say I read where some one used an SDR Dongle and monitored the ATCS Frequencies but I don't remember where I read that. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

alabamarailfan

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
232
Hello,
Being that this is a shortline railroad, it would be highly unlikely that they would have enough train traffic to justify using remote control such as a dispatcher remotely lining switches and signals for train meets, etc.

While there are different ways that railroads can connect this field equipment with a home office (wires, telephone lines, fiber optic lines, radios), in order for ATCS monitor to be of any use, they would need to use radio for these connections.

Hope that helps.
 

PJH

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 23, 2002
Messages
3,620
TP is TWC last I knew. I updated the info some time ago in more accurate TXRR database. In that area, you will get some good distance from BNSF etc, so you really need to listen carefully to see what you are hearing.

EOT's are not used on every train, and last I knew they were not PTC equipped due to the volume they carry.

Poor receivers and location of NOAA transmitters do allow bleed over on to the RR channels, which is normal for most scanners.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top