Two New Close-Call Hits at Union Station

[That_Radio_Geek]

I was at Chicago Union Station today, and used close call to find out if I'd hear any new frequencies or radio systems there. Luck smiled on me today, and I had these two hits:

173.250 - I don't see this listed in Illinois Railroads

This next one is a DMR system: 463.5125, slot-2, but I wasn't really able to be sure of the color code. Maybe 24 or 42? Again, this isn't listed anywhere I can find. I'm not sure who it was, but the hit came from very close to the Amtrak Police office between the north and the south concourses.

 

[Awesomeman92]

I was at Chicago Union Station today, and used close call to find out if I'd hear any new frequencies or radio systems there. Luck smiled on me today, and I had these two hits:

173.250 - I don't see this listed in Illinois Railroads

Amtrak red caps use 173.225 IIRC, possibly bleed over? Were you able to hear any voice traffic and were you able to confirm it was railroad related? Amtrak PD also uses frequencies in the 170s as a backup to their normal repeater. Were you able to get any tone information on it?

463.5125, slot-2

CPS has a license for this frequency, CC 6 with a tower at 606 S. State. Merchandise Mart also has an expired license for this frequency, CC 2. I'd run a search of the FCC database, but, uh...can't do that right now. At one point Union Station was switching over to DMR for operations but I don't recall the frequencies and I don't see them listed anymore. The color code is definitely inaccurate though, as they only go up to 15.

Also keep in mind that just because you are at Union Station doesn't mean the signals are necessarily coming from there, which is why I asked if you confirmed railroad-related traffic on those. If you're using the SDS like in your picture, utilize the recording feature as well. It may help you to listen back later. I also wouldn't trust my SDS200 at all to be accurate using Close Call, but maybe the 100s are better at it.

If nothing else, you have a starting place to investigate more the next time you're there!