UP Sacramento/Stockton

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darutter

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Does anyone have the frequency of the UP between Sacramento/Elk Grove and Lodi/Stockton?

I cant seem to narrow it down from the RR listing. I thought it was channel 96 on 161.550 but the traffic doesn't seem correct. I should hear detector 55.5 but I dont.

Any ideas??

Tnx


Dqve
W6CM
 

kma371

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I believe it's AAR 08
 

kma371

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I have access to my book now.

For the tracks east of 99, it's 160.230 from south florin down to city of Livingston. Which includes the 55.5 detector.

For the UP tracks west of 99, it's 160.230 also from Pollock to downtown Stockton.
 

burner50

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Elvas to Need- 5151 - 160.875
Need to North Goshen- 9696 - 161.55
North Goshen North Bakersfield- 1414 - 160.32


Any other information is incorrect.
 

kma371

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burner50 said:
Elvas to Need- 5151 - 160.875
Need to North Goshen- 9696 - 161.55
North Goshen North Bakersfield- 1414 - 160.32


Any other information is incorrect.

Huh?

Where are you getting this? I live next to both tracks and AAR 08 is correct.
 
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darutter

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Thank you Sir.

Apparently, there was an issue on the line south of Galt and the track was closed for most of the day. Alas the reason why there was no traffic on 161.55. Once the track was reopened late Sat afternoon, the traffic picked up again.

I am in Galt which does figure in to the 162.55 frequency. 160.875 is hearable here. Dont know about 160.32.

Thanks to everyone for the info.

Dave
 

kg6nlw

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Just for official clarification:

Radio Display:
Elvas to Need- 5151
Need to North Goshen- 9696
North Goshen North Bakersfield- 1414

Taken directly from the horses mouth, literally.

Regards,

-Frank C.
*trying to clear up confusing "facts" any which way possible*
 

KD6RRR

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Just for official clarification:

Radio Display:
Elvas to Need- 5151
Need to North Goshen- 9696
North Goshen North Bakersfield- 1414

Taken directly from the horses mouth, literally.

Regards,

-Frank C.
*trying to clear up confusing "facts" any which way possible*

Just received notice today that UP has switched to narrowband on the Fresno Sub on the above AAR frequencies. Switched over on Coast, Niles, and Warm Springs Subs as well. No sign of NXDN stuff yet, so I'm guessing digital is a loooong way off. The radio replacement hotline assured me that my old HT1000 will be all I need for for awhile after I tried to talk them into swapping me for a Kenwood NX-220 or at least a TK-2180... Oh well, I tried! :p
 

burner50

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We have been getting alot of nxdn gear up here... I worked a jordan ditcher a week ago that had an nx700

uploadfromtaptalk1304197993393.jpg

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kg6nlw

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Just received notice today that UP has switched to narrowband on the Fresno Sub on the above AAR frequencies. Switched over on Coast, Niles, and Warm Springs Subs as well. No sign of NXDN stuff yet, so I'm guessing digital is a loooong way off. The radio replacement hotline assured me that my old HT1000 will be all I need for for awhile after I tried to talk them into swapping me for a Kenwood NX-220 or at least a TK-2180... Oh well, I tried! :p

I'd like to see where they have officially switched channels to NFM. I'd say they got their license modified to be NFM ready, but that's about it. No official radio changes to Narrowband FM yet on any of the subs you mentioned. I listen to all 4 of them nearly daily!

Regards,

-Frank C.
 

burner50

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I'd like to see where they have officially switched channels to NFM. I'd say they got their license modified to be NFM ready, but that's about it. No official radio changes to Narrowband FM yet on any of the subs you mentioned. I listen to all 4 of them nearly daily!

Regards,

-Frank C.

I can verify the information to be correct.


I think you're misunderstanding the UP version of "Switching to Narrowband", and what narrowband is to begin with. You likely wont be able to tell just by listening to the transmissions.

Also, UP has literally hundreds of thousands of radios... So the switch doesn't happen overnight... What happened is that properly equipped locomotives were to start operating on narrowband frequencies. This doesn't mean that the crews were complying...
 

KD6RRR

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Hi Frank,

Well, if you'd like to see it, I guess we would have to meet, unless you know another UP employee that can show you. A Superintendant's Notice issued earlier this year advises that narrowbanding will be occurring throughout the Service Unit, & that as each Subdivision is changed over, a Subdivision General Order will be issued notifying employees to change from selecting radio channels on the locomotives by entering, for example, 38 38, to entering 038 038. All locomotive radios now are programmed with both wideband (##-##) as well as narrowband (0##-0##) designated frequencies. This does NOT mean the actual center frequency has changed, they haven't. This simply means that that individual radio will now transmit a narrowband emission instead of the old wideband one.

All the notice did was advises us that the radios that the dispatchers transmit & receive on at various locations for those individual Subdivisions have been changed to narrowband. As already noted, very few of my fellow employees have a clue, no do they really care, about narrowbanding and how it affects their job each day.

So if you have a scanner or receiver that can display what type of emission it is receiving, I can absolutely assure you that when you hear the dispatcher radio transmitting on the Subdivision frequencies I referenced in my original post, you will see it is most definitely narrowband.

As for individual locomotives, I can only guarantee that MY locomotive will be on narrowband where it is required, because I am one of the very few out here hauling freight around Northern California who actually understands the concept and is complying with the companies instructions.

In addition, very few of the handheld radios carried by crews have been properly programmed yet for narrowband. So you will rarely hear a conductor or switchman on the ground transmitting narrowband.

Perhaps the reason for your disbelief in my saying that narrowbanding is upon us here locally is because you may not understand exactly what narrowbanding is, and how it will effect your ability to receive it on your scanner or radio?

All narrowbanding has done is to reduce the literal width of the carrier required to transmit the radio's emission. The effect of this is that there can now be more available frequencies for use in the particular piece or radio spectrum being used.

For example. Before I drove around train engines for a living, I drove around fire engines for a living. The State of California has three radio frequencies it has reserved for use as interoperability between fire agencies called the White channels. White one, two, & three. California has recently issued a directive to agencies using the White channels to change their programming to reflect narrowbanding & the new frequencies that are made available by doing so. White One has been for over 20 years that I used and/or monitored it set at 154.2800. White Two 154.2650, and White Three at 154.2950. The 15 kilohertz jump between these frequencies (265 + 15 equals 280 + 15 equals 295) was simply a nessasary requirement due to the limitations of radio transmitters from decades ago. They simply needed that 15 kilohertz space (bandwidth) to have a legible enough ANALOG carrier to carry my voice from my radio to the receivers radio without 'bleeding over' and interfering with the next closest frequency. With the improvment of transmitter technology over the years, a transmitter can now do the exact same job in HALF the space. Now between 154.2650 and 154.2950, you can stuff FIVE different frequencies for ANALOG use (154.2650, 154.2725, 154.2800, 154.2875, & 154.2950) and still not interfere with the adjacent frequency.

To create even more room on the radio spectrum, transmitters today can go even narrower! The 15 kilohertz space that was reduced to 7.5 kilohertz, can be split a second time into 3.75 kilohertz spacing! BUT there is a problem. ANALOG transmitters just can't shove their transmissions into that small a space. Just can't do it. BUT, a DIGITAL signal will fit in there just fine. In fact more than one would fit easily! Hence the ability of digital cell phone networks to have several subscribers talking, texting, & downloading simultaniously on their networks.

How does all of this effect you listening on a scanner? The short answer is, an older scanner or radio that was designed strictly for old wideband signals will still receive narrowband signals on the same original frequency. The audio it picks up may be a little low compared to before, but it wil still hear it. An older scanner might also have a hard time being programmed with the newer freqencies as many of them weren't designed for that fourth number (154.280 vs 154.2800).

Newer scanners can be programmed with the fourth number, as well as can decode the difference between wideband and narrowband.

As far as digital reception goes, in the railroad realm, the digital protocol of choice (and there are several to choose from) is the NXDN one that Kenwood & Icom support. As of today, no scanner available to us user types can decode NXDN transmissions. Only an actual NXDN radio can. Thankfully, due to the cost & the current lack of an official requirement to go to super narrowband digital transmissions, I seriously doubt the railroads will be digital, at least on mainline frequencies, any time soon.

Hope that explained it a little!

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kg6nlw

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I can verify the information to be correct.


I think you're misunderstanding the UP version of "Switching to Narrowband", and what narrowband is to begin with. You likely wont be able to tell just by listening to the transmissions.

Also, UP has literally hundreds of thousands of radios... So the switch doesn't happen overnight... What happened is that properly equipped locomotives were to start operating on narrowband frequencies. This doesn't mean that the crews were complying...

Not to be nit-picky, but if I don't understand what Narrowbanding, etc is after being a ham for 10 years then I'm in deep trouble! I also understand the whole process to get everything narrowbanded, etc. It is more than a Pain in the A**!

I have seen NO General Orders/SSI Changes stating any area here in Northern California is to START using Channels 107-197, the first set of Narrowband frequencies. So again, I'd like to see this statement that says the crews need to start operating on narrowband frequencies.

EDIT: KD6RRR, I understand everything you wrote, long before you wrote it. Again, I haven't seen an G.O./SSI's issued stating to use the Narrowband channels. I do know there were some Dispatcher changes for the Canyon/Elko Subs and down in SoCal on the Coast/Santa Barbara Subs.

Regards,

-Frank C.
KG6NLW - Ham Ticket
WQMI352 - GMRS Ticket
 
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KD6RRR

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AH, now I understand Frank. The 107-197 freqs are the 'new' freqs that suddenly appear thanks to the narrowbanding of the current AAR frequencies. You are correct, we are most definitely not using any of these particular freqencies yet. In fact, I would imagine that we won't at all until things finally start going digital. The only change is that the IT department has switched all dispatcher's radios to narrowband emissions on the current AAR freqencies. So 014-014 is still the same center freq as 14-14, it's just a narrowband transmission now.



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kg6nlw

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Exactly! Instead of being 20K0F3E on the license, it now shows 11K0F3E, etc. Just a small change like that and the whole scanner world goes bezerk! I'd be shocked if the 107-197 frequencies EVER get used like the 07-97 set do!

Regards,

-Frank C.
 

KD6RRR

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Yup, Frank, the change was outlined for us locally in a Roseville Superintendant Bulletin explaining that Subdivision GOs would be coming that added a zero to the front of the locomotive radio display to indicate the need to transmit narrow for a certain area. Look me up on QRZ, email me, and I will satisfy your curiousity after I get back home!

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