UTA Trax on 453.625

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frankblues

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I was listening on the ham bands last night, and I used to have the UTA frequencies in range because I rode the buses a lot and wanted to know what was going on.

Last night I heard what sounded like simulcast for TRAX dispatch on 453.625. I'm not hearing anything this afternoon. Any idea what was going on?

Cheers,
Alex kb7pst
 

Utah_Viper

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I am not sure. I have a friend that work for Trax, I will ask him later today. This does bring up a good point.... UTA Frontrunner is already running test trains, and will start service soon. Hopefully we can get some details on the comms. I also will see what my friend can dwell up. If that don't work guess we get to do it the fun way :)
 

frankblues

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That'd be cool, thanks. I don't have a radio that listens in the 900 band where TRAX dispatch normally is. (Yaesu has some funny blocks in their HT's that don't really make any sense)

I've always had fun listening to UTA in the past, I've thought a few times about plunking down for a scanner that actually reaches up there and does trunking as well.

Thanks again, any info would be useful!

Cheers,

frankblues (kb7pst)
 

gldavis

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Saturday I caught a couple of users on this freq in the Bountiful area. They were talking at the same time, and it sounded like two different users/systems on the same freq at the same time. Some sort of Intermod/harmonics. It lasted about a minute, then quiet the rest of the weekend.
 

bneilson

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frankblues said:
...I don't have a radio that listens in the 900 band where TRAX dispatch normally is...

Did I miss something? Hey frankblues, do you have more details as to where TRAX / UTA is normally? I would like to program them up...
 

Utah_Viper

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bneilson said:
Did I miss something? Hey frankblues, do you have more details as to where TRAX / UTA is normally? I would like to program them up...

Here is everything we know on UTA at this time:

Uta bus control
ch 1 453.750 control
ch 2 453.700 ski bus
ch 3 453.525 Maintance
ch 4 453.625 superviser
Uta Trax
Ch 1 939.9500 ctcss203.5
Ch 2 938.4125 ctcss203.5
ch 3 938.4000 Maintance
Uta Shuttle Handie cap
Ch 1 936.5000 no tone

Also on UCAN: 23008 and 26528
 

bneilson

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So 936.5000 is interesting.

The conversations there are only one side. You can hear "control" talking to the buses but you cant hear the response? Anybody got any ideas?

I had a thought...
Last time I was on a bus the drive used a phone looking handset to talk on the radio. They do make these type of handsets with PTTs, but I am wondering if that has anything to do with it. Maybe it is designed for more of a full duplex conversation so the buses are transmitting on a different frequency then the one that control is transmitting on.

Interesting to say the least.

Also the audio on all the 900's listed here is very odd sounding. It doesn't sound normal as far as the pitch goes.
 

gldavis

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I also show activity on:
936.3875
939.3875
939.4125
I sem to remember a thread here about the UTA trunking system. It is not followable by current scanners.
 

theaton

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UTA Trunked?

gldavis said:
I also show activity on:
936.3875
939.3875
939.4125
I sem to remember a thread here about the UTA trunking system. It is not followable by current scanners.
The 900 MHz UTA frequencies are dual-listed to trunked AND conventional licenses in the FCC database. You'll have to see if conversations jump frequency to tell whether it's trunked or not. -Tim
 

epcotster

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When I tried to monitor UTA last summer, It appeared that they use a custom trunking system that works full-duplex. In otherwords,
If I found a conversation, I could only hear UTA control on the
output frequency. However If I was near (or on) the specified BUS,
I could hear the driver by hitting the reverse button on the scanner
and listing to the input frequency. For example,
I hear control on 936.175 talking to an operator. I can
hear the operator on 897.175 if I am in range of the bus. Both sides
appeared to continually transmit during the conversation.

Apparently the transmitted signal from the Buses is not repeated (at least not as far as I could tell).

I think there were some exceptions to this. Some radios (perhaps
only supervisors/maintenance) seemed to work in more of a standard repeater mode (I could hear both sides on the output frequency). However it seemed to be a trunking system only as far as assigning an initial frequency to use. A conversation didn't seem to hop channels like it would on a standard trunking system.
 

qlajlu

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UTA Boosts Police Force By 60% For FrontRunner

KUTV News Story April 4, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Transit Authority is about to go much bigger with its new FrontRunner commuter train service -- which will run between the Ogden area and Salt Lake City. As a result, it wants riders to be much safer.

UTA is training new police officers to patrol the trains, which begin operation on April 26. FrontRunner will travel more than 40 miles between Weber County and downtown Salt Lake City at speeds near 80 miles per hour.

This week, UTA announced that it is boosting its officer corps by 60 percent -- from 22 officers to 37 -- in an effort to accommodate the new operation.

UTA's police officers will patrol the commuter trains, educate riders about safety and check tickets. Senior officers have been training the new authorities for the past few weeks.

"We are adding 44 miles of track that we need security and a police presence on," said UTA spokesperson Carrie Bohnsack-Ware. "So we are expanding to accommodate the FrontRunner track."

UTA said the new police officers will begin patrolling its TRAX light rail trains and eventually move to other transportation modes, like FrontRunner and buses, to be completely versatile for the authority's needs.

-<snip>-
Too bad they didn't give us their radio frequencies, too.
 

gldavis

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I was doing a search for Union Pacific freqs and stumbled on this list. Do not know how old or accurate it is. I put it here for info.

TRAX frequencies thanks to kp_lizard_mascot.
Standard FM narrowband, non trunked.

Channel Frequency Name

Ch 1 936.5000
Ch 2 936.8875
Ch 3 937.4625
Ch 4 938.0000
Ch 5 938.3875
Ch 6 938.4000 Track Maintainance
Ch 7 938.4125
Ch 8 938.9000
Ch 9 939.3875
Ch 10 939.4000
Ch 11 939.4125
Ch 12 939.4500
Ch 13 939.4625
Ch 14 939.4875
Ch 15 939.5000
Ch 16 939.8500
Ch 17 939.9000
Ch 18 939.8875
Ch 19 939.9125
Ch 20 939.9250
Ch 21 939.9500 Dispatch (repeater)
 

yaesu_dave

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For what it's worth: I'm located in Ogden and have been listening to TRAX comms on 453.625 for about an hour this afternoon. What I'm hearing does indeed sound like a simulcast of the 900 MHz frequencies, but since I haven't got any scanners with 800/900 MHz on at the moment, I can't confirm that it is a simulcast.

It's really surprising that UTA is still using the old 453 MHz UHF frequencies. I thought all of their traffic was on the UCAN system or the 900 MHz frequencies until my trusty old BC350A stopped on 453.625 while in search mode.

73,
David
 

horntoad

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West Valley City, Utah
Post from gldavis.
The TRAX numbers you posted are good. It depends on where you are with respect to your scanner.

Front Runner is 935.1375. This is good for transmissions in both directions (Dispatch and Train Operator.)
 
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