what equipment needed to listen to Railroad radio?

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PennCentralFan

New Member
Jan 18, 2006
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Twin Cities, MN
I would like to listen to the railroads. I understand they broadcast on VHF frequencies so what kind of radio/scanner do I need and what type of antenna (size and so on)? Can a small fold up and down antenna work?

Can I get this stuff at radio shack?
 
I bought a scanner at radio shack that is supposed to work...I just can never find the freqs that they are running on....Kinda frustrating.

77Railer
 
I bought a scanner at Radio Shack years ago, still works although out dated, I am looking to get a new scannner. R/S has some for around 129.00. I also bought a book from Kalmbach Publishing ( they publish TRAINS and MODEL RAILROADER) that lists all the frequencys for the various railroads, this is definatly a must have.
 
Just to emphasize what has already been said, any good scanner that can receive in the 160 mhz range should work. As with any radio, the better the antenna, the better your reception; but your location in relation to the railroad you want to listen to makes a huge difference, too. If you're in a busy metropolitan area, there is probably more than you want to hear. If you're out in the country (unless near a busy main line) you probably won't hear much of anything. I carry a small portable scanner with me when I travel by train; but I know that some more rabid chasers have mobile setups in their car. Finding the particular frequency is pretty chancy, but there are many lists available, also as noted earlier. Good luck and have fun.
 
Railroad frequencies

Hello:

Here's the web site of ALL North American's Railroad frequencies. There is a total of 100 standard frequencies! There are a few odd ball's in the list. http://zippy.ci.uiuc.edu/~roma/rr-freqs/index-old.html#byfreq

I am a Ham radio Operator. So I use my VHF/UHF radios and antennas. The most important part of radio is the antenna! I can't stress this enough! A good ground if you use a base antenna. You can use Radio Shack's scanner antennas. They have a discone for base. A couple of mag-mounts and glass mounts for your car. I would reconmend the Radio Shack 2 Meter (Ham) antenna for your car. It has a 5/8 wave at 3db gain over a quater wave. In other words. It can hear alot more! Oh yes, you will probbly need a SO239 to a BNC adapter.

Hope this helps,
Andy KF4JQD
 
kf4jqd said:
Hello:

Here's the web site of ALL North American's Railroad frequencies. There is a total of 100 standard frequencies! There are a few odd ball's in the list. http://zippy.ci.uiuc.edu/~roma/rr-freqs/index-old.html#byfreq

I am a Ham radio Operator. So I use my VHF/UHF radios and antennas. The most important part of radio is the antenna! I can't stress this enough! A good ground if you use a base antenna. You can use Radio Shack's scanner antennas. They have a discone for base. A couple of mag-mounts and glass mounts for your car. I would reconmend the Radio Shack 2 Meter (Ham) antenna for your car. It has a 5/8 wave at 3db gain over a quater wave. In other words. It can hear alot more! Oh yes, you will probbly need a SO239 to a BNC adapter.

Hope this helps,
Andy KF4JQD
Click to expand...




uggg
you have an amt lisc and can seriously say glassmounts and reception in the same sentence?

mag mounts are bad enough-very average performance,even on rx only

but glassmounts-do not waste your money unless your car is parked on the train imho

id suggest a guttermount with wideband rx ant as a `barely' adequate minimum
working up to (yes i know its not practical for most people) a dedicated cut to wave antenna on a extendible mast


serious the supplied anttenna is `usable' but a quick glance at the internet and 2 hrs max later what wasnt even opening the squelch is now +30 db for less than a single meal..

google is your friend :thumb:
 
I to have my Amatuer Ticket and have never had a problem with a glass mount antenna, had one on my previous car, as long as you checked the way signal tranfers through the glass, there shouldn't be a problem. I currently use a 5/8 wave mounted on a home-made mount on the side of the Bed of my Pickup and have never had any probems with that, especially since I ran a seperate Ground wire from the antenna to the frame of the truck.


Jacob
KC8GHX
Lorain, Ohio
 
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