Do you carry a scanner to listen to Amtrak radio chit chat?

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I have a small reasonably priced scanner I bought at RadioShack many years ago. I used it in auto racing but it is great to have on a train. In my employment I had a radio but dug out the scanner for train trips. There is a list of frequencies posted on another web site that many AU'ers participate in. (OTOL hint, hint)

By the way the 1MC referred to in previous posts is a navy term for PA. (1MainChannel)
 
I just always take a scanner with me, even on commuter trains. It's just the railfan in me. I always use headphones. But if you're not that interested in railroad operations, it certainly isn't mandatory.
 
xyzzy said:
Just beware that when you listen to a scanner, the employees will use railroad terminology. If you have never worked for a railroad or had another occasion to learn railroad terminology, you could be mystified.

On-board crews vary in their diligence in making announcements and the extent of information that they give. I stand by my position that I will bring along a scanner (and headphone) whenever I ride.

Back in the days when commercial pilots put their primary VHF transceiver on one of the in-flight entertainment channels, that was a great way to get additional info. Alas, after 9-11 that stopped almost everywhere.
Click to expand...
And for a few years, some airlines had video cameras behind the crew in the cockpit, thus allowing passengers to watch their own takeoffs and landings. That ended when a DC-10 lost an engine on takeoff from Chicago, rolled to an inverted position and crashed, killing all aboard. Purportedly, the onboard camera was running right to the end.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
 
We borrowed a scanner on out CS and EB trip last year. We got so busy enjoying the ride and our fellox pax on both trains we never even turned it on.
 
chakk said:
xyzzy said:
Just beware that when you listen to a scanner, the employees will use railroad terminology. If you have never worked for a railroad or had another occasion to learn railroad terminology, you could be mystified.

On-board crews vary in their diligence in making announcements and the extent of information that they give. I stand by my position that I will bring along a scanner (and headphone) whenever I ride.

Back in the days when commercial pilots put their primary VHF transceiver on one of the in-flight entertainment channels, that was a great way to get additional info. Alas, after 9-11 that stopped almost everywhere.
Click to expand...
And for a few years, some airlines had video cameras behind the crew in the cockpit, thus allowing passengers to watch their own takeoffs and landings. That ended when a DC-10 lost an engine on takeoff from Chicago, rolled to an inverted position and crashed, killing all aboard. Purportedly, the onboard camera was running right to the end.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Click to expand...
American' didn't remove the DC-10 cameras until 10 years after 191 went in.

Oh, and 191 lost electrical on its brief flight, so the camera wasn't exactly operating.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Alexandria Nick said:
chakk said:
xyzzy said:
Just beware that when you listen to a scanner, the employees will use railroad terminology. If you have never worked for a railroad or had another occasion to learn railroad terminology, you could be mystified.

On-board crews vary in their diligence in making announcements and the extent of information that they give. I stand by my position that I will bring along a scanner (and headphone) whenever I ride.

Back in the days when commercial pilots put their primary VHF transceiver on one of the in-flight entertainment channels, that was a great way to get additional info. Alas, after 9-11 that stopped almost everywhere.
Click to expand...
And for a few years, some airlines had video cameras behind the crew in the cockpit, thus allowing passengers to watch their own takeoffs and landings. That ended when a DC-10 lost an engine on takeoff from Chicago, rolled to an inverted position and crashed, killing all aboard. Purportedly, the onboard camera was running right to the end.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Click to expand...
American' didn't remove the DC-10 cameras until 10 years after 191 went in.

Oh, and 191 lost electrical on its brief flight, so the camera wasn't exactly operating.
Click to expand...
I believe that UAL still does broadcast the ATC over the movie channel for takeoff's and landing's, or at least did until fairly recently....I have been on a 'redeye' from SFO to JFK years ago, that didn't show any movie, and the Captain left it on for the whole flight....very interesting listening to us being handed off from one high-altitude center to another as we move across the country on a beautiful clear night, where it was fairly easy to figure out our position using the magazine map and the route the Cap gave us, and the time enroute, as well as the brilliant light patterns of the cities, rivers, and Great Lakes....

I was on an ASA flight that showed a cockpit view cam of our takeoff a few years ago from Tokyo to Hong Kong...
 
I have some flight sim software that has ATC traffic, need to switch frequencies when switching from one center to another. My first flight sim software had you home in on beacons to travel across the US.

Bruce-SSR
 
Just wanted to mention this on this topic.

There are scanner apps for smartphones. I think they depend on someone with a scanner re-broadcasting the audio to a streaming channel on the internet. A couple of months ago, during a police and fire emergency, I was actually able to follow what was going on by using the app.

Bruce-SSR
 
railiner said:
I believe that UAL still does broadcast the ATC over the movie channel for takeoff's and landing's, or at least did until fairly recently....
Click to expand...
It's actually assigned to a different audio channel than the movie -- Channel 9 versus Channel 1. As Devil's Advocate said earlier in this thread, whether or not the ATC audio is available is the decision of the captain, so sometimes what's on Channel 9 is silence, or music. (On aircraft with an on-demand video/audio system that don't use channel numbers, the ATC audio is a couple levels deep in the menus and called "From the Flight Deck.")

Also unfortunately, some of United's aircraft have had the existing entertainment systems removed as they transition to a new system involving wi-fi transmission of movies to passengers' personal devices, and the new system doesn't include Channel 9 or its equivalent. The wi-fi system allows connecting to sites such as liveatc.net to hear ATC transmissions, but that's of course not the same as listening to your own flight's radio.

(And as I think Devil's Advocate also mentioned, there are plenty of current United aircraft that originated as Continental aircraft, and thus never had Channel 9.)
 
Last week on the SWC #3 we were climbing Raton Pass when we suddenly stopped. The announcement was only that we had lost power from the head end and it was being worked on. Since there were no other details offered I grabbed my scanner and began to listen. I then learned that the hi-voltage connector in the bag car had shorted and burned up. Further, the power cable had dragged along the ground for some distance causing more damage. They told us that the front- end crew would have it fixed soon but my scanner told me they used a good amount of duct tape to do the repairs. We started again in 45 min or so but only those with scanners know the expertise behind that fix, duct tape or no. Mine goes everywhere with me.
 
I wouldn't say that it is required, but is something that enhances your trip if you are interested in how the trip is going, even if it is just "normal" operations chatter. One time we were coming into a section where they were going to be doing trackwork and there was constant repeating of the temporary regulations that were in place so that everyone knew what they were to do. Very interesting.

Although I have experienced that the radio on the NEC is extremely quiet compared to other sections of track "out east"
 
Peter KG6LSE said:
As a active ham I allwas carry a HT . mine do just fine picking up the RR freqs.

I love work stations while" amtrack mobile "
Click to expand...
Just curious about your HT....even though it can receive the RR frequencies, does it allow you to transmit on them as well? Or is there some electronic 'governor' of some sort, that only lets you transmit on the ham 2 meter band?
 
railiner said:
Peter KG6LSE said:
As a active ham I allwas carry a HT . mine do just fine picking up the RR freqs.

I love work stations while" amtrack mobile "
Click to expand...
Just curious about your HT....even though it can receive the RR frequencies, does it allow you to transmit on them as well? Or is there some electronic 'governor' of some sort, that only lets you transmit on the ham 2 meter band?
Click to expand...
Modern HT radios definitely have a software lock to prevent transmitting out of the ham bands and on the RR frequencies (which is illegal of course), though most you can "unlock" to transmit out of band. Simply unlocking is not inherently illegal, but transmitting on one of these out-of-band frequencies most probably is. I have never seen the need to unlock mine, though it does open up more frequencies for receive. I don't know about older ones, however.
 
Most can be modded to TX any where near the ham bands . It's not legal to USE the freqs unless its a emergncy .

Hams for the most part are self concious that they wont go outta band .

IMO I rather my self learn the band limits then have a radio block me in time of dire need.
 
Yes... Amateur Radio Operators are usually self governed not to do illegal things. I have heard people try and justify to get HT's to work on government frequencies, but there is never a good excuse to illegally transmit on police, fire, transit frequencies. I think I have one of the first dual bander HT's produced,a a Icom 32 AT. The rechargeable batteries are dead, but my license is still active.

While I never did it, my interest was the opposite, get a police type Motorola and convert it to ham bands.

Bruce-SSR
 
I just use a small Uniden scanner from Wal Mart that cost 80 dollars.A nice compact unit,while it is not the best receiver it does the job while on the train and keeps you informed about what is going on while on your ride.
 
Mine says NASCAR on the front and is a BC92XLT.I just like using this one on a train as it is cheap and if I loose it I am not out a whole lot vs my digital scanner which is bigger and a bit more expensive.I always use ear phones so as not to disturb anyone. I pre program my freq's ahead of time for my trains I will be on. On Track On Line is where I get those.

Having a scanner can sometimes can very useful to know what is going on around you.I have had this unit for about ten years now without any problems and use rechargeable batteries(two Eneloops).
 
This just happened a few minutes ago on the Cardinal...

My wife has always wanted to see a bear from the train. The engineer came over the radio and reported a bear on the right side running up the rocks. Gave me enough time to get my wife over from across the hall for her to finally see a bear from the train!

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
 
MattW said:
railiner said:
Peter KG6LSE said:
As a active ham I allwas carry a HT . mine do just fine picking up the RR freqs.

I love work stations while" amtrack mobile "
Click to expand...
Just curious about your HT....even though it can receive the RR frequencies, does it allow you to transmit on them as well? Or is there some electronic 'governor' of some sort, that only lets you transmit on the ham 2 meter band?
Click to expand...
Modern HT radios definitely have a software lock to prevent transmitting out of the ham bands and on the RR frequencies (which is illegal of course), though most you can "unlock" to transmit out of band. Simply unlocking is not inherently illegal, but transmitting on one of these out-of-band frequencies most probably is. I have never seen the need to unlock mine, though it does open up more frequencies for receive. I don't know about older ones, however.
Click to expand...
I assumed this was the case, but wasn't sure.....

As for legalities....supposen a train crew member also happened to be a Ham.....could he legally use an 'unlocked' personal HT for work purposes, as well? I suppose even if he could legally, it would be strictly against his own Company rules....
 
Silver Star rider said:
Yes... Amateur Radio Operators are usually self governed not to do illegal things. I have heard people try and justify to get HT's to work on government frequencies, but there is never a good excuse to illegally transmit on police, fire, transit frequencies. I think I have one of the first dual bander HT's produced,a a Icom 32 AT. The rechargeable batteries are dead, but my license is still active.

While I never did it, my interest was the opposite, get a police type Motorola and convert it to ham bands.

Bruce-SSR
Click to expand...
I imagine the police Motorola is a much costlier and durable radio then the typical Amateur HT......?
 
railiner said:
MattW said:
railiner said:
Peter KG6LSE said:
As a active ham I allwas carry a HT . mine do just fine picking up the RR freqs.

I love work stations while" amtrack mobile "
Click to expand...
Just curious about your HT....even though it can receive the RR frequencies, does it allow you to transmit on them as well? Or is there some electronic 'governor' of some sort, that only lets you transmit on the ham 2 meter band?
Click to expand...
Modern HT radios definitely have a software lock to prevent transmitting out of the ham bands and on the RR frequencies (which is illegal of course), though most you can "unlock" to transmit out of band. Simply unlocking is not inherently illegal, but transmitting on one of these out-of-band frequencies most probably is. I have never seen the need to unlock mine, though it does open up more frequencies for receive. I don't know about older ones, however.
Click to expand...
I assumed this was the case, but wasn't sure.....

As for legalities....supposen a train crew member also happened to be a Ham.....could he legally use an 'unlocked' personal HT for work purposes, as well? I suppose even if he could legally, it would be strictly against his own Company rules....
Click to expand...
It depends on the radio service. Some services like CB and FRS (FRS being those little two-way radios you buy in the bubble packs at any retail store) the FCC requires the equipment to be certified by them in order to transmit on those frequencies. So even though CB is unlicensed now, a Ham still can't legally unlock his radio and begin talking to truckers from the same radio he uses to talk around the world with. I don't know if railroad and business frequencies are the same, but it's quite likely they are. Though I can't think of any practical reason to do what you're saying except in an extreme emergency, something like Big Bayou Canot (i.e. the crewmember has lost their issued radio and every second counts).
 
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