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Line 139: |
Line 139: |
| 452.9500 / 457.9500 Remote Control/Remote Indicator | | 452.9500 / 457.9500 Remote Control/Remote Indicator |
| 452.9625 / 457.9625 Telemetry/Remote Control/Remote Indicator | | 452.9625 / 457.9625 Telemetry/Remote Control/Remote Indicator |
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− | == Narrowbanding (Refarming) the Railroad Service ==
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− | Many rumors have circulated regarding the [[refarming]] of the railroad radio band and whether or not people will be able to monitor it once the changes are made. First of all, don't worry... These changes will progress very slowly. There isn't going to be a point where everything changes in a day, or even a month. It will take years before the whole rail system adopts a totally new standard. Once it does, you will still be able to monitor it. The way you monitor it may change, but it will still be open.
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− | The basis for these changes are the various mandates that the FCC has imposed for radio systems... Their overall goal is to reorganize the radio spectrum so there's more room for all of the wireless equipment being put into use today, and also to try and create more interoperability between various services. One of the ways they're creating more space, is by narrowing the channel spacing in different service bands by splitting them.
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− | The original AAR railroad radio band has a 15 kHz spacing between each channel. Modern technology allows channels to be spaced much closer together now, which creates more channels in a much smaller amount of radio spectrum. The FCC mandates that new radio systems use a smaller 12.5 kHz spacing by 2013. They also want new radio systems to eventually be capable of an even smaller channel spacing, mandating that manufacturers make all new equipment capable of a 6.25 kHz spacing by 2011, and that end users of new systems use a 6.25 kHz spacing by 2018. The new railroad band plan shown below is the one that would be adopted for the first 12.5 kHz mandate by 2013. This plan does not require radios to be digital. However, due to technical limitations for the much tighter 6.25 kHz channel spacing that will eventually
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− | happen, that plan will most likely require radios to be digital. It's this second new plan due in 2018 that has railroads experimenting with digital and trying to decide how exactly they will go about the change. Most radios being purchased now are capable of both analog and digital, or they're at least capable of being modified to digital.
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− | So what will digital mean? For now it's hard to say exactly how it will all work. The most important thing to emphasize though, is that this will be a very slow change, and it will most likely NOT include any encryption on normal voice channels. For now, two digital protocols seem to be getting tested by the railroads and evaluated. The earliest one is [[APCO-25]] or 'P25'. This protocol is already widely in use around the US on various civil and private radio systems. However, Motorola has indicated that they don't seem to have much interest in the railroad industry at this point, due to the fact that they've discontinued both the railroad Spectra and Astro Spectra radio models. Also in the running for the new digital protocol for railroad radio is the Kenwood / Icom format called NXDN. This protocol is newer and proprietary to
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− | Kenwood and Icom equipment. It's also cheaper to implement than P25. Having a proprietary digital protocol for the rail industry wouldn't be that much of a problem, because unlike civil services, the rail industry is fairly self contained. They don't need their system to be compatible with other services. It's been reported that the big roads have been testing not only P25 but also the NXDN protocol. Which one will be the winner is still up in the air; perhaps neither in the end. As of late 2008, some of the new radio equipment being fielded by the large roads is:
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− | * Norfolk Southern: Kenwood TK-290 portables, unknown mobiles.
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− | * CSX: Icom portables, Motorola mobiles and Kenwood portables.
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− | * BNSF: Kenwood TK-290 & TK-2180 portables, some Motorolas, Kenwood TK-790 and 740 mobiles.
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− | * UPRR: Kenwood TK-290 & TK-2180 portables.
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− | Motorola no longer produces a dedicated 'clean cab' railroad radio, such as the Spectra or Astro Spectra. Motorola does have the P25 capable XTL2500 and XTL5000 mobiles, but these are not dedicated 'clean cab' style radios. There's basically three known 'clean cab' style radios other than the old Motorolas. They're produced by JEM, Wabtec (refurbished Motorolas), and GE (formerly Harmon).
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− | Proceed to [[Narrowbanded Railroad Frequency Chart]]
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Revision as of 18:40, 21 August 2008
Finding Specific Railroad Frequencies
A great place to start is the RRDB for your particular area. Sometimes, there is not any information to be had and this is where it can be fun!
If you live in the USA you can find all the railroad licenses in your area with a visit to the FCC's website
Next, select one of the Frequency (Range) queries and then enter M160.215 and M161.565 for the begin and end search frequencies.
For Service select Land Mobile - Private [LP]
For Radio Service select Industrial/Business Pool - Conventional [IG]
You can then download the results or search them and make a custom spreadsheet with only the fields you want and download it.
As always, be sure to submit any new information for inclusion in the RRDB!
If you don't find it here or in the database, feel free to post a message in the Railroad forum on RadioReference
Amtrak routes and frequencies can be found on the On Line On Track Amtrak page
VHF Frequencies
Railroad radios display the transmit and receive frequency as AAR channel numbers. For example, these numbers will be referred to over-the-air as "1616" for AAR channel 16 (160.350) or "1180" for AAR channels 11 and 80 in full duplex use (Dispatch transmits on one channel and the train transmits on the other channel).
AAR Ch Frequency
02 159.810 Canada Only
03 159.930 Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
04 160.050 Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
05 160.185 Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
06 160.200 Canada Only (Used by Trucking Companies in the US)
07 160.215
08 160.230
09 160.245
10 160.260
11 160.275
12 160.290
13 160.305
14 160.320
15 160.335
16 160.350
17 160.365
18 160.380
19 160.395
20 160.410
21 160.425
22 160.440
23 160.455
24 160.470
25 160.485
26 160.500
27 160.515
28 160.530
29 160.545
30 160.560
31 160.575
32 160.590
33 160.605
34 160.620
35 160.635
36 160.650
37 160.665
38 160.680
39 160.695
40 160.710
41 160.725
42 160.740
43 160.755
44 160.770
45 160.785
46 160.800
47 160.815
48 160.830
49 160.845
50 160.860
51 160.875
52 160.890
53 160.905
54 160.920
55 160.935
56 160.950
57 160.965
58 160.980
59 160.995
60 161.010
61 161.025
62 161.040
63 161.055
64 161.070
65 161.085
66 161.100
67 161.115
68 161.130
69 161.145
70 161.160
71 161.175
72 161.190
73 161.205
74 161.220
75 161.235
76 161.250
77 161.265
78 161.280
79 161.295
80 161.310
81 161.325
82 161.340
83 161.355
84 161.370
85 161.385
86 161.400
87 161.415
88 161.430
89 161.445
90 161.460
91 161.475
92 161.490
93 161.505
94 161.520
95 161.535
96 161.550
97 161.565
-- 161.610 Shared with Marine (Existing railroad users are grandfathered)
UHF Frequencies
Frequencies on the same line can be paired for possible full duplex or repeater use. 452.9375 is a common EOT device frequency in Canada. 457.9375 is a common EOT device frequency in the USA.
452.3250 / 457.3250
452.3750 / 457.3750
452.4250 / 457.4250
452.4750 / 457.4750
452.7750 / 457.7750
452.8250 / 457.8250
452.8750 / 457.8750
452.9000 / 457.9000
452.9125 / 457.9125 Telemetry
452.9250 / 457.9250 Remote Control/Remote Indicator
452.9375 / 457.9375 Telemetry/Remote Control/Remote Indicator
452.9500 / 457.9500 Remote Control/Remote Indicator
452.9625 / 457.9625 Telemetry/Remote Control/Remote Indicator