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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)

New VHF narrowband splinter frequencies

AAR Ch	Frequency
98	160.2225
99	160.2375
100	160.2525
101	160.2675
102	160.2825
103	160.2975
104	160.3125
105	160.3275
106	160.3425
107	160.3575
108	160.3725
109	160.3875
110	160.4025
111	160.4175
112	160.4325
113	160.4475
114	160.4625
115	160.4775
116	160.4925
117	160.5075
118	160.5225
119	160.5375
120	160.5525
121	160.5675
122	160.5825
123	160.5975
124	160.6125
125	160.6275
126	160.6425
127	160.6575
128	160.6725
129	160.6875
130	160.7025
131	160.7175
132	160.7325
133	160.7475
134	160.7625
135	160.7775
136	160.7925
137	160.8075
138	160.8225
139	160.8375
140	160.8525
141	160.8675
142	160.8825
143	160.8975
144	160.9125
145	160.9275
146	160.9425
147	160.9575
148	160.9725
149	160.9875
150	161.0025
151	161.0175
152	161.0325
153	161.0475
154	161.0625
155	161.0775
156	161.0925
157	161.1075
158	161.1225
159	161.1375
160	161.1525
161	161.1675
162	161.1825
163	161.1975
164	161.2125
165	161.2275
166	161.2425
167	161.2575
168	161.2725
169	161.2875
170	161.3025
171	161.3175
172	161.3325
173	161.3475
174	161.3625
175	161.3775
176	161.3925
177	161.4075
178	161.4225
179	161.4375
180	161.4525
181	161.4675
182	161.4825
183	161.4975
184	161.5125
185	161.5275
186	161.5425
187	161.5575

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

Narrowbanding (Refarming) the Railroad Service

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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:

• Norfolk Southern: Kenwood TK-290 portables, unknown mobiles.
• CSX: Icom portables, Motorola mobiles and Kenwood portables.
• BNSF: Kenwood TK-290 & TK-2180 portables, some Motorolas, Kenwood TK-790 and 740 mobiles.
• UPRR: Kenwood TK-290 & TK-2180 portables.

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).

Proceed to Narrowbanded Railroad Frequency Chart