I am trying to railfan in my city, but it's very hard because there aren't many trains. What would help is if I had a way to know they were coming long before I heard their whistle. Anyway, I was thinking that a CB or scanner or whatever they're called is what I need. But the more information I try to find, the more confusing it gets. Can anyone shed some light on this subject for me? Some questions I have are: Are they legal? Can I use them in my car while driving around town between tracks? How much money am I going to spend to buy a scanner that will pick up railroad frequencies? I see radioshack has 40 channel CB scanners- I'm guessing that those won't pick up railroad communications. Anyway, thanks for any help that I get. I'd like to stay safe & legal in my train watching, but other than that, I'll do about anything I can to get great train photographs. -Dave
Dave ... I don't believe a CB radio will provide what you want it to. You can go to any electronics store, including Radio Shack and buy a small, programmable scanner. You can probably get one for less than $40. You will have to find out what frequency or frequencies your particular railroad uses. It is not illegal to possess a scanner, either on your person or in your car / home. Have fun
CB radio operates in the 26 MHz band. Railroad communications of the type you want to listen to are VHF or UHF. As Bill said, you can purchase a scanner for a reasonable amount of money. If you want a nice one you can spend a little more and I would not go the Radio Shack route if you want a really nice one. You could get an Icom or something like that that would have a very good receiver if you wanted. Something like this or this or this or this perhaps. Having a scanner is not illegal in 99.9999% of cases. In the mid-90's my hometown tried to pass a law against scanners in vehicles. They did pass the law and tried to enforce it. Their law also outlawed mobile amateur radio operations. We (ham radio operators) tried to tell the city fathers that they were not the FCC but they would not listen to us. After several months we finally were able to get the FCC to tell them that they had no authority to enforce such a law. Following that, they passed a law that mirrors federal law that makes illegal using such a device in the commission of a crime, etc. There may be a few loopholes and if a cop happens to see that you have a scanner he may harass you as a "siren chaser" and such. Also, some other cities may have laws on the books for which you could be charged for having a scanner in your car. While they legally can not enforce that law, you would have no choice other than to wage a costly fight to try and overturn it. There was one case I recall in Kansas City in the mid-90's where some handheld amateur radio transceivers were confiscated by police and the ham radio operators, while never convicted of a crime, never got their radios back. I recall one police officer who stopped me a few years back (for having a headlight out) did harass me for having 4 radios in my car (which I did at that time). He asked why I needed all that and what I was up to. I told him I was a ham radio operator but he was really bugged about it. To the uninformed, all small radios are the same thing. Most people think my handheld amateur radio transceiver is a common scanner or cell phone. Charlie [ 03. April 2003, 20:52: Message edited by: E-8 ]
Looks like it's all been said. I would add my two cents on one thing- You'll enjoy having a scanner. So get a quality unit. Cheaper models do not have the reception range. And tend to not filter out enough background "noise." So weaker signals will be lost. Boxcab E50
Thanks guys for the responses. Now I feel like I won't be shopping in the dark. Charlie- those scanners you linked to look nice, and I might just pick up the cheaper of the bunch. I was thinking that a scanner would help enhance my hobby of train photography- I didn't expect to pick up a new hobby all on it's own I have seen quite a few websites that show how much some people get into this stuff, and knowing me, if I buy one, I'll be hooked. Geez, like I don't have enough hobbies already Anyway, I'll pick one out soon, and I'll be sure and post a follow up w/review for anyone who might be following this thread. thanks again- Dave
Pop into a Radio Shack and get an updated, "POLICE CALL" book or CD. It will list thousands of freqs in your homestate. Railroads are included. It's a great reference.
One thing I would like to add from my expierience is that unless you plan to travel a lot, you really don't need a lot of channels. Where I live there is 1 railroad frequency and 4 fire frequencies in use and thats all I have on my 200 channel scanner (hey, it was $7 at Goodwill ). A good refrence to have if you plan to do a lot of this is Kalmbach's book of Railroad frequencys. CQ CQ CQ, DE KB7ZGC
Well last night I was in K's Merchandise in town and I took a look at their scanners. I was thinking about ordering one prior to walking into the store, but I decided to just get one while I was there. They had a return policy I could live with, so I got one. I had called the local pawn stores before hand, and nobody had one in. It's a Uniden bearcat 30 channel 10 band radio scanner. It was about $85. I got home and plugged it in, and it's sweet! It picks up the local railroad channels just fine, as well as police and all that other fun stuff my girlfriend likes. I'll try it out this weekend, trying to catch the trains that I hear comming on the scanner. Since I don't live near the tracks, I could hear them announce trains, but I couldn't hear the horns or anything like that. Anyway, here's a picture: Thanks for the help, talk to you guys later! Dave
Dave, You made a good choice. Like the others, I'm not sold on Radio Shack scanners. I have an old Bearcat that looks a lot like yours and I love it. Not a moments problem with it. You have probably figured out that 99+% of the RR frequencies are in the range of 160.00 mHz to 162.0 mHz. Another way to get all the RR transmissions there or wherever you are is to program those frequencies into SEARCH. Soon you will find what frequencies are active and then you can program them to the SCAN mode. Sounds like you're having fun already. (Something else that's fun, if you can get the frequencies, are the cordless phone conversations. Some of them are strange.) Ed
Ed you sound about like me when it comes to Radio Shack scanners. I have 2 of them and don't like them at all. They keep picking up birdies a lot. My yard control channel is 160.875 and my scanner picks up as birdie and 160.860 but it does to all of my yard channels. This is even if the squelch is turned down and the ATT turned on. My base unit is radio shack brand and i have had no problems with it. It is just my mobiles. I am thinking about switching to the Uniden SC 180 model. I want to get 100 channel scanner that way all i have to do is program all 100 railroad frequencies in the scanner and never have to worry about it again.
Wal Mart has two Bearcats, a 30 Ch. BC60, and a 50 Ch. BC80, with 800Mhz. There both under $100. Very good radios.
I'm not sure that I understand the Radio Shack bashing. I have a Radio Shack PRO-51 200 channel scanner that has served me well for years, and I am amazed at how long batteries last in it. Have had it on continuously for days and no problems.
I have a PRO-38. It's done just fine for I don't recall how many years. An external antenna does improve reception, etc. Boxcab E50
I have a Uniden Bearcat 210XLT scanner in my trainroom in the basement. I'd like to have better reception. Can anyone recommend an antenna that I could put in the attic (about 20 feet up)? Also have a Uniden Bearcat 120 XLT hand held scanner. Similar question, i.e. can anybody recommend an antenna that I could put in the trunk or on rear deck of car?
Snoopytoo- Welcome aboard! Interesting handle. Anything to do with the cartoon character? I bought my base antenna long ago. All that I recall, is that it's an A/S. (Antenna Specialists.)An omnidirectional, model unknown. It does all that I'd ever desired, so have never thought about updating. Perhaps others will input their results, and tell us what they use. Boxcab E50
I have a Pro-93 handheld Dual Trunking with 300 channel memory. Its really good in Altoona when RailFest comes around, and it works perfectly at Horse Shoe Curve. I got it at Radio Shack for about $100.00. Then when my CB broke I took the 37 inch anntenna with a BNC connector and hooked it rightup. Great Reception. But I miss my CB . But trains are more important. Next in my collection of Radios is an old uniden Bearcat BC500A Auto Scanner thats not that good as my Pro-93 but good for moble transportation in the Car. I just got the book of ARR channels because I kept getting annoyed when I went to different areas and the frequencies changed but I fixed that problem. I have a 2 meter Ham but the train channel is never occupied. Oh well. The good thing is that am always prepared when listening for trains [ 09. May 2003, 23:47: Message edited by: AmtrakEngineer ]
