Haven’t had one of these for awhile. The first one I posted was an honest mistake as I found out. I just had a quick question and wanted something that would get attention and get answered fast.
Got a lot of attention and not sure I ever got an answer!
But I am older and wiser now, so will just stick this out there and see what happens.
Watching the engineer. He is on the telephone - the engine telephone. Black and on a cord. Who is he talking to and where are they located?
The engine I rode in, the engineer talked on a walkie-talkie to his conductor.
They used to use a radio for communication with the dispatcher, or so I was told.
The hand set is connected to the radio… I guess it’s handy on locomotives that have the radio out of reach like the desktop control crap that have the radio mounted above the engineers seat… way above the engineers seat. It’s handy for the conductor to use too without invading the engineers personal space. No you cannot dial up 1(900) numbers!
Not exactly what I thought this thread would be aboutbut I hope I gave a satisfactory answer anyhow.
Randy
That’s the “A” answer. I hate those damn handsets personally. When I was a Conductor, I and just about everyone else with experience had their own they brought along as most of the ones on the power didn’t work. The newer locos have a radio console on the Conductor’s side too so you can plug in over there and not bother anyone…
Telephone handsets have been used with two way radio for years. If anyone recalls the opening of “Car 54 Where Are You”, you may remember seeing Toody beating a handset on the dash.
As opined, they do allow for some privacy (I’ve run in ambulances that use them for communications with the hospital), but in the case of a locomotive (especially pre-quiet cab), they also help deal with the background noise problem.
I am surprised that I’ve never seen the headsets in locomotives like we use in fire trucks - they allow communications with the crew as well as radio communications, and they help save your hearing as well. In addition, it would help eliminate some of the background noise you near when the hogger leaves the mike or handset in the holder, keys it at arms length, and talks loud, usually nearly drowned out by the engine noise…
You know - Tree brings up a good point! Why not headsets. Our firemen look very sexy with,sorry - got sidetracked.
But suppose the train crews are on longer than the firemen are in their trucks, so they wouldn’t wear them. But for short periods of time, they would be great.
So are you saying that the phones are just radios with a handset? They do the same thing a regular radio like a CB would do? (sorry, having a female moment.)
Yup, Mookie,
It replaces the mike on the radio…
These is a button in the hand set you pu***o talk.
And yes Larry, its hard to understand a engineer when he just uses the PTT button or just keys the mike from arms length, and yells at the mike…
Ed
I know what you mean Mookie, about the speaker phones: when you’re on
the speaker phone, it makes you sound like your either in the bottom of a
well, or else sounds like you fell into the toilet[:p][}:)] [angel]
Headsets & boom mike are the much better way to go,especially in
fire,and ems apperatus. In an ambulance to only way the tech. in the back
can contact and listen to the driver,and have both hands free,is to use
sometihng like that. And defenitaly in an engine co.,or truck. Most other
people don’t realize how loud the sirens are(especially the Q) inside
the confines of the cab.
Avation has used this for years,both hedsets,and helments. You either have a floor,or inline PTT swicth. On the military aircraft (helicopters for me)
You have an intercom panel for the crewchief and another for an extra
crewchief,or flight engineer,and even we, depending on setting, talk just
on intercom,or air to air,or to tower,or what ever.
If memory serves, I used to see a lot of WC crews in the cab with this type of apparatus. Not sure if it was just a trial period, or if they still use them.
I would think the headphone would get hot in warm weather in an un-airconditioned cab. I always prefered the foam rollup-type ear plugs.
But I do use my ear-protection headphones when I’m within 100yds of the tracks capturing images.
…Originally, using cell phones in your auto was simply a telephone like, handset connected to the electronics box containing the workings of the transceiver making it a working “cell phone”…similar to any “two way radio”…as in the railroad engine. Of course we all know now a “transciever” unit such as a cell phone is a self contained small, small unit you hold in the small part of your hand…and it does the same thing.
I think most people consider a headset to be a ‘personal’ item – it has to fit your head, go over your ears, etc. Would you want to HAVE to put such a thing on your head if it were sitting on the locomotive? In cold weather? After the last guy who used it had greasy hair, and the guy before that too much earwax, and the guy before THAT shared a few of those onions with that NS locomotive?
Alternatively, of course, you could carry your own headset with you and plug it in. But what if you forgot…
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a prohibition against having full earcups over both ears at the same time – there is, for example, in every state I know of if you’re driving a motor vehicle. I’d be worried about this in many cases – for example if there weren’t a tie-in to the cab-signal whistle; ask Randy Gates what he thinks ;-}
My personal ‘design’ preference is to use a modified cell-phone headset, with noise cancelling in the microphone circuit and only one earphone. Have a standard plug on the locomotive that ties the radio into this headset. Or use short-range wireless (not replacing the ‘standard’ hard-wired radio or handheld transceivers). Standard wireless networking protocols (e.g. 802.11g) would give you ways to do this cheaply at the same time you integrated other forms of information transmission…
802.11g doesn’t have a large enough range for it to work. You can get maybe engine-to-enine communications, or with external antennas engine to 20th car.
I was referring strictly to the local link between the headset and the engine (or other primary radio) – NOT to wireless roaming or actual cellular systems. (I am presuming that one of the existing methods of railroad wireless-data radio is already in use and shouldn’t be interfered with.
Bluetooth would also work, and has some power advantages for a headset that’s self-contained and runs on batteries, but so far its stuff is more expensive; 802.11b would be cheaper and many of the chip cores and other enabling technology are already costed-down and functionally obsolescent in computer network connection, but my opinion is that the .11g stuff will quickly match it (look at USB1.1 vs. USB 2.x!) and be capable of much more stuff. I’m already planning for video feed to the individual crew members, metadata information, etc. which would otherwise require expen$ive stuff in the equipment the crew would be expected to buy or receive from the RR or union.
I agree that with uni the range would be insufficient… but note that most train-related communications would be in close enough to a straight line that something like a Pringles-can Yagi would make the range. In any case, I do NOT think that train-to-headset transception wants to be particularly long range, particularly if the link security is for any reason less than strong.
] I know - bad Mookie - now I will have to go and do penance - eat some chocolate cake…[sigh]