Read this Post I found on another website and tell me is it true that Railroads have been having issues with rail fans purchasing RR radios and keying them up. To see what I mean go to http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=54765 and tell me what you think. Thank you
Take anything that Gadfly character says with a very large dose of salt. He’s the guy that claims he isn’t a railfan - yet posts to several railfan boards quite regularly.
I don’t know anything about Gadfly, but he seems to me to indicate he is a RR employee (railfan or not).
His point about unauthorized people using transmitters is a real problem and there are people that just don’t seem to understand the LAW about radio use.
The scanner is an interesting tool used by professionals(Volunteer Firefighters, off duty Police and some others who monitor their various Company frequencies, out of professional interest).
Then there are the amatures who listen to local public service frequencies, out of their personal levels of interests for whatever reasons) . It would seem that railfans woul fall inot the latter catagory. They are not illegal to own, only become illegal in certain jusistrictions that have precluded certain useages, (ie, In vehicles whie activally monitoring Police frequencies, to name one). Use of unauthorized Transmitters on frequencies assigned to Operational functions is definitely a use that is illegal–regardless of the illegal user’s motives- So a railfan who has a radio that can interfeer by blocking authorized transmissions is legally, and morally, liable to creating an incident in which someone might be potentiall put at any level of risk. [2c]
The Citizen;'s Band Radio was a very good and valuable asset when it waas conceived, and gradually as it was corrupted by folks who misused it, became more problematic. I used it (Citizen’sBand) for a number of years while driveing OTR.
But CB was gradually degraded as an asset by misuses/misusers, additional TOYS (Beeepers,etc.) added to radios, and transmission power boosters (Kickers) which blanked out other user’s in range. It gradually became an asset of many mixed blessings, and questionable reliability to use due to other users whose ‘enhanced’ transmissions, not to mention, outright discourteous transmissions precluded the legitimate use of the CB by others.
Unauthorized misuse of the Frequencies used by the Railr
Whatever the legitimacy of Gadfly is, the fact that a number of other railroad employees corroborated what he said suggests that the warning is real.
Gadfly is a retired RRer (clerk mostly, I believe), but he can be a little over dramatic.
I’ve never really had an issue with fans transmitting on RR frequencies that I can remember. Maybe we have well-behaved fans, or my railroad is too boring to fan.
Is it any worse than small companies that just hijack a frequency to use? There will always be idiots in every mix - but to say it’s a problem?
But with the switching to narrow band and digital stuff soon, will that solve some of the supposed problems? I know our older radios are going to become useless real soon. Goodbye Motorola, hello, ugh, Jem [banghead] .
Never mind local scanner laws - illegal transmissions fall under federal communications law and violations can be pretty expensive ($10,000 max). I would suspect that an official complaint by a railroad - particularly if the transmissions are regularly occuring in a specific area - would prompt a visit by the FCC. There could also be the issue of interfering with interstate commerce, if the acts were particularly egregarious.
The problem has occured in other realms. It wasn’t “fans” but stolen radios that prompted one fire department to require the sounding of a siren over the air before the dispatchers would accept a request for more resources (extra alarms, etc). That caused a problem for one chief when he wasn’t near a vehicle when he needed to make such a request. Fortunately, a firefighter in the area could imitate a siren well enough to meet the requirement…
Considering that I just bought a two-way handheld radio for less than I would have to pay for a pocket scanner, I suspect this problem may grow.
I know a fella who’s made good friends of a regular road crew. He’s certified himself, but not on a major railroad. I believe he has once in a great while given them a “Good Roll” when railfanning them. Illegal, yes, but not an unwelcome transmission as such things go. Ah, nope, those people were trying to be “helpful”
EDIT: (Pulling this out for further discussion)
Becsause on the other hand, if there WAS a problem that warrants reporting, and he saw it, then Rule 1.1.1 becomes "You need to say something before a problem becomes a PROBLEM.
When I did rules training for a museum on GCOR 4, one question was posed by the teachers: if someone is flagging you to stop, what do you do? The reason they asked, is becaise one of them ran regulars past a house of another former railroader. That ex-rail DID flag them when there was a problem, they stopped, and fixed it. (Hotbox I believe) One should consider the source, but if there’s doubt…
The NORAC rules state that any object, waved in a violent manner across the tracks, is a signal to stop. They make no distinction as to who is waving the object.
Odds are, if I see something, I’ll do better calling CSX on the cell phone than trying to get ahead of the train and waving them down.
I have CSX in the RR radio, but it’s gonna be pretty bad before I call the crew direct.
"…
made over 300 unauthorized transmissions, sometimes giving false or dangerous instructions to trains.
But CTA security agent Amy Kovalan said that at no time were passengers in immediate danger.
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/cta-radio-transmissions-52382332.html##ixzz10TKR6ClN"
-A government response, alright…dangerous instructions which presented no danger : )