What type of Scanner Radio do you use when you go Railfanning?
I use my Pro93 for my Railroad hunt and I like it alot. What is your Best Scanner? BNSFrailfan.
I also use a Pro93 and also like it, but wish I had a better antenna without using my rooftop antenna which I kind of dislike as it gets more static not to mention scratches my car some times.
Try www.smileyantenna.com
BNSFrailfan.
Are you getting static or intermodulation? I use a tuned cavity, not cheap but very effective in urban areas. Also I use a very thin (aka cheap) paper towel cut slightly larger than my magnetic, works great and the antenna stays attached at 75 MPH.
I use a PRO89 and a Bearcat 100XL.
Richard
How Helpful are scanners while trackside? And where can I get a fairly cheap one?
How do you survive without one? - What convinced me was sitting at the lineside back in 1987 - with no trains going by - only to find the track up 2 miles down the road - and I did’nt know about it . So I got myself one soon after and now I don’t go railfanning without it . I use a Uniden Bearcat 100 channel - does great for me - cost around $375.00 Can - a couple of years ago .
Only last Sunday did i pick up 2 incidents while out at lineside , one-a window broken on a westbound CP & the other a short time later of an eastbound CN running over a sign placed on the track . Without a scanner I would have had no knowledge of either incident - suggest you get one .
I guess i just survive by just being along the UPRR Main line, some days are busy sone days are dead, if i sit in downtown Rock Springs for 15 minutes and not see a thing its a slow day and will probably be a waist of time and will only see a few trains at that spot allowing me to move accordingly, where on a day where I sit for another 15 minutes and see more than 3, it will be a good day and will wait.
To date I have not used one in my rail fan adventures. If you go to busy spots their is so much action you really may not need one. [:o)][:o)]
You never know,I mean the UP has a tendency to call out the “S” Word every once in a while. You know what that means don’t you?
I can’t wait till get my Radio Chack Pro95.
BNSFrailfan.
I was going to pass on a scanner, mainly due to the cost. Good ones were quoted at about $300 by another railfan. But, the day after last Thanksgiving, Radio Shack had a sale on Pro-83 scanners: $69.99. So I got one. 200 channels with lots of programming options. Pre-programmed for Fire/Police, Air, Marine, weather, and some Ham frequencies. Runs on AA batteries and takes rechargables. Uniden makes the Radio Shack units, but I don’t remember the Uniden model number.
I set the first 100 channels (5 banks of 20) for the 97 AAR Channels. plus the Head of Train and End of Train frequencies, and set Bank 6 for the Family Radio System channels that, I am told, are sometimes used for AmTrak on-board communications. I haven’t heard any in action so I may change that.
Bank 7 is for when I am watching SoCal UP/SP operations and are copies of the correct channels from Banks 1 thru 5. Bank 8 is for BNSF SoCal operations. Bank 9 is a catchall for listening to road channels in the San Bernardino-Riverside-Cajon area where both systems come together and share some common routes.
In each of these last banks I include the End of Train unit frequency as the highest channel number in the bank and set it as a Priority channel so I can be warned when a train gets within 2 miles or so of my location. In a busy yard or multiple route area I lock out the EOT frequency to avoid being overwhelmed by the electronic squeals from them.
At the Fullerton station the EOT frequencies allow me to warn the other fans of a train’s approach so they can get their cameras and VCRs ready if they need ito
An observation: BNSF operations seem pretty efficient, since they show a minimal use of the radio. They seem to oper
[quote]
QUOTE: Originally posted by Jack_S
I was going to pass on a scanner, mainly due to the cost. Good ones were quoted at about $300 by another railfan. But, the day after last Thanksgiving, Radio Shack had a sale on Pro-83 scanners: $69.99. So I got one. 200 channels with lots of programming options. Pre-programmed for Fire/Police, Air, Marine, weather, and some Ham frequencies. Runs on AA batteries and takes rechargables. Uniden makes the Radio Shack units, but I don’t remember the Uniden model number.
I set the first 100 channels (5 banks of 20) for the 97 AAR Channels. plus the Head of Train and End of Train frequencies, and set Bank 6 for the Family Radio System channels that, I am told, are sometimes used for AmTrak on-board communications. I haven’t heard any in action so I may change that.
Bank 7 is for when I am watching SoCal UP/SP operations and are copies of the correct channels from Banks 1 thru 5. Bank 8 is for BNSF SoCal operations. Bank 9 is a catchall for listening to road channels in the San Bernardino-Riverside-Cajon area where both systems come together and share some common routes.
In each of these last banks I include the End of Train unit frequency as the highest channel number in the bank and set it as a Priority channel so I can be warned when a train gets within 2 miles or so of my location. In a busy yard or multiple route area I lock out the EOT frequency to avoid being overwhelmed by the electronic squeals from them.
At the Fullerton station the EOT frequencies allow me to warn the other fans of a train’s approach so they can get their cameras and VCRs ready if they need ito
An observation: BNSF operations seem pretty efficient, si
[quote]
QUOTE: Originally posted by Jack_S
I was going to pass on a scanner, mainly due to the cost. Good ones were quoted at about $300 by another railfan. But, the day after last Thanksgiving, Radio Shack had a sale on Pro-83 scanners: $69.99. So I got one. 200 channels with lots of programming options. Pre-programmed for Fire/Police, Air, Marine, weather, and some Ham frequencies. Runs on AA batteries and takes rechargables. Uniden makes the Radio Shack units, but I don’t remember the Uniden model number.
I set the first 100 channels (5 banks of 20) for the 97 AAR Channels. plus the Head of Train and End of Train frequencies, and set Bank 6 for the Family Radio System channels that, I am told, are sometimes used for AmTrak on-board communications. I haven’t heard any in action so I may change that.
Bank 7 is for when I am watching SoCal UP/SP operations and are copies of the correct channels from Banks 1 thru 5. Bank 8 is for BNSF SoCal operations. Bank 9 is a catchall for listening to road channels in the San Bernardino-Riverside-Cajon area where both systems come together and share some common routes.
In each of these last banks I include the End of Train unit frequency as the highest channel number in the bank and set it as a Priority channel so I can be warned when a train gets within 2 miles or so of my location. In a busy yard or multiple route area I lock out the EOT frequency to avoid being overwhelmed by the electronic squeals from them.
At the Fullerton station the EOT frequencies allow me to warn the other fans of a train’s approach so they can get their cameras and VCRs ready if they need ito
An observation: BNSF operations seem pretty efficient, si
Another satisfied Pro-83 user. I also picked it up during the holidays on sale and programmed it just about the same. I live and work near the CSX Philly sub paralleling it for about twenty minutes each way on my commute. CSX calls all of the signals so on my way home I get advance notice of any traffic. A lot of the more expensive scanners have features such as trunk tracking that will help with fire & police but don’t do any thing for railfans. I’ve heard all the fire & police talk at work that i’ll ever need to so all I care about is listening to trains.
RH
For train stuff, I still use my old clunky 100XLT… It’s a brick, but it has great audio. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Dave
-DPD Productions - Home of the TrainTenna RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
I use a PRO-76 out railfanning and a PRO-2006 at home. My best being the PRO-2006. The sensitivity or db rating is 0.3, one of the better ratings out there. The PRO-76 is rated at 0.6 which is okay. The 76 allows me to hear ten miles out. Five miles in each direction.
Very good Scanner.
BNSFrailfan.
I also use a Radio Shack Pro 83 Scanner which i recently received as a present. I also bought an AC adapter/ charger for it and a car cord. The scanner will run on either Alkaline, NiCad, or NiMH batteries; the NiMH batteries don’t have a memory effect so you can recharge them at any time, not when they have run down.
I have been using a Bearcat BC 100XL scanner which I still have, but the problem is it takes a special NiCad battery pack. You could be out of luck if you are away from your car, one battery pack goes dead, and you don’t have a spare fully charged battery pack. I use the BC 100 XL in the car now, and the Pro 83 when I am away from the car.
One helpful tip to mounting a magnetic base rooftop antenna on the roof of your car is to place a plastic grocery bag between the magnet and the roof of the car;that way you will prevent the roof from being scratched when you move the antenna on and off the roof. I mount a Max-Rad antenna to the roof of my car, and it brings the trains and the dispatchers in clearly.
Trunk tracking may turn out to be somewaht of a blessing in disguise. I understand many police/public service agencies now use trunk tracking where radio transmission frequencies are assigned by computer according to which ones are open instead of over a fixed frequency. If a scanner doesn’t have trunk tracking capability, it may not pick up the transmission. Several of us in this forum have mentioned several states require permits to use radios that can be tuned to police/public service frequencies in cars, or in public. But if your scanner doesn’t have trunk tracking capability then it might not be able to pick up police/public service agency broadcasts, would that mean you could use it in your car without a permit?
If you are looking for them, these guys have them…
http://www.scannerworld.com/template.asp?viewproduct=BP200-205
You can also get a battery place to make you a new cell pack to put in the case for about $26. Assuming you take it apart yourself. The new batteries can actually give you a little more time because you can get them with a higher mA.
Dave
-DPD Productions - Home of the TrainTenna RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
There are many freqs in use by many agencies - in the same areas. Sometimes the local gendarmerie is using trunked, but the state police aren’t, etc.
NY Law says something to the effect of “capable of receiving police broadcasts,” potentially interpreted as even if you don’t have a police freq programmed in your scanner, it’s still a no-no.
Michigan doesn’t differentiate. Unless you have a permit or are a ham, no scanners in vehicles. I’ve heard unsubstantiated lore that people have gotten in trouble for having a new scanner, still in the box, in their vehicle. I’ve also heard that you can kiss the scanner goodbye, right then and there.
Never hurts to know the law where you fan the most, and definitely if you are going to be travelling. If there hasn’t already been a link posted, do a search on “scanner laws.” There are several sites that cover them.
Another big win for the TERRORISTS if we Scanner users who do no harm to this stupid country can’t even monitor if what is going on in the World! Scanners are a MUCH better recource of info than the Dumb news media,or the LACK of it. Oh sure let’s attack the Scanner users. The problem is Scanner Radio’s are just as important as the Stupid news media,You will get your news much quicker than the news,right there on a dime.
I personaly need my Scanner Radio because if some thing where to happen down at the Ft.calhoun Nuc plant,There would be no way to get out in time. If you count on the news on the Radio for the latest you might as well plan your grave right there a then.
Anything can happen in this country more than ever now,And I for one thing am NOT taking nothing as a joke anymore. Right now my Scanner “IS MY LIFE”. And for the states to take away the rights of those who need a Scanner ever since 9/11 is a “BIG” mistake. Our Government would rather see thousands die than to be prepaired for what “could” happen in the future,plain and simple…
Scanners can “Save” our lives and for anyone who will or might dissagree with me is dead wrong. I think that “all” the states must take a much better look at the real problem before they start making their own judgements towards others.
Scanners are a “POWERFULL” tool ever since 9/11,And I for one thing am not going to sit back and let the state tell me that I can’t use my Scanner Radio.
9/11 was a serious warning to the world and we Scanner users “must” stand up for our rights!!!
BNSFrailfan.