# Scanner



## BT61773 (Mar 11, 2019)

Are you allowed to monitor radio communications while on the train? If so, Does anyone have frequencies for the Silver Meteor? I will be travelling form NY to Miami in a roomette.

Thanks in advance!!


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## pennyk (Mar 11, 2019)

Yes.

From On-Track-on-Line, here are Silver Meteor frequencies

http://on-track-on-line.com/amtfreq-flor-meteor.shtml

General scanner information: http://on-track-on-line.com/scanner-radio.shtml#scnradio5


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## Devil's Advocate (Mar 11, 2019)

In the US you can legally monitor most non-military frequencies so long as they are not encrypted, you are not on a scheduled commercial aircraft, and you are not operating or traveling in a private vehicle.  Unauthorized frequency _transmission _is highly illegal but retail scanners are incapable of such activity.  Non-military transmissions that use mathematically reversible encoding are in a poorly defined gray area.  Or at least that's what I remember from the last time I looked into such things.  TLDR: No problem monitoring freight and passenger railroad transmissions with a conventional scanner.


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## fairviewroad (Mar 11, 2019)

And, I hope this goes without saying, but for the sake of your fellow passengers, please use headphones...even if you are in a sleeping accommodation. The walls are thin.


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## bratkinson (Mar 11, 2019)

I bought my first radio scanner about 1976 and have used one while trackside and onboard ever since.  I most recently upgraded to a Yaesu FT-270R and the associated programming software which makes entering banks of frequencies a snap.  I have one bank for the NEC, another for the Lake Shore Ltd, etc.  I simply change which bank(s) to scan 'on the fly' and I'm good to go.  It's a very full featured handheld ham radio and can be used to transmit over ham frequencies (one must be licensed to do so).   And yes, I always use headphones, more as an aid for understanding/clarity with or without my hearing aids than to 'keep the peace' among other passengers. 

As indicated above, the On Track On Line forum is the place to go for frequency lists by Amtrak route  OTOL Amtrak Frequency lists.  It's saved  me a lot of hassles in getting the frequencies I need and want.


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## Acela150 (Mar 12, 2019)

fairviewroad said:


> And, I hope this goes without saying, but for the sake of your fellow passengers, please use headphones...even if you are in a sleeping accommodation. The walls are thin.


I can agree with this.


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