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guest
Guest
It offers lots of railroad dispatch channels from around the country and a few foreign countries. Does anyone here know which of those channels I'm likely to hear some amtrak activity on? Thanks
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Ryan
Court Jester
Kind of tough to tell you without a list to choose from.
PerRock
Engineer
Amtrak has a couple frequencies they use internally, however for most of the 'traffic' is going to be heard on the host railroad's frequency.
I presume your using the app "Scanner Radio" (if not, you should, it's really good)
In Michigan, the only available RR frequency, CN Detroit, should have some Amtrak on it. A handful of states have 'Regional' frequencies on the scanner, where a bunch of the local RR frequencies are compiled into one stream, so without knowing what all is included, you could probably hear some Amtrak on them.
peter
I presume your using the app "Scanner Radio" (if not, you should, it's really good)
In Michigan, the only available RR frequency, CN Detroit, should have some Amtrak on it. A handful of states have 'Regional' frequencies on the scanner, where a bunch of the local RR frequencies are compiled into one stream, so without knowing what all is included, you could probably hear some Amtrak on them.
peter
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guest
Guest
Yes that's the app I have. It does work well... I'm hearing a lot of freight traffic, one very busy channel is the Houston area dispatchers...
Since nearly all rail traffic is freight I guess I'll have to be pretty patient to find some Amtrak. Thanks for the replies.
Since nearly all rail traffic is freight I guess I'll have to be pretty patient to find some Amtrak. Thanks for the replies.
PerRock
Engineer
well seeing as most lines only see 2 Amtrak trains a day, it's going to be few and far between to catch one. I might try the Northern IL channel as you might be able to pick up Chicago Union Station traffic, although I don't know for certain. The CN channel I mentioned earlier should see 6 trains a day. If you can pin-point most closely where the various lines your listening to are, you can a timetable to figure out when (supposedly) the Amtrak will be thru.
peter
peter
You can view a list of which Amtrak trains use which radio frequencies and where at websites like http://www.on-track-on-line.com/amtrak-freqs.shtml
iggy
Service Attendant
Some of the feeds people seek might be found below.
Broadcastify - Live Police, Fire, EMS, Aircraft, and Rail Audio Feeds - formerly Radio Reference.
Example
Washington DC Area CSX, NS and Amtrak Rail
Broadcastify - Live Police, Fire, EMS, Aircraft, and Rail Audio Feeds - formerly Radio Reference.
Example
Washington DC Area CSX, NS and Amtrak Rail
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Not clear about this app. I am guessing it uses connection (via mobile data or wi-fi) to stream the sound to your phone rather than the phone picking it up off the air. Correct?
Ryan
Court Jester
Correct.
SANSR
Train Attendant
Hit and miss on this link; but still fun to listen to: http://railroadradio.net/
These apps typically are picked up by local scanners that then feed the audio to the internet. The apps simply pick up the appropriate feed from the land based scanner.
As such, you can't tune your smartphone/tablet into Channel ARR 36 or whatever it is, as that frequency/channel is used in multiple locations across the country.
Instead, apps like railradio.net (which doesn't need a separate app) as mentioned above, or Tunein Radio (app) allow you to search for a feed. For instance, on Tuniein Radio, I can do a search for CSX Savannah which gives me a channel for CSX and NS Reailroad in the greater Savannah area. Again, there has to be someone with committed bandwidth receiving the on-air transmissions and upstreaming it to the internet. In the case of my local channel, it scans through several channels like a real scanner. Only difference is that when the land based scanner squelches out, IT stays on that channel until it times out and you can't do anything about it (like over ride or stick to a single channel on a personal radio scanner). In other words, I can't ignore NS when I want to listen to CSX.
Finally, I have noticed with app in one hand and a real scanner in the other that there can be delays up to 4 to 5 minutes from the time a broadcast is made until it is repeated through the app. That can make a big difference if you're trying to chase a train.
As such, you can't tune your smartphone/tablet into Channel ARR 36 or whatever it is, as that frequency/channel is used in multiple locations across the country.
Instead, apps like railradio.net (which doesn't need a separate app) as mentioned above, or Tunein Radio (app) allow you to search for a feed. For instance, on Tuniein Radio, I can do a search for CSX Savannah which gives me a channel for CSX and NS Reailroad in the greater Savannah area. Again, there has to be someone with committed bandwidth receiving the on-air transmissions and upstreaming it to the internet. In the case of my local channel, it scans through several channels like a real scanner. Only difference is that when the land based scanner squelches out, IT stays on that channel until it times out and you can't do anything about it (like over ride or stick to a single channel on a personal radio scanner). In other words, I can't ignore NS when I want to listen to CSX.
Finally, I have noticed with app in one hand and a real scanner in the other that there can be delays up to 4 to 5 minutes from the time a broadcast is made until it is repeated through the app. That can make a big difference if you're trying to chase a train.
G
guest_OP
Guest
I downloaded tunein radio but don't see any vhf/public service options, only commercial/public radio and podcasts... How do you get it to function with scanner feeds?
Ryan
Court Jester
When browsing, I go to "Local Radio", then scroll past all the FM stations, then past all of the AM stations, and into the "internet only" section. Keep on going and you'll find a bunch of scanner feeds.
There's probably an easier way.
There's probably an easier way.
It is easiest to use the search function. Type CSX or BNSF abd see what comes up.
Where do you want to listen to, and what road?
Again, VHF is an airwave function. You can't tune into a frequency because your smartphone it's probably not a radio, and the internet doesn't care where you are and a particular frequency or channel is very local and carries different broadcasts in different parts of the country.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using the Android Amtrak Forums mobile app
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Karin Snyder
Guest
We're taking the Amtrak Coast Starlight in a couple of weeks and want to listen in on the radio chatter coming from/to our engine crew. From what I hear wifi isn't so great but I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 that can read just about anything except minds! Anyapps for this? I saw a YouTube where a guy bought a handheld scanner radio but i'm not too keen on the idea of buying one. Any ideas?
Ryan
Court Jester
Not really. Your phone doesn't have the hardware to listen directly. There are scanner apps out there, but the listen to internet streams of scanners other people set up and connect to the internet.
Good for listening to things that done move, but they don't really work for listening to a train as it moves.
Sent from my iPhone
Good for listening to things that done move, but they don't really work for listening to a train as it moves.
Sent from my iPhone
For any train trip, an actual scanner will be needed, not a scanner app for a smart phone. Scanner feeds are set up and cover various areas but not everything. It wont be continuous coverage as you travel. I listened to a local feed here at the same time and noticed a significant delay between the actual transmission and when I heard it via the feed. All that said, you can monitor railroad communications with an inexpensive "NASCAR Type" scanner.
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Ryan
Court Jester
I think you meant "inexpensive"?
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
As said by others, an actual scanner allows real time listening of conversations between the operating crew. I've also found that programming the "station services" channels or channels used by Amtrak Station Masters can provide useful information. For instance, at NYP I was able to hear what track the Palmetto was going to be on well before it came up on the departure monitor allowing me to get ahead of the crowd. We had a delayed boarding of the Capitol Limited and was able to hear the details as to what was causing the delay and when boarding would occur.
MattW
Conductor
Actually, there is a way to use your smartphone as a direct scanner. First, you need a ~$30 DVB stick. If you Google rtl-SDR you'll find a site (something osmocom) that talks about the hardware and how to get it to work on your computer. To get it to work on your phone, you need an OTG adapter, these are usually used for hooking up keyboards or mice to phones and tablets. You'll also need the RTL232 driver from the Play store, not sure if there's a version for iPhone. You'll also need an app that can use the driver to receive audio. A free one is SDR Touch, but there's a paid version for ~$10. In theory, just the free apps should allow you to listen to railroad communications, I have not tested this yet, but I have tested my setup against a known FM broadcast station and weather radio station and it worked. The Terratec stick I use uses a nonstandard antenna connector (for the U.S.) so I haven't built a more compact mobile antenna yet for it yet for use with railroad frequencies. The usual disclaimer of liability for scanner laws, phone warranty, etc. applies here.
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Yea, just saw that, LOL! Fixed it!
There used to be an optional accessory for some older non-smart cellphones, an earphone with a built in FM radio receiver and tuner...I wonder if there could be something similar that would let you use your phone as a mutiband receiver/scanner....something that would be easier than what you have described?
MattW
Conductor
I think they still make them for smartphones. So it does sound more feasible from a technical sense, but I know of none right off hand that will tune outside the broadcast frequencies.
K
Karin Snyder
Guest
Thanks for the ideas. Now what do you think of this? http://www.amazon.com/Uniden-Handheld-Scanner-Black-BC75XLT/dp/B00A1VSO9M/ref=sr_1_4?s=security-surveillance&ie=UTF8&qid=1399845264&sr=1-4&keywords=hand+held+scanner+radio
Ryan
Court Jester
I have one very similar. Very nice.
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