I have been looking at handheld scanners and I was wondering are analog scanners still OK for rail fanning, or have they gone digital like the police have in many areas?
Any recommendations for a handheld scanner?
Thanks
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Railroads have not gone to digital although they did go to narrow band about 10 years ago so almost any scanner will work.
The railroad band is in the 160 to 162 MHz area, which is the VHF band. As Rick said, almost any reputable brand scanner (Kenwood, Motorola, Uniden, etc.) will work. Stay away from the off-brands, though. Their receiver sensitivity is often pretty bad, thus limiting your range.
The best thing for increased range is a good antenna. If you’re going to use it in a car, an external antenna is a must.
@Rick Rubino posted:Railroads have not gone to digital although they did go to narrow band about 10 years ago so almost any scanner will work.
Sounds like they maybe should go to encrypted digital communications with all the crap that's going on in the world today!
When I retired two years ago digital radios were on the to do list for railroads and original target date was 2025, but the major expense the railroads have had to install all the automatic train control systems that were mandated has pushed things even farther into the future . the class one railroads and even the the smaller regionals like I worked for are turning to tablets to take track warrants and the like. not much that is said on the radio is of any any value (calling signals on the main and car counts when switching. the next phase of ATC is coming up in a few years and will affect more of the smaller carriers it costs about $750.000 to equip a locomotive with ATC . digital radios would be a big expense and the transition would be costly and a nightmare to do as every railroad would have to be changing over at once. we were at the same stage 15 years ago with ATC as there was a mandate to do it but no common system to do it with across all the railroads. it got sorted out and still has some hangups but the benefits far outway them.
The Uniden/Bearcat line of scanners is very popular and reasonably priced but--as stated by commenters above--having the right antenna is so important. Everything depends on the distance you expect to be from the source (e.g. station, yard, track) and if you are doing this from the home (base station), from the auto, or on the train (mobile/handhelds).
All good points Rick, I just hope they don't use radio communication for any truly safety-related purposes.
