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Tips for Beginner Railscanners
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Introduction

First of all, I should re-iterate that I am by no means an expert or an authority on the topic. My suggestions are merely that - suggestions. If you have anything First of all, I should re-iterate that I am by no means an expert or an authority on the topic. My suggestions are merely that - suggestions. If you have something that you want to add to what I have here, by all means e-mail me and I'll do my best to add to/change what I have here to better serve the people who read the site. It doesn't matter if you are a photographer, a modeler, a scanner or just a fan - trainwatching is an interesting hobby and a great way to spend your time. Most (if not all) of hobbyists are friendly and helpful, and can answer most of the questions you may have. Don't be afraid to strike up a conversation with someone trackside, and don't be afraid to ask questions!

And remember, the internet is always a VALUABLE source for information!


Step one - Getting a Scanner (easier than you may think!)

Fortunately, railway operations generally occur in the 160 MHz band of the radio frequency spectrum, so getting the right kind of scanner shouldn't prove difficult. Any scanner from any era should be able to pick up all of the frequencies that you might need.

First, you need to assess what your financial situation is: what can you afford? New or used? How many channels? What about coverage? Antenna? Other uses? Typically, the best bet for new users are Radio Shack scanners. I started out with a 10-memory Pro-42 I found at Cash Converters. It fit my needs quite well, and eventually moved up in price range and complexity. Scanners usually come in four flavors: 

Handheld	Mobile (car based	Base (tabletop)	Computer Based (plug and play!)

                    
For railroad listening, I strongly suggest a handheld scanner. All will work, but the handheld is the most versatile. You can't take any of the other three with you trackside with any ease. Nothing is handier than clipping it to your belt and let the trains whiz by! But its all personal preference. If you do all of your trainspotting in a car, a mobile might be the better choice - but you can't take it inside with you. Having an unlimited power supply such as AC or your car's battery is great, but there are options for handhelds, such as cigar lighter adapters, rechargeable batteries, etc.

You should decide off the bat if you want a new or used scanner. Unless the previous owner bashed the hell out of it, a used scanner is just as good as a new one. Cash Converters has a constantly changing stock of used scanners around $100. Be careful, though - I've been screwed by CC on more than one occasion - make sure you examine it thoroughly! Most Cash Converters have a test bench, so you can make sure that you just didn't spend $100 on a piece of shite that isn't going to work two seconds after you bring it home. Also, note that Cash Converters usually gets their stock sans manuals,  so expect a lot of 'figuring it out for yourself'. If you aren't into that, you can usually find manuals on the net. If used isn't your cuppa, then by all means go new. Check out the "Scanner Reviews" page for some information on more popular scanners. In my opinion, the best scanner for beginners is the Realistic Pro-29. Its the one pitcured on the left. You can get them new or used, they are still a quality scanner. New ones list for about $240, but I've seen them used at Cash Converters for around $100. 

Step Two - Programming your scanner

Scanners come in all sorts of different flavours. Some with lots of memories, some with faster scan speeds, others with completely different ideas on what 'scanning' is..!

This is a general explanation, but if you took my advice and got a Realistic or Uniden scanner, then the concepts should be the same! I'm using my ancient Pro-42 as a model. Its simple, its old, but its pretty typical. Most of the descriptions here, again, refer mainly to Uniden and Radio Shack scanners. Your scanner may vary!


1. Top of scanner

First, lets take a quick look at the controls of your scanner. Experienced people might want to skip this part.
The first knob on the left is the volume/power knob. Obviously, it turns the scanner on and off, and also controls the volume.

The second knob is the squelch control. Squelch mutes the speaker until it receives a strong enough signal. You control the sensitivity of this barrier using the squelch knob. All of the way to 'min' effectively turns off the squelch, and you hear EVERYTHING on a particular frequency (static, noise, etc.). Opening the squelch also renders the scan feature of the unit useless. Its best to open the squelch up, and then turn it until just after the speaker mutes.

The EAR port is for earphones or an external antenna.

The ANT port is for the antenna. Scanners need an external antenna to receive signals.

2. Programming your scanner & the Keypad

The keypad is the most important part of your scanner. It is the 'interface' between the user and the hardware. Some scanners have lots of buttons (the Alinco DJ-X10 for example) and some have only a few (the Icom R2). No matter, the buttons are used to control the function and operation of the scanner. 

Most scanners have a numberpad on the front of the scanner, each corresponding to a number. This makes programming your frequencies a breeze.
A lot of older scanners, such as the Pro-42 here, only have a few channels, or freuquency memories. THis particular one only has ten. Most scanners today have over 50 - some over 500, some have thousands! PC based ones have virtually unlimited amounts of frequencies they can store. Typically, ones with over 10 channels have their memories separated into 'banks'. 100 channel scanners usually are separated into 10 banks of 10 frequencies. This is a handy way to organize your scanning life. You might put CN's frequencies into bank one, CP into bank two, yard frequencies into bank three, and so on. While the radio is scanning, a simple press of the keypad's numbers will activate or deactivate the corresponding bank. Very handy! How you organize it is totally up to you.

Scanners differ on how to program frequencies - you will have to consult your manual. Some scanners have a 'PGM' key, others have an 'ENTER' or 'E' key to enter it in. Typically, you bring up the channel number you want to program, enter your frequency in, and press 'PGM', 'ENTER', 'E' or whatever your scanner has. Its that simple! When you have all of the frequencies entered in, press "scan" to start scanning. The scanner will now cycle through the programmed frequencies until it reaches an 'open' frequency, one that someone is transmitting on. When the person stops transmitting, the scanner will resume scanning. Note the Squelch control MUST be set in order for the radio to scan!

Other buttons on the scanner can include lock-out, delay, keylock and light. 

LOCKOUT: Excludes frequencies from the scan
DELAY: Delays the time between when a frequency closes, and the scan resumes
KEYLOCK: Locks out keypad, so accidental keypresses don't interrupt the scan
LIGHT: Activates the LCD display's backlight - handy for night use

Different scanners have different functions, you're best to consult the manual. 

Step Three - Listening in on the action! 

So you've got a scanner, its all programmed up, and you're itching to use it! Where to go, now?

First, some background one Railroad operations. A lot of this can be found in the Operations section off of the main page.

First, you hear all sorts of talk about Conventional & Trunked systems, CTCSS tones, EDACS, tone squelch, repeaters, offsets, etc. They are all big words, but you'll be pleased to know that railroad radio is VERY simple to listen to. Railroad radio is a typical 'one at a time' radio system, in that both parties communicating use the same frequency one at a time to communicate. One party transmits, says 'over', released the PTT ("Press to Talk") button on their radio, and the next person communicates when the system is clear. 

Normal railroad communications take place on 97 AAR (Association of American Railroads) frequencies located in the VHF band, ranging from 160.110 MHz to 161.565 MHz (15 KHz increments). Railroads across North America use these frequencies. As well, a train's EOT (End of Train) devices operate on two specifically designated frequencies: 452.9375MHz and 454.9375 MHz. Activity on these frequencies consist of short data bursts (sometimes called "squawks"), as the box at the end of the train communicates with computers in the locomotive, relaying everything from rear-end brake pressure, the speed of the rear of the train, etc. These are very handy for the train watcher, because they give you some advance warning of an oncoming train (usually 1 kilometer). 

Canadian Railroads don't use all of these frequencies - each railroad is allocated specific channels by the AAR. 


Transmissions on area railroads consist mainly of voice communications. Some voices are human, but some are actually automated recordings. Hot Box detectors are trackside devices that scan a passing train's wheels, looking for unusually hot bearings. A 'hot box' occurs when the journal bearings in the wheel wear out, and the natural friction superheats the bearings, causing copious amounts of noxious smelling smoke, and fire-causing sparks. When a train passes by, the detector counts the axels and the heat generated by them. If all is clear, you will hear the detector come onto the air to tell the crew the location of the unit (subdivision and mileage), what track the train was on, and that everything was fine. CN detectors sound like this:

"CN Detector. Halton. one-eight. South Track. No Alarms."

CP Detectors are a bit more wordy and speak like a highly corrective Kindergarten teacher

"CP Detector. Mile one-naught-six, Galt Sub - South Track. Total axles four-six-nine. No Alarms.  Repeat, Mile one-naught-six Galt Sub South Track. Total axles four-six-nine. No Alarms. Message Complete, Detector Out."

Both voices are male. Out west, where they felt the detectors were taking up too much radio traffic, CP decided to speed up the detector's voice, and it sounds more like a chipmunk than a human.

Other 'automated voices' you might hear are remote control locomotives. In larger yards (Such as CP's Toronto Yard in Agincourt, between McCowan and Markham road), some in-yard locomotive sets are remote controlled. You can tell them by the flashing red and pink lights on the units (and the white antennas outisde the windows). The work set in the west end of the yard consist of two old high-nose units and an ancient SW1200 with boarded up windows. These 'talking' locomotives usually tell the operator (operating from a beltpack in the yard), the status of the locomotive.

CP ONE-SIX-THREE-THREE! BRAKES RELEASED! ROLLBACK PROTECTION ENGAGED! ONE-SIX-THREE-THREE OUT! (or something like that)


Thats about it! You should be ready to get in on the action! Go to the frequencies page to get some frequencies for your area!