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  • Radio Skip Story

  • Discussion related to railroad radio frequencies, railroad communication practices, equipment, and more.
Discussion related to railroad radio frequencies, railroad communication practices, equipment, and more.

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #691037  by RDGTRANSMUSEUM
 
In the early 1990's,we were bringing a train in from greenville,nj to oak island /newark yards when the south phila,pa. yardmaster was heard on the radio. at the time the locomotives were in the middle of the bay bridge. also running the old east penn railroad,you would pick up the buffalo line dispatcher around topton or alburtis,pa.
 #804884  by dummy
 
well, im not sure if this was "skip" i was hearing but every once in a while early in the mornings, usually sunday mornings i can hear portable radios along the north side of lake ontario but only canadian pacific. no canadian national. and can also hear all the detectors along both lines. im about 5 miles south of the lake west of rochester about 30 miles. use an old programable bearcat with a traintenna about 50 ft. in the air.
 #804933  by EdM
 
...dummy
THERE IS pretty good connection between propagation caused by high humidity and
VHF.. The humidity from the lake is probably the cause... Elsie Kay
 #844392  by lakeshoredave
 
last night on i-90 i was hearing stuff from buffalo, east of buffalo, and from canada easily out near erie, pa. i picked up the lancaster, ny detector on csx from brocton, ny.
 #862666  by Puter-Geek
 
I was on a train in Rotterdam Junction, NY, and I could hear the NA train dispatcher talking a train though CP 23.
 #863039  by trainwreck
 
I was dispatching a line and I heard someone talking a train by a one of my signals, almost. It caught me by surprise. Turned out to be a different control point (by about two letters). Catching me unaware, it made me jump as I had a train closing in on that control point. The dispatching equivalent of "big holeing" happened just then.
 #871196  by lakeshoredave
 
yesterday around mp 11 on the csx west of buffalo, i picked up the cn dispatcher talking to cn train 581 near london. i also heard the ns toledo west dispatcher and the csx ih dispatcher near erie, pa.
 #885227  by cbehr91
 
The lake causes some radio signals, especially VHF, to go haywire sometimes. Somebody with more radio knowledge can tell you why. I don't know whether it's skip or good propagation or atmospheric conditions or what, it may very well be a combination of all those factors.
 #885241  by EdM
 
Not a simple topic.... There is "ground wave" propagation and "sky wave" propagation. "Sky wave" (skip) propagation involves different frequencies and different layers of the ionosphere, sunspots, solar wind,meterior trails, aurora, and not a little black majic or Kentucky Windage. These topics are covered in non professional terms for the non-professional quite well by "The Radio Amateurs Handbook" published by the American Radio Relay League, Newington,Ct, available in most if not all libraries... This handbook is issued yearly, but doesn't vary much from year to year, so if you can grab an old one, go for it.... Elsie Kay...
 #956594  by lakeshoredave
 
this is from a few weeks ago on a friday:

i was hearing stuff like crazy on friday afternoon. at mp 69 on csx by state line pa/ny at mcdonalds, i was hearing trains and dispatchers from buffalo on both csx and ns. i heard the csx detector at mp 42.6 in dunkirk, ny a couple times too. on i-90 at brocton, ny i heard the mp 132.5 detector on csx. brocton is mp 49 or so on csx. then around cp-23 while driving on route 5 i heard csx m/w clearly around cp-124 along with the ih dispatcher. also during that time period i heard ashtabula harbor yard trying to call the ns youngstown line dispatcher on 160.800. i also could hear the ns youngstown line dispatcher literally from buffalo, ny to cleveland, oh the entire day!
 #1064858  by lakeshoredave
 
this past week these were some of the radio skips i got from buffalo, ny:

the radio skips were flying tonight. in buffalo on csx i was hearing stuff from ashtabula, ohio and erie, pa very easily. also heard the ns down near conneaut, ohio. i even heard foreman keppel talking to the ih ds cancelling his ec-1 between 128 and 113.
 #1066197  by Gunsnclapton
 
Saturday and Sunday, I was hearing some CSX dispatcher from down around Washington DC. He was hitting our repeater in Scranton PA.
 #1066252  by EdM
 
JULY & AUG...it is that time of year... Those (RR) frequencies can be good for 1000 miles, tho normally takes a little more power. Heat and humidity can easily yield 100-300 miles... Elsie Kay
 #1067788  by lakeshoredave
 
I was getting some nice skips on i-90 this afternoon. Heard stuff from Buffalo all the way to Erie, Pa. When I was on top of the hill on I-90 around State Line I clearly heard Amtrak making his station stop at Exchange Street in Buffalo.
 #1077842  by lakeshoredave
 
i was hearing the csx ih ds between ashtabula and cleveland last night from buffalo. there was a grade crossing protection at lane road in painesville, qd 149.6