Railroad Forums 

  • Beeps and Rings

  • 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

 #287601  by trevor macpherson
 
Hey I have heard on my scanner and ive heard this several times on others. Its a type of beep and ring. It goes Beep Beep.......Ring Ring Ring. What is that??? Ive been thinking its either a EOT device or a Defect Detector. Could anybody tell me what this is??? And im not by any yard. Just by the CP/D&H line from binghamton to oneonta.

 #287611  by UPRR engineer
 
Not 100% sure, but someone might be ringing up the dispatcher. The first tones are the crew pushing the numbers on the radio, the later beeps are the dispatcher letting the crew know he acknowledged there call. Once he gets done doing what hes doing at the moment, (on the phone, kicking CAD) he'll get on the radio and answer there call.

 #287614  by trevor macpherson
 
Hmmm maybe....

 #287888  by emd_SD_60
 
When I was last out over on the Chester Sub I had the fortune to hear the maintenance of way mobile telephone in use... sweet. Every few second's i'd hear beeps and nothing else. I was using the "rubber duckie" on it, that was prolly why. I moved down the tracks south about a half a mile and heard the conversation clear as a bell.

 #360129  by scharnhorst
 
In my area we get a Moorse code tap thats transmitted out fo less than a 30 secend spat over the CSX (Former Conrail) MOW Channel as well as the sound of a dile tone followed by the normal tone that you would here when holding a phone to your ear. All these tones played on Conrail for years and still go off on CSX and parts of Norfolk Southern here in New York State. All go off at reguler half hour to 1 hour intervols and more ofton during the summer months.

The CSX /Fomer CR road channels mostley play a long C Sharp Tone which lasts about 5 seconds. which go off every hour on the hour.
 #699002  by locomotiveman1225
 
Its how the Train calls the Dispatch, You will notice if your on a different line it will sound a bit different. Then when the Dispatch answers you will hear another "Beep".

Re:

 #699015  by Ken W2KB
 
scharnhorst wrote:In my area we get a Moorse code tap thats transmitted out fo less than a 30 secend spat over the CSX (Former Conrail) MOW Channel as well as the sound of a dile tone followed by the normal tone that you would here when holding a phone to your ear. All these tones played on Conrail for years and still go off on CSX and parts of Norfolk Southern here in New York State. All go off at reguler half hour to 1 hour intervols and more ofton during the summer months.

The CSX /Fomer CR road channels mostley play a long C Sharp Tone which lasts about 5 seconds. which go off every hour on the hour.
Morse code probably is the identification (callsign) transmission for the transmitter.
 #700722  by C. J. Brooks
 
The crew will press some of the buttons on the radio (same buttons as you'd find on a telephone) to key up the dispatcher. On CP, the "beep beep" is acknowledging that the closest radio base (what the dispatcher uses to talk to the trains) heard the train key it up, and the three "rings" confirms that the dispatcher got the message. Occasionally, if the dispatcher doesn't get the message for some reason, you'll hear some erratic sounds (sort of like a busy signal on a phone). This is just CP, mind you, though CN's procedures to key up the dispatcher are just as complex. On most railroads, you just hit a few buttons, and it'll beep one time, acknowledging that the base heard it and it was passed along to the dispatcher - no potentially "rejecting" it like the CP (as I explained above). To put it all simply, anywhere you are, these beeps and tones simply means someone, somewhere wants to talk to the dispatcher.
 #701005  by Plate F
 
This is what an EOT sounds like.

I've also heard this over a RR channel, but I think it may be my scanner catching a similar frequency from the police.

I will try to catch a crew keying up the dispatcher. If I do, I'll let you know.
 #701128  by scharnhorst
 
Plate F wrote:This is what an EOT sounds like.

I've also heard this over a RR channel, but I think it may be my scanner catching a similar frequency from the police.

I will try to catch a crew keying up the dispatcher. If I do, I'll let you know.
The 2ed sound that you have recorded seems to be more common in and around railroad Yards. I here in the Syracuse, NY area and on the MOW channels Sometimes it jams the radio for 30 seconds or longer before releaseing the channel.
 #701205  by Ken W2KB
 
scharnhorst wrote:
Plate F wrote:This is what an EOT sounds like.

I've also heard this over a RR channel, but I think it may be my scanner catching a similar frequency from the police.

I will try to catch a crew keying up the dispatcher. If I do, I'll let you know.
The 2ed sound that you have recorded seems to be more common in and around railroad Yards. I here in the Syracuse, NY area and on the MOW channels Sometimes it jams the radio for 30 seconds or longer before releaseing the channel.
The second one sounds like either (1) intermodulation products or (2) fundamental overload of the receiver front end. Intermodulation is when two or more signals mix in a receiver, and the difference is one one the intermediate frequencies (IF) in the receiver, so that is detected. Fundamental overload is from a very strong transmission on a different frequency from that set in the receiver, often from a pager transmitter but can be from a voice or data one also, overdriving the receiver input circuitry. Not easy to explain these without a lot of detail on how receivers function.
 #701286  by scharnhorst
 
Ken W2KB wrote:
scharnhorst wrote:
Plate F wrote:This is what an EOT sounds like.

I've also heard this over a RR channel, but I think it may be my scanner catching a similar frequency from the police.

I will try to catch a crew keying up the dispatcher. If I do, I'll let you know.
The 2ed sound that you have recorded seems to be more common in and around railroad Yards. I here in the Syracuse, NY area and on the MOW channels Sometimes it jams the radio for 30 seconds or longer before releaseing the channel.
The second one sounds like either (1) intermodulation products or (2) fundamental overload of the receiver front end. Intermodulation is when two or more signals mix in a receiver, and the difference is one one the intermediate frequencies (IF) in the receiver, so that is detected. Fundamental overload is from a very strong transmission on a different frequency from that set in the receiver, often from a pager transmitter but can be from a voice or data one also, overdriving the receiver input circuitry. Not easy to explain these without a lot of detail on how receivers function.
in laymans turms it means what? to many people keying up at one time on one frequency overloading the receiver?? and or a stonger signal overloading something?
 #701384  by Ken W2KB
 
scharnhorst wrote:in laymans turms it means what? to many people keying up at one time on one frequency overloading the receiver?? and or a stonger signal overloading something?
Intermod is typically two or more signals mixing in the receiver, fundamental overload can be one or more strong transmitted signals or m
 #701509  by Plate F
 
That was a city police transmission captured on a railroad frequency with the interference tone. So what happened was that the police signal was too strong and pried into the railroad frequency? But why is it only on THAT particular frequency I ever hear the noise or even the wrong broadcast for that fact?
 #701600  by Ken W2KB
 
Plate F wrote:That was a city police transmission captured on a railroad frequency with the interference tone. So what happened was that the police signal was too strong and pried into the railroad frequency? But why is it only on THAT particular frequency I ever hear the noise or even the wrong broadcast for that fact?
The police transmitter frequency is mixing in a receiver. It may be the fundamental, or a harmonic, or even a spurious output (if the latter, the police transmitter is in violation of FCC regs and needs repairs). Harmonics are multiples of the fundamental frequencies. With the receiver's intermediate frequencies (IF) known, and the police frequency known, and the railroad frequency it may be possible to mathematically calculate how this is happening. It is quite common, and scanners are particularly susceptible to interference due to their wide frequency coverage.

Here's a commercial site that has some info on the phenomenon: http://www.lbagroup.com/associates/intfaq.php