Has NS gone to NarrowBand on radios yet?

[troy12n]

Anyone know if they have, and if so, what frequencies have changed. Also, anyone know what NS and CSX's plans are for this and how it will affect us?

[cmherndon]

Anyone know if they have

Some operating divisions have converted or are in the process of converting over to narrowband.  With a 20,000+ mile system, this is the kind of thing that can't be done overnight.   if I remember correctly, radios manufactured since at least 2005 must be narrowband capable.  The conversion will be simple for new locomotives, but not so much for base stations, older locomotives, defect detectors, etc.

The following link from the AAR gives the schedule for each railroad.

https://www.aar.com/aar_rf_ms_Filter.php

Also, anyone know what NS and CSX's plans are for this

Both are converting operating divisions over a little at a time. CSX's CC Subdivision (which runs less than 200' from my house) has already converted, but the road and dispatcher frequencies have not changed.

how it will affect us?

Well, contrary to popular belief, railfanning Armageddon will not happen with the change.  If you have a radio that is capable of tuning in 5 kHz steps, you should be OK.  A lot of the new frequencies won't be exact at a 5 kHz step, but you'll still be able to pick them up because of frequency deviation.  If you can find a radio that will tune in 2.5 kHz steps, you'll be able to listen on the exact frequency.

[Fly Device]

Ok, I went to that website and it appears that some of the places I railfan have switched over. Is there a good resource on the net which shows what the new frequencies are?

I've heard from several sources that most frequencies in use aren't going to change as a result of the transition. The road and dispatcher channels will generally stay on the same frequencies with the radios simply using narrowband modulation. You will still be able to receive the narrowband transmissions but with the negative effects of reduced range and lower speaker volume (a narrow-band capable radio will not suffer from the reduced volume and may alleviate the reduced range somewhat).

The narrowbanding will create so-called splinter channels in between the existing frequencies. Some wideband-only radios will not be able to tune to some of the splinter channels, but the good news is those will only tend to be used for more obscure purposes like yard and shop channels.

This page gives an overview of the changes and has a table with the frequencies of the new splinter channels, designated by channel numbers greater than 100. The 12.5 kHz plan is what they're in the process of implementing right now in advance of the 1 Jan 2013 deadline.

http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_rrfreqs_newplan.html

[Ptrainman]

The channels are going to change eventually, but all radios had to be narrow band compliant by this year. I am not sure why this is either, my guess. Is it is getting every body ready ffor the next step down in a couple years.



Paul

[cmherndon]

The reason why I ask is I was out last weekend and I couldnt hear road channels (CSX) unless I was RIGHT up on them, but could hear the dispatcher channels like normal.

I attribute that to two things: Crappy CSX radios and the use of a scanner.  Scanners do not receive nearly as well as amateur and commercial radios since they are tuned to receive on a very wide range of frequencies. Also, the narrowband radios transmit at a lower power to help prevent over-deviation.  With a 7.5 kHz channel step, deviation can be a big problem.

The channels are going to change eventually, but all radios had to be narrow band compliant by this year. I am not sure why this is either, my guess. Is it is getting every body ready ffor the next step down in a couple years.

Before too long, we'll start hearing about conversion digital radios.  Those will be capable of even narrower channel steps.  Migrating to analog narrowband is just the first step towards an eventual move to digital.

[Fly Device]

Ok, i'm not sure I get what you are saying. If the frequencies for the main road/dispatchers are not changing, why exactly do they need to replace the radio units? And what exactly does a narrowband capable radio do differently on one of the existing frequencies we use today? It's still analog VHF communications.

The nominal reason is to permit use of more channels within a given piece of radio spectrum. The real reason is the radio manufacturers wanted to spur a tremendous demand for new equipment and so pushed the FCC to mandate these changes, which will affect (or have affected) virtually all industries as well as public safety.

In the frequency table I linked to earlier, notice that the new AAR channel 132 has a frequency that falls halfway between existing AAR channels 32 and 33 (designated 032 and 033 under the new plan). If all parties' radios are configured for narrowband, channels 032 and 132 can be used simultaneously within RF range, in theory without any interference between the two. On the other hand if you tried to use the same two frequencies on radios configured for wideband, transmissions on the two channels would walk each other.

Bottom line is the railroads will have approximately 200 channels to work with instead of approximately 100, yet still remain within the range 160.1775 to 161.5725 MHz. No, they probably didn't need the extra channels, but Motorola, Kenwood, etc. needed to sell radios.

[bierbass]

Thought the reason was to free up more bandwidth for all wireless and internet communications.

[NSMoWandS]

Yet, with everyone switching to mobile internet... I am sure those bandwidths will be jammed up almost as son as they are activated... then the government will have to find something else to F**K with.