Back to Basics 3 Part 2: Radios

Continuing the radios video, we talk about some of the specific channels you'll be listening to and listen to some examples of radio traffic.
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[@Falcon163]

Thanks for another great video!! I’m enjoying this series btw bonus points for having journey on lol. I often listen to 160.770 which is the St croix sub for CPKC sometimes it’s comical what’said on there.

[@northeasternilrailfan6421]

Thanks for watching! Especially on some Amtrak lines, the crews enjoy their jobs way too much which makes it fun to listen to for sure.

[@giovannidelacruz6893]

For the UP Commuter Control out of Chicago, I think it's local. Mostly for sending messages to 1st responders and relay delays to Metra's dispatch for their social media alerts.

[@osm_railfan]

Very informative, and great video! I'm from the Dallas-Fort Worth area so unfortunately I rarely hear symbols over the air...
Do you have any tips for setting up an external antenna, say on the roof? Looking into an inexpensive yet trustworthy option so I can nab some symbols here at my residence.

[@northeasternilrailfan6421]

It depends on how far away you want to hear and how much you want it to look like a spaceship landed on your roof. I know people that swear by the DPD Productions traintenna but personally I’ve never used one so I can’t vouch. I have used other antennas from them though and they make good products, my current antenna is a Omni X from them which works pretty well and also covers all the public safety and aviation stuff. You can also get a kit to turn a mobile antenna into a base antenna. I like that approach because you can easily swap out the antenna and it’s a little lower profile than a giant fiberglass whip sticking up. If you’re only wanting to monitor the railroads then go with something specific to the RR band, it will work better than something wideband like a discone. And of course make sure you check your local regulations about whether you can put an antenna outside and ground it properly and all that fun stuff. And don’t cheap out on the cable either: you don’t necessarily need LMR-400 or Heliax, but you don’t want to get a great antenna only to lose all the signal you gained in the cable.

[@Julio-wf8go]

P R O M O S M 🤗