Hi there,
With the staged introduction of digital radios being used in the railways today and improved phone network encouraging communication to occur via mobile phone; I am just interested to find out how much communication a analogue scanner will pick up in the year 2012?

Is 450.050 - the only frequency used out on the minlines?
If trains are passing by in loops, is there a 'local' channel used to communicate beween the two trains other then 450.050?  


Has CityRail gone digital yet?


Cheers.

450.050 is still the NSW local (often referred to as WB) channel.

Thanks for that Dave. I'll keep that frequency locked in, can't seem to pickup much else on the scanner.

I did however pick up a little activity during a shunt/yard work today on the frequency: 418.800.

I guess it depends on the location. Each town/rail yard may have their own frequency, to use rather then the WB channel?

Cheers

You can look up the ACMA website and search by company names for the references assigned to them. Pacific National etc... Might help a bit?

You can look up the ACMA website and search by company names for the references assigned to them. Pacific National etc... Might help a bit?

Thanks for your reply.
Yes the ACMA website is a very useful reference point, which I have put to test over the last  week with some success.
However some frequencies listed at various locations are misleading due to reasons mentioned in this thread:
http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11348408.htm


I guess the question is, nowadays how much do train crews use their train radios at times other then shunting and roll by calls?

I know crews can communicate with main ARTC control locations via mobile/satellite phone and in some more modern cases, trains equiped with  'ICE' radios can receive train orders in text form rather then verbal communication (if i'm not mistaken).

You can look up the ACMA website and search by company names for the references assigned to them. Pacific National etc... Might help a bit?

Thanks for your reply. Yes the ACMA website is a very useful reference point, which I have put to test over the last  week with some success. However some frequencies listed at various locations are misleading due to reasons mentioned in this thread: http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11348408.htm I guess the question is, nowadays how much do train crews use their train radios at times other then shunting and roll by calls? I know crews can communicate with main ARTC control locations via mobile/satellite phone and in some more modern cases, trains equiped with  'ICE' radios can receive train orders in text form rather then verbal communication (if i'm not mistaken).

Speaking from a purely NSW point of view, roll bys and loco to loco communications generally occur on WB. Due to changes in CRN, Railcorp & ARTC area and responsibilities, the use of WB to shunt both on and off the mainline is changing, therefore practically the number of transmission on WB will drop. The use of ICE is largely confined to Train Control. And while the loss of the information gleemed from this previously available source (Countrynet) is annoying, there are other rail operations that can be monitored. You have alluded to one - yards.

While I did mention the assigning of parked frequencies at various locations is a bit of a red herring when searching for activity, the best way to determine what is what at a given site, is search all the railway frequencies assigned to a location via the ACMA website. This is rather than going through all the operators. You can by a process of elimination work out the frequencies used at your redetermined spot. Now the catch, this type of search will not show the frequencies for the small operators that may visit locations on an ad hoc basis. You best do a name search, then monitor their frequencies, irrespective of the location nominated on the licence. Most operators are largely ignorant of areas of radio operation, therefore tend to use their frequency assignments where and when they choose.

Without sounding rude, it means having to do some detective work, rather than relying on forums like this. The main reason is that operators will use other operators frequencies despite the fact they are not licenced for them. Again the thought mechanisim is "it is a railway channel, we are the railway therefore we can use it." I have knowledge of this happening with even the biggest of NSW rail operators. As I have said before, most scanners have a search function - use it.


Railscan

I can add a bit of information here, and while this has mainly been obtained by scanning in the Goulburn area, some of it would apply elsewhere in NSW.

ARTC track workers here use either the digital GRN (talk group ID's 11376, 11377) or analogue simplex radio on 450.2125 MHz.  It would take me too long to explain how to set up a digital scanner to monitor the GRN, but as advised above, search for your local GRN frequencies via the ACMA database.  These will be listed as belonging to the Department of Finance and Services, and are usually between 415 and 425 MHz.

CFCLA here use 450.425 MHz simplex analogue radio as their shunting frequency for the local workshops, now known as the Australian Horsepower Service Centre (AHSC).

There is also occasional general shunting-related talk on 418.800 MHz analogue, mostly (I think) PN workers shunting in the yard.

WB radio is still used here quite a bit, and trains often still call each other complete upon passing.  Junee control used to be active in Goulburn on WB to talk to drivers, but now they hardly ever (if at all) respond to requests by drivers on this frequency.  I can only assume that drivers, and other workers, now have to call Junee either by mobile phone or ICE/CountryNet radio, depending on which radio is fitted to the locomotive in question.