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"Scanner Help"

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RAILDOG (84 posts)
Mar-19-02, 06:01 PM (EST) "Scanner Help" Ok I have A scanner Question? I have the railroad frequency in it Which is 161.4150 {BNSF's THAYER SUB From springfield,MO to MEMPHIS,TN}We'll the main question is I cannot get the mileposts like BNSF DETECTOR MILEPOST 314.7 get the idea? The scanner is a UNIDEN BEARCAT ModelBC60XLT-1 little 30 channel any help would be appreciated.THANX Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Scanner Help AlabamaRailfan Mar-19-02 1 RE: Scanner Help RAILDOG Mar-19-02 2 RE: Scanner Help Nels_Anderson Mar-21-02 3 RE: Scanner Help rockisland Mar-21-02 4 RE: Scanner Help ebtnut Mar-29-02 5

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AlabamaRailfan (227 posts)
Mar-19-02, 06:42 PM (EST) 1. "RE: Scanner Help" Hey Raildog!
The number one I can think of to help most any scanner, is the antenna. Especially on hand-held unit, the antenna is the best comprimise the manufacturer can come up with. If you listening from home, the number one improvement you can make is to get an outdoor antenna and try to get it as high as possible. If you are listening in you car, at least get an antenna, such as a magnetic 2 meter "HAM" radio antenna to get the antenna outside the car. If you plan on keeping the unit hand-held and are not too worried about listening to stuff other than railroads, try to find a 2 meter "HAM" radio antenna that will fit you scanner (scanners often have "BNC" type connectors for the antenna). This is what i did and my railroad reception improved dramatically.If you or anyone else is interested, I have a page on my website dedicated to scanner antennas you can build to improve railroad reception. By all means, the number one option is an outdoor antenna mounted as high as you can safely get it!Here is my page: http://www.alabamarailfan.com/scanner.php
Here is another very useful site: http://home1.gte.net/stumpie/inthestump.htmHappy scanning!Highball!John D. Peterson
Webmaster - AlabamaRailfan.com
http://www.alabamarailfan.com(Insert cool logo here)
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RAILDOG (84 posts)
Mar-19-02, 08:13 PM (EST) 2. "RE: Scanner Help" Really all I want to know is how do I get better reciption w/o having to buy anything but if I have to I will and will be easy to make. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
Nels_Anderson (588 posts)
Mar-21-02, 10:18 AM (EST) 3. "RE: Scanner Help" Well, if you don't want to buy anything the key to better reception is altitude. Get the radio as high as possible...do your train watching from on top of a hill for example.The frequencies railroads use are basically line of site. If you are down amoung buildings, trees, etc. you may only be able to hear things a couple miles away. Get up in the clear and you may be able to hear things 100 miles away.
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rockisland (93 posts)
Mar-21-02, 11:13 AM (EST) 4. "RE: Scanner Help" Outside of those great suggestions, your best option is obviously to locate yourself closer to the transmission source. Typically, defect detectors don't have a high output transmitter.ROCK Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
ebtnut (2 posts)
Mar-29-02, 02:03 PM (EST) 5. "RE: Scanner Help" Since someone mentioned about the antennae idea, all I can say is to get an antennae that will be cut to the exact frequency to which you wish to listen. For example, let's say you want to listen to the frequencies for all RR's. That would mean that you want to listen primarily to 160.215-161.565. That will be the range that you want. What I recommend you do is to go a Radio Store <Not Radio Shack, they are a bunch of people who do NOT know anything> and tell them what you want to do and they can help you out. This project will require that you cut the antennae to the correct size, which means that you will need to know how long the cable is inside the antennae. (That is crucial in order to know how much of the antennae to actually cut)This may be more than you want to do, but if you are using a car, put the antennae as close to the middle of the roof as possible. That will improve matters greatly.Hope I have been of some help. I had a friend of mine help me to get my antennae cut correctly. It helped get better reception for me.-Tim Lewis Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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