You should consider upgrading that radio to an NX series because many of the big railroads are moving away from analog and over to the NXDN format, and keep analog for interop compatibility. I have a NX-210 K2 series handheld in VHF-Hi which is the same radio KCS uses, I just ordered one for myself plus the programming cable and CPS through my dealer / technician credentials so I didnt have to pay retail.
Does the length of the antenna affect its signal range, or is the different length for another use? I have an antenna that measures approximately 17.32 inches long and another that measures approximately 36.61 inches. Both antennas are magnetically installed but I don't know if they both work to receive the signal from the railroad radios since these antennas were given to me, I didn't buy them. Regards and I hope you can resolve my question.
Switch to a 5/8 wave VHF Hi antenna. (Ebay) Your mobile radio Will come alive, super Range. Add The MURS radio Frequencies to both units and for your Fire Company now you have extra radio nets. No license needed.
I was hoping to see a Whelen lightbar, you already have the PCC.... BTW don't depend on those magnets to hold that thing to your roof, they fail all the time and your lightbar goes for a ride.
I know this video is 8 months old, but you mentioned that you could make a video about programming them. I have successfully programmed a few radios to work great, and others seem to have a issue. I would like to see your way of programming these radios. There's no other videos on UA-cam related to it, so I would really enjoy if you could shine some light on the subject.
@@railfan5254 Currently I am using some Baofeng junk, and I'm looking to upgrade to something better and high quality. I was looking into the Motorola radios, specifically the CDM 1550LS+ and one of the old fire handhelds, not sure of the model. But I have heard nightmare stories trying to program Motorolas, so I was hoping you could post a video of the Kenwood's and what software you're using. As well as the tone settings and such for AAR channels, I know a little bit but not enough to be confident that I am picking up all the traffic I can.
@@ZachLayman1320 Yeah I can definitely do that. The right kenwood model can be super simple to program. I would stay away from Motorola for railfanning purposes. I use them at work and they are great in certain ways but really not needed for simplex VHF railroad frequencies. To get you started you might check eBay for a kenwood TK7180 mobile and a TK2180 portable. Depending on what you want.
I am an RF engineer and I have technician credentials with Kenwood, Motorola, Icom, EF Johnsom, Harris, Vertex Standard, Tait, TYT, Hytera and Baofeng (I hate this one because it's useless). The reason you dont see many videos of the CPS programming of radios on UA-cam is mainly due to confidentiality and the whole trade secrets thing. Many radio shops simply do not allow recording/streaming of certain procedures and activities like programming radios. Also customers may not be too thrilled on having their radio systems information posted out there. The few videos that do exist are bootleg techs with pirated CPS and homebrew cables or ham radiio operators programing ham radios.
i have a plain old radioshack handheld scanner, no button to talk on it, and i live right next to a rr track. where would i find the codes to hear passing train radio talk
G'day from Melbourne Australia. Would like to ask you about the TK-7180. So your Fire Dept there hasn't moved to any UHF freq allocations as yet? Here in Melbourne and the state of Victoria all Emergency services (Vic Police, Melb Amb service, Metro Fire Brigade & Country Fire Authority & SES) moved to the MMR Digital network years ago. So not much left to listen to with scanners. I have just purchased a TK-8180 from ebay via a radio retailer in Georgia US. I've read that these TK-7180/8180 models are absolutely brilliant. Do you guys have a liasion frequency where you talk with local police and Ambulance service in major emergencies? We mainly use our radios here on UHF CBRS (476/477Mhz). Cheers, Gary.
Here in the US a lot of small town Fire, Police and Medical services are still on analog VHF radio. The cost to upgrade is too much for small departments. Eventually the cell providers will force everyone off the VHF spectrum and most will likely upgrade to 800mhz or UHF. No idea when this will happen though. But yes the Kenwood TK7180 series is a great mobile radio and is popular among vhf users. Thanks for watching!
You should consider upgrading that radio to an NX series because many of the big railroads are moving away from analog and over to the NXDN format, and keep analog for interop compatibility.
I have a NX-210 K2 series handheld in VHF-Hi which is the same radio KCS uses, I just ordered one for myself plus the programming cable and CPS through my dealer / technician credentials so I didnt have to pay retail.
Does the length of the antenna affect its signal range, or is the different length for another use? I have an antenna that measures approximately 17.32 inches long and another that measures approximately 36.61 inches. Both antennas are magnetically installed but I don't know if they both work to receive the signal from the railroad radios since these antennas were given to me, I didn't buy them.
Regards and I hope you can resolve my question.
Switch to a 5/8 wave VHF Hi antenna. (Ebay)
Your mobile radio
Will come alive, super
Range.
Add The MURS radio
Frequencies to both units and for your Fire Company now you have extra radio nets. No license needed.
Agreed. 5/8 wave works brilliantly on 11 metres so it should do well gain wise on VHF also.
I have an Icom F5061D VHF Railroad Version Mobile Radio Can I program it without a computer?
Is there a way to do bulk entries. Like copy & paste from RT systems to Kenwood?
I was hoping to see a Whelen lightbar, you already have the PCC.... BTW don't depend on those magnets to hold that thing to your roof, they fail all the time and your lightbar goes for a ride.
I know this video is 8 months old, but you mentioned that you could make a video about programming them. I have successfully programmed a few radios to work great, and others seem to have a issue. I would like to see your way of programming these radios. There's no other videos on UA-cam related to it, so I would really enjoy if you could shine some light on the subject.
What type of radio do you have? I only use kenwood vhf radios. I certainly could do a video on programming soon!
@@railfan5254 Currently I am using some Baofeng junk, and I'm looking to upgrade to something better and high quality. I was looking into the Motorola radios, specifically the CDM 1550LS+ and one of the old fire handhelds, not sure of the model. But I have heard nightmare stories trying to program Motorolas, so I was hoping you could post a video of the Kenwood's and what software you're using. As well as the tone settings and such for AAR channels, I know a little bit but not enough to be confident that I am picking up all the traffic I can.
@@ZachLayman1320 Yeah I can definitely do that. The right kenwood model can be super simple to program. I would stay away from Motorola for railfanning purposes. I use them at work and they are great in certain ways but really not needed for simplex VHF railroad frequencies. To get you started you might check eBay for a kenwood TK7180 mobile and a TK2180 portable. Depending on what you want.
I am an RF engineer and I have technician credentials with Kenwood, Motorola, Icom, EF Johnsom, Harris, Vertex Standard, Tait, TYT, Hytera and Baofeng (I hate this one because it's useless).
The reason you dont see many videos of the CPS programming of radios on UA-cam is mainly due to confidentiality and the whole trade secrets thing. Many radio shops simply do not allow recording/streaming of certain procedures and activities like programming radios. Also customers may not be too thrilled on having their radio systems information posted out there. The few videos that do exist are bootleg techs with pirated CPS and homebrew cables or ham radiio operators programing ham radios.
What do they talk about in the Railroad Channels/Repeaters?
They say Roger that, Roger that, that's a big Roger, on the 149! Roger?... That's a Roger!
Is the Kenwood 7180 a "ham radio' ?
It can be used as one yes
@@railfan5254 Thanks and thanks for your service.
You missed Q686 Yestarday, you'd left bit early soon after a few mins there was a EB Signal!
Yeah I heard it on the radio once I got down to see INRD
i have a plain old radioshack handheld scanner, no button to talk on it, and i live right next to a rr track. where would i find the codes to hear passing train radio talk
For California railroad frequencies
How can I find out the frequency numbers for my local rail tracks?
You’ll need to figure out what RR it is and what subdivision then go to radio reference
G'day from Melbourne Australia.
Would like to ask you about the TK-7180.
So your Fire Dept there hasn't moved to any UHF freq allocations as yet?
Here in Melbourne and the state of Victoria all Emergency services (Vic Police, Melb Amb service, Metro Fire Brigade & Country Fire Authority & SES) moved to the MMR Digital network years ago.
So not much left to listen to with scanners.
I have just purchased a TK-8180 from ebay via a radio retailer in Georgia US.
I've read that these TK-7180/8180 models are absolutely brilliant.
Do you guys have a liasion frequency where you talk with local police and Ambulance service in major emergencies?
We mainly use our radios here on UHF CBRS (476/477Mhz).
Cheers,
Gary.
Here in the US a lot of small town Fire, Police and Medical services are still on analog VHF radio. The cost to upgrade is too much for small departments. Eventually the cell providers will force everyone off the VHF spectrum and most will likely upgrade to 800mhz or UHF. No idea when this will happen though. But yes the Kenwood TK7180 series is a great mobile radio and is popular among vhf users. Thanks for watching!
@@railfan5254 Thanks! 😉