Help with scanners

[jettrainfan]

My dad & I are thinking of putting money into a scanner.
My questions are
1: is this a good choice? never mind 1.
2: Does the rail count as the channel (if 2 U.P.s come on the CSX line its CSX?)
3: Where can i find the channels I'll use? (N.S., CSX, etc.)

Thanks!

[jward]

i have one of these uniden nascar scanners, and i have been less than impressed with its performance. you'd be better off getting a portable ham radio which can also scan railroad channels. these should be in the price range of the uniden you are looking at.
http://www.universal-radio.com has a wide selection of these radios at a decent price. i have heard others have good results with radios by yeasu and the motorola gp68.

at any rate, you'll want to get a better anterra. i picked up a diamond rh77ca for about $20 from the above link, it has made a big difference in what i can pick up.

most rail operations use the AAR frequencies, which start at aar channel 3 at 160.155 and increase in increments of .015 to channel 97 at 161.565.

most radios have more than enough channels to program all these frequencies in, and you can scan them all and find out which are used in your area.


one final note, i'd try to select a radio which uses aa batteries, and invest in a battery charger. keep at least one set charged, in addition to the one in the radio, and you'll never be caught trackside without a working radio.

[jettrainfan]

Thanks for the info!

Funny story, i got a different one at raideo shack... and i choose a $99 dollar 1 over the $199 one. Reason: i don't need 1,000 channels  And he actually said a woman came in for the same reason and explained. I don't remember the model but it is AA. Thanks for the info!