Flaggers heard using FRS

[fenriswolf039]

Where are these 400 - 520 BF888 radios at? All the ones I’ve seen are 400 - 470, and a couple can go up to 490.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/BF-888S-2pcs-Rechargeable-Headphone-Radio/dp/B00ECW9DB4/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_4368549507?_encoding=UTF8&hvadid=198078954678&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011015&hvnetw=g&hvpone=&hvpos=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvrand=18163544324201545322&hvtargid=pla-379710510441&ie=UTF8&linkCode=df0&psc=1&tag=hyprod-20

[AdmiralCochrane]

And all over eBay as well.  The advertising is getting outrageous - magically some now transmit 60 miles

[n4gix]

And all over eBay as well.  The advertising is getting outrageous - magically some now transmit 60 miles

 

Well, they will if both people are on top of a 6,000'+ mountain top!  

[gman1971]

ah, the mighty 888s.... 9 dollars of pure RF terror.... they can do all frequencies, I've had them TXing on MURS... listen to NOAA... the beauty of a one-chip-wonder with no front end... everything gets through!!

 

G.

[ChrisUnionNJ]

I just got my GMRS WRMM550 and man it's

 like i'm learning all over from CB again..

Chris

[H8SPVMT]

6 hours ago, ChrisUnionNJ said:

I just got my GMRS WRMM550 and man it's

 like i'm learning all over from CB again..

Chris

Well, welcome to the world of confusion.  Folks here try to make some sense of it all (and they succeed) and we learn our radios all over again.  My Midland owners manual only scratches the surface of the MXT400 model.

 

[H8SPVMT]

I suppose I might be a lucky, "Foul Player" too from way, way back in the day (2008 - 2010 maybe).

I purchased some Uniden GMR 1838 2CK radios (2) for a specfic trip (we don't remember now) for the family to stay in communication.  Just found them tucked away in the closet and remarkably, they still operate just fine on their Ni-MH battery packs with a charger.

Spooky that I can not recall WHY I purchased these but maybe for off-road trips (we always had CB's).

I did charge 'em up and used them while on a walk little over a half mile away.  The wife & I had good comms even with her inside the house all the time. 

Think I'll keep 'em. 

 

 

[Adamdaj]

I was on Radio Reference doing a search on short line class 2 railroads. I came across the Turtle Creek RR listed using (462.5625) PL 67.0 for their communications, which I thought that was odd. I would assume the short line railroads us the standard AAR channels as Class 1 railroads. Or use the old uhf business band for comms away from main line operation.

[Lscott]

53 minutes ago, Adamdaj said:

I was on Radio Reference doing a search on short line class 2 railroads. I came across the Turtle Creek RR listed using (462.5625) PL 67.0 for their communications, which I thought that was odd. I would assume the short line railroads us the standard AAR channels as Class 1 railroads. Or use the old uhf business band for comms away from main line operation.

I did an FCC search on 462.5625 and 467.5625. I found only one listing, and the license was expired. It was not for a railroad. I have no idea why Radio Reference has this listed for a railroad unless it's an error in their database.

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/results.jsp

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?licKey=1754132

[wrci350]

16 minutes ago, Lscott said:

I have no idea why Radio Reference has this listed for a railroad unless it's an error in their database.

Because the RR database is crowdsourced, and not just pulled from the FCC license DB.  Submissions are based on actual monitored traffic.  That would suggest that someone heard this railroad using FRS radios with that PL tone.  Under the 2017 FRS/GMRS rule changes, that would be a permitted use.

With that said, I also searched and was not able to find "Turtle Creek RR" in the database.  I Googled that name and found numerous references to a small industrial short line in Pennsylvania, but that ceased service in 2009, and there is no RR listing for it under PA Railraods.  Maybe this isn't the right one?

Not sure why this year old thread was resurrected for this discussion, but whatever.

[KAF6045]

It may not have been FRS radios... The railroad may have a grandfathered GMRS license, and .5625 IS a GMRS interstitial allowed up to 5W -- which would be plenty for use by engineers/conductors/brakemen on a given train. They may have a limited choice for MAIN channels -- those may still be locked to the original 1 or 2 pairs selected back when a GMRS license only allowed for up to two selected frequencies.

[Lscott]

3 hours ago, KAF6045 said:

It may not have been FRS radios... The railroad may have a grandfathered GMRS license, and .5625 IS a GMRS interstitial allowed up to 5W -- which would be plenty for use by engineers/conductors/brakemen on a given train. They may have a limited choice for MAIN channels -- those may still be locked to the original 1 or 2 pairs selected back when a GMRS license only allowed for up to two selected frequencies.

That's why I did an FCC license search. Even if the license is now expired it would still be listed. That's not what I found, so the FRS radio suggestion by @wrci350 make sense too.

[catbrigade]

Scanning the GMRS/FRS and MURS frequencies, I've heard traffic flaggers on a couple of the GMRS/FRS channels. My area has a bunch of fiber deployment work going on and I think I have heard those crews too, talking about other utilities in the area they were doing directional boring. On the nearby restaurant and shopping strip I have heard rapid-fire Spanish near the Mexican restaurant and heard hotel housekeeping comms. I've also picked up kids playing around outside and in the neighborhood across from my place there's at least one family that uses GMRS/FRS to check in on the kids riding around on their bikes.

Over on MURS I have not picked up anything at all except near one of the local Wal-Mart stores. I've not heard a peep anywhere else.

The school district here has a Part 90 license with several frequencies. I've found the bus driver dispatch frequency to be pretty useful for finding out if there's some issue on the local surface streets off the highway.

[PACNWComms]

In my part of the Pacific Northwest, flaggers often still do use FRS as well. Which has also thrown off some Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) types that push for the use of FRS for neighborhood emergency response. In some larger cities, this prompted many corporations to purchase the now older Motorola 900 MHz ISM band DTR series radios (DTR410/550/650). However, even with the DTR series radios, most are defaulted to the channels/TalkGroups/Privacy code (hopset) settings as shipped from the factory. I still hear tugboats from a nearby river, schools and construction crews now using both FRS and DTR series radios, to include the swearing, personal information, and jabber expected by those types of end users. 

For the flagging crews though, it is nice to be able to hear how long the backup will be, or when traffic is being allowed in a specific direction. It beats hearing the little kids pressing the "call" button over and over or asking "hellol" on FRS....lol.

[Adamdaj]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:42 AM, Lscott said:

I did an FCC search on 462.5625 and 467.5625. I found only one listing, and the license was expired. It was not for a railroad. I have no idea why Radio Reference has this listed for a railroad unless it's an error in their database.

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/results.jsp

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?licKey=1754132

I was just on radio reference to double check, but it looks as if the RR staff   deleted the information. However, I did see a tourist short line railroad using FRS channel 01 maybe I had the name wrong, or it was an industrial Railroad using FRS Ch.01 to spot rail cars. Beside some commercial eating establishments use FRS, because is cheap and no licensing required