Railfan Technology > Nebraska Scanner File Yaesu FT270R

Ok,

Need to see if anyone has there FT270R scanner setup to scan UP/BNSF frequencies in Nebraska, I have the software etc to program mine.
Saves time if its available out there.

Mike Keithly
Kimball, NE

I've owned the older cousin of the FT-270, the VX-170, for years. I've essentially quit using it for railfanning in favor of commercial radios. That said, the best way, in my opinion, to program the FT-270 is simply to program all 97 of the U.S. "non-splinter" AAR frequencies into memory--starting with AAR Channel 007 in the channel "7" slot in the radio memory, then going upward from there. Yes, it takes up most of the FT-270 memory slots, but then you have a radio that is universally usable no matter where you railfan. Railfans constantly babble about the actual frequency of a channel, 160.4550 mHz for example, but everyone else on a railroad refers to it by its AAR Channel No., for example, Channel No. 023 023; in the case of the 160.4550 frequency being used for transmit (first number) and receive (second number). So, with the FT-270 programmed with all 97 channels, when you hear a crew member say, "Going to channel 023 023," you can just put your radio on the "23" channel slot in the FT-270.

It takes about 90 minutes to program all 97 channels in an FT-270 from the keypad (much faster with software), but once it's done, the programming usually doesn't need to be changed. I haven't changed my VX-170 programming in about 5 years, and the changes that I made then were for some non-RR channels. I haven't touched the "railroad" channels since I programmed the radio right after I purchased it over 10 years ago. I programmed the radio with none of the channels selected for scan. Then, if I want to monitor, say, channel 023, 036, and 059, I just add those channels to the scan list using the scan add/scan delete function on the radio.

I lived in SE Wyoming for several years, but I moved about 10 years ago. Back then, if memory serves, AAR Channels 20, 24, 27, and 38 were in common use by the UP in west Nebraska and SE Wyoming (since narrow-banding in 2013, there is a "0" in front of the Channel No., e.g., 027), but the channels in use there may have changed since. I don't remember the BNSF channels.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/18 14:12 by WW.

My Nebraska coverage is only the PRB and Crawford Hill, more like a little to the right of Wyoming, if there is such a thing. But it's in an FT-60r format which doesn't copy into the FT-270 format, I've tried to copy them already. The frequencies are from the Altamont Press timetables, I believe there is only one or two minor corrections, mostly for the end points of the district not the Frequency.

An advantage of a Yeasu ( and some other radios) is you can use the text function to provide a reminder of what the Territory is.

+ as a reminder, if the Yeasu radio is not modified and is factory-out of the box ready, then it can not transmit in the RR band no matter what the settings are. It will receive on the specified frequency as long as it says simplex ( Tx frequency same as Rx ) all the other settings will get you in action and can be optimized later ( if I remember correctly ). If needed I can dig out a line and add it to a post.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/18 20:52 by TCnR.

I have my commercial radios set up to transmit on 146.490, which was the railfan HAM frequency we used in Northern California. Post 9/11, I would not run around with a radio that transmits on the RR freqs.

The FT-270R is transmit blocked outside of the ham bands at the factory. Some "amateur" Chinese radios are not. Some of the Chinese radios may fall into the "gray area" category. They are listed as "Part 90 Compliant," meaning that they are built to comply with the Part 90 commercial radio requirements. That does not mean that they are Part 90 CERTIFIED, which is what is actually required to be able to use a radio to transmit under one's commercial radio license. A controversial point about these radios is that they have keypad frequency entry capability that Part 90 Certified commercial radios generally do not.

As to the comment about carrying a transmit-capable radio, there is no federal legal provision against it so far as I know. State scanner laws may prevent it (or even prevent carrying a scanner or two-way radio at all), but, generally possessing a federally granted valid amateur radio license will trump those state laws. In 30-plus years of carrying radios on my belt a good part of the time (almost always when railfanning), I've been asked to show my amateur radio license just one time (and I have a commercial license, as well), and a good part of that time I've carried commercial radios that could be programmed to be transmit capable. As a practical matter, there is no real need for a railfan to carry a radio capable of transmitting in the railroad band. The nice thing about the commercial radios is that they can be easily PC programmed to have any or all channels transmit-inhibited.

Back to the subject at hand, BNSF channels that used to be (and probably still are) in use in western Nebraska: 035, 039, 040, 054, 066, 070. There may be other yard channels in use, as well as PBX channels. Generally, PBX use has fallen off a lot on the railroads since cell phones became nearly universally usable.

If anyone is having trouble figuring out what frequencies go with what AAR channel designation, here is the full list, including splinter channels and NXDN channels:

http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_rrfreqs_newplan.html

The "original" plan and designations went away in 2013, the 12.5 kHz plan is the current analog plan, the 6.25 kHz plan is NXDN digital. The FT-270 will not accept the analog splinter channels (nor is it NXDN-capable).



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/18 12:29 by WW.