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Re: Narrow Band Radio? Hobart Intermodal
Author: RBK
Date: 12-16-2011 - 13:32
I strongly disagree the railroads are not a big enough customer. BNSF and UPRR have somewhere along the lines of 250,000 radios systemwide, maybe more. Motorola designed the Clean Cab Spectra Radio for locomotives. Union Pacific owns a telecom company called Nexterna that develops and supplies radios for railroad use. BNSF also owns a telecom company called Meteorcomm that is developing the 220 MHz radios for Positive Train Control.
Your point about crewmen waiting to transmit misses the point. With the story I shared yesterday, the conductor was found unconscious on the ballast. I doubt he could have waited several seconds for the detector to quit talking. When there is an emergency, there is an emergency. Besides, the detectors aren't smart enough to exercise the same etiquette, they will broadcast the message when the train clears whether the frequency is clear or not.
Your point about crewmen waiting to transmit misses the point. With the story I shared yesterday, the conductor was found unconscious on the ballast. I doubt he could have waited several seconds for the detector to quit talking. When there is an emergency, there is an emergency. Besides, the detectors aren't smart enough to exercise the same etiquette, they will broadcast the message when the train clears whether the frequency is clear or not.
