SPKid:

Asking railroad telecom staff for their opinion never tells the full story. Their responsibilities are such they don't see problems in the field like telecom staff in other industries do. They don't ride trains. They don't work nights or weekends. And the nearest telecom location might be hundreds of miles away! Problems that demand attention are overlooked because of the disconnect (no pun intended) between the operating folks using the radios and those tasked with maintaining them. Most terminals I've seen have the radio shop located so far from the crew shanty there is no interaction with the operating department unless somebody's pakset is broken. This makes it very inconvenient to report problems or concerns.

I've seen cases where a radio problem was reported dozens of times to a trainmaster who failed to forward the information to telecom. Following months of inaction, we contacted middle management who called telecom to ask why the tower hadn't been repaired. Telecom told the superintendent everything was "working great" because the trouble tickets were never received. The supt said okay, thanks, and that was the end of it. No repairs were ever made as long as I was around. Another location I worked, at nighttime we would get interference as the propagation changed, from a police department using the same frequency . Telecom disregarded everything I said because the problem never surfaced during telecom working hours. And to this day no channel change has been made. These are not exceptions, but the norm, life as usual on the railroad.

No disrespect is intended toward you or your friend at BNSF. I just want you to realize how dysfunctional the railroad is and to take any raving reviews of NXDN with a grain of salt. I can tell you think highly of NXDN but the railroads are not the right environment for its use.

Mark