PTC (Positive Train Control) uses the 215-225Mhz band.. that which was taken away from the HAMs back 30 or longer years ago.. initially they were going to use it for AMPS cellular (an idea that never took off) then they re-sold the Spectrum to Fedex and other Delivery companies to use for their truck fleet to keep in touch with central dispatch.. now it's been resold (re-soled?) again for the PTC project. PTC is encrypted every step of the way (and yes it's digital of course) so anyone hoping it can be reverse engineered and something developed like they did for ATCS (the signal/switch telemetry 900Mhz) system, will be disappointed.

I'm checking into UP's Licensing activity to get some basis in fact before I answer back to Margaret's post. Initially I have these comments:

1. They have 100s if not thousands of licenses already ammended to include digital and 12.5Khz NFM emissions. They paid someone to file all of those once already.

2. Just because they have digital emissions listed doesn't mean they have to USE them. Same cost either way. They've already made that investment.

3. In order to "Give back" the licenses they'd have to file an amendment that removes the digital emission designator and keep the 12.5 NFM.. why bother at this point?

FYI I saw the license amendments filed by BNSF for all the Dragging Equipment Detectors from approx. Fresno to Richmond go by on the NorCal Scanner's list at the end of Feb. They are dual licensed.. NFM and NXDN. So BNSF is continuing on as per normal...