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I have two scanners, but the one has an old style screw in antenna that disappeared and I have NOT been able to find a replacement.  It works OK to monitor the radio broadcast at NASCAR events.  My good scanner fits nicely in my camera bag, which goes nearly EVERYWHERE I go.  I mostly use it just for railfanning days, but sometimes I turn it on  after work to catch movements and train symbols so I can intercept them in my area.  The all time best scanner conversation I ever heard was a couple of years ago when 765 was deadheading back from Chicago.  The train was supposed to diverge onto the old Pennsy west of town and come into Fort Wayne, but a train with a broken down single unit was stalled at Junction.  The dispatcher ended up routing 765 to an all NKP route into town at the last minute, but the conversation between the dispatcher and the stalled crew was priceless.  After advising the crew that the steam engine was coming up behind them quickly, the crew asked if they could borrow 765 to drag their train to Cincinnati, as it would be more reliable than the BNSF GE they were stuck with.  The dispatcher was "pretty sure" the FWRHS wouldn't part with it......

I use several scanners for railroad monitoring, my newest one is a Baofeng UV-5R($27-$30 at Amazon) with the optional extended battery. It's 128 channels, and is PC programmable, CTCSS/DCS/DTMF equipped, comes with a charging cradle, and there is tremendous online support for the platform. I have 3 accessory antennas for it now to use in different situations... works well even with the stubby antenna, and with the original battery is extremely small but with great audio.

Oh, and it's two-way. BUT it's software programmable to lock out the transmitter.

That Baofeng isn't a scanner, it's a full fledged transceiver.  And I'd totally recommend you to get your ham radio license to use it.  Ham radios make great train scanners, and are way more fun if you have your license as you can also talk to other hams about trains when not listening to the train frequencies.

But they do make just scanners, and if you aren't going to get your ham radio license, I'd say it's in your best interest to avoid using a ham radio, even with transmitter lockout.  You can get in trouble and fined if you do transmit.

ADCX Rob posted:

I use several scanners for railroad monitoring, my newest one is a Baofeng UV-5R($27-$30 at Amazon) with the optional extended battery. It's 128 channels, and is PC programmable, CTCSS/DCS/DTMF equipped, comes with a charging cradle, and there is tremendous online support for the platform. I have 3 accessory antennas for it now to use in different situations... works well even with the stubby antenna, and with the original battery is extremely small but with great audio.

Oh, and it's two-way. BUT it's software programmable to lock out the transmitter.

I use the UV5R for both ham (N5TCB) and railfanning.  In fact, I have one just for trains.  It can be set for narrow band the RR's use now.  However, I DO NOT transmit on the RR channels.

The tech ticket is not that hard to get.  There is no more Morse Code TEST.  However, Morse is still a valid mode of communication.

"Keenwood" accessory mikes work with it.  And you can get an adapter so you can use a base or mag-mount antenna.

sinclair posted:

That Baofeng isn't a scanner, it's a full fledged transceiver.  And I'd totally recommend you to get your ham radio license to use it.  Ham radios make great train scanners, and are way more fun if you have your license as you can also talk to other hams about trains when not listening to the train frequencies.

But they do make just scanners, and if you aren't going to get your ham radio license, I'd say it's in your best interest to avoid using a ham radio, even with transmitter lockout.  You can get in trouble and fined if you do transmit.

I think there are some simplex freq on 2 meters and .70 for HAM Railfan communications.

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