Does a Hyperscan 70 scanner work for Guilford Rail frequen?

Do Hyperscan 70 scanners work well for RR frequencies such as Guilford Rail?

As long as you can program in specific frequencies it will be "good enough." I hear an actual radio is often better than a scanner, but we work with what we have. You can buy antennas (around 17" is the best length for railroad frequencies) that could boost performance. But basically just find some frequencies, program them in and see if you hear anything.

Check this out: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=3680

Guilford Rail System became Pan Am Railways in March of 2006, BTW. It is very difficult to get their dispatchers on a portable scanner due to the fact that they use remote base stations on mountaintops, oftentimes many miles from the location of the train, and the transmitters often seem to be operating below the ERP probably due to lack of routine maintenance and probably the age of the equipment. You need a very good portable antenna designed for the VHF High Band to have any hope of picking up the dispatcher tranmissions if you're more than a few miles from the base and not in an elevated area. Obvioulsy if you're near a train or track car you will hear them just fine.

cpf354 wrote:Guilford Rail System became Pan Am Railways in March of 2006, BTW. It is very difficult to get their dispatchers on a portable scanner due to the fact that they use remote base stations on mountaintops, oftentimes many miles from the location of the train, and the transmitters often seem to be operating below the ERP probably due to lack of routine maintenance and probably the age of the equipment. You need a very good portable antenna designed for the VHF High Band to have any hope of picking up the dispatcher tranmissions if you're more than a few miles from the base and not in an elevated area. Obvioulsy if you're near a train or track car you will hear them just fine.

This is a very location-specific issue, of course. But I do want to say that just as a personal anecdote I have picked up the district 2 dispatcher from various places in seacoast NH (nearish to some mountain transmitter I believe) and also in the northern suburbs of Boston (Reading, Andover, Wilmington, Woburn). This is on a RS Pro-82 scanner with the stock "rubber ducky" antenna. I fully believe the above information about the Pan Am radio system, but I'd say it's still worth a try to hear a Pan Am dispatcher (at least D2 in my experience).