Railroad frequencies...and PLs???

I upgraded from my scanner to a Kenwood TK272 2way to pull in a little better, which it does do that. Transmit is disabled, but my question is...Do the general AAR channels have a generic nationwide PL, or is it straight carrier squelch? I occassionally get electronic interference when chasing in my truck, and would like to eliminate that if possible. I got the same interference with my scanner too. Nothing interferes with my work radio with PLs in place.

EMTRailfan wrote:I upgraded from my scanner to a Kenwood TK272 2way to pull in a little better, which it does do that. Transmit is disabled, but my question is...Do the general AAR channels have a generic nationwide PL, or is it straight carrier squelch? I occassionally get electronic interference when chasing in my truck, and would like to eliminate that if possible. I got the same interference with my scanner too. Nothing interferes with my work radio with PLs in place.

No PL to my knowledge. The BR&W here in NJ where I am an authorized user and occasional volunteer radio tester and repairer does not have PL, including on the channel for NS used at the interchange.

Out here, PNWR actually uses DPL on one frequency.

I guess this answers my post. I referred to the tones as CTCSS (Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System), which is the technical term for "PL".

FW

Yeah, PL's are not too common for simplex ops on the railroad. I've seen defect detectors give out PL tones for "NO DEFECTS" and "ALARM" though.