Railroad Forums 

  • Yaesu VX-150 audio issues

  • Discussion related to railroad radio frequencies, railroad communication practices, equipment, and more.
Discussion related to railroad radio frequencies, railroad communication practices, equipment, and more.

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #1299907  by CPSK
 
Hi;
I've got a Yaesu VX-150 I use for railroad monitoring. More often than not, it is difficult to make out what is being said, unless the signal is really strong with no hiss or other noise. Putting on headphones helps a lot, but sometimes I just don't want to wear them.
I performed a mod to improve audio quality on the VX-150 - this did help somewhat, but I have always wondered how the dispatchers hear the train crews if the modulation is so low. I would have to assume that the dispatchers (and maybe the train crews as well) are wearing a headset.
I do have the VX-150 set to receive Narrow Band modulation.
When I use the VX-150 on the amateur bands, I have no trouble whatsoever hearing the voice. It appears that hams use higher deviation on their signals than that used by RR's.

There are some trains that come through loud and clear, even when their signals are not completely noise free. I do understand that a lot of this has to do with the particular radio and antenna used on the locomotive. After all, we never see 5/8 wave whips sticking out the top of the loco!

So I am curious to know whether anyone else using the VX-150 (or any other radio) has this issue, and what radios might produce more intelligible audio from signals with some noise on them.
I have been thinking of setting up a filter on my PC and pass the audio through it, but I have been unable to find such filters for throughput use. All I have seen and used are for playing audio files that have been recorded or downloaded to the hard drive. Perhaps I can build an in-line audio filter.

any ideas?

CP