Atcs Railroad Monitor

Ft Wayne ATCS Package Download. Step 1: Copy the file Ft Wayne.ini into the installation directory. This should be C:/Program Files/ATCS Monitor/ Step 2: Copy the file Ft Wayne Metro12.lay into the folder labeled 'Layouts' in the program directory. Step 3: Copy the file Ft Wayne Metro.mdb into the folder labeled 'MCPs'. ATCS signals are found in the USA, and is used for things like communications between trains, rail configuration data, train location data, speed enforcement, fuel monitoring, train diagnostics and general instructions and messages. An ATCS monitor shows approaching trains from dozens of miles away plus there is a railroad scanner tuned to the local frequency providing communication between the crews and dispatchers. Even from inside the lookout cabin the views of the BNSF mainline are great! Hey guys, Here's part I of a video I shot today giving example to how I monitor one of my favorite railfan hotspots from over 1500 miles away. I'm sharing this to spread the word of how much ATCS Monitor can enhance your railfanning experience.

Individual Layers added for each Adaptive Traffic Control Technology.

A scanner is a valuable tool when railfanning and here is why. There is no way to tell when the next train is coming unless you are monitoring ATCS (Advanced Train Control System). ATCS is a digital display of a railroad line showing where the trains are. In a perfect world, it would be great to see that for every railroad line. Now that we have covered ATCS a scanner is the next best thing for tracking trains along your local railroad lines.

Where to start?
A basic analog scanner would work fine to monitor your local railroad line. Railroads broadcast on the 159.8100 – 161.6100 MHz. Normally a basic scanner will cost about $100. I would also recommend a rubber duck antenna tuned to the VHF frequency band to get the best reception.

Are the railroads going digital?
Right now analog is the primary type of communication of the railroads. The digital switchover will be several years off and will take a team effort by all railroad carriers and passenger providers. Digital NXDN may be used for some yards or short line operations but 99% are still using analog.

Programming
I would strongly recommend using RadioReference.com to get the local railroad frequencies. You will see larger railroads like CSX, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific have their lines broken into districts and subdivisions. So be sure you have the right Road and Dispatch channels programmed into your scanner. If you are going to be railfanning near a yard be sure to program any yard channels. Most scanners do have a programmed railroad service search to find additional area frequencies.

Atcs Railroad Monitoring

Why do I only hear the dispatcher and not always the train?
Railroads use what we call line-of-sight communications which means a scanner listener will hear the train crew when they are anywhere from 5 to 10 miles away. Line-of-sight reception is based on the radio transmit power. The dispatcher can often be heard because they are transiting off tower sites along the right of way. These tower sites have the ability to listen to the train crews this is called a receive site.

Quiet vs talkative
This is dependent on the traffic on a given railroad line. The busier the line the more radio communication you will hear as the dispatcher tries to keep freight and passenger trains moving on time. Other lines that might have one or two trains may still have valuable information that can be heard over the scanner such as Defect Detectors, Train Telemetry, and engineer call outs.

WaysideDefect Detectors
These are automated voice detection systems that will alert a train crew of any problems on board the passing train.

Following problems may be heard:

• Hot Wheel
• Dragging Equipment
• Car Height
• Wide-Load
• Shifted load
• Hotbox

Once familiar with the milepost and defect detectors along the line this will be a great tool to know if a train is coming. Normally these defect detectors are heard on the road channel. These automated broadcasts can be heard up to 2 to 6 miles from the transit site.

Here is an example of a typical automated message:
'CSX Equipment Defect Detector Milepost 123.4 No Defects (Repeat) No Defects. Total Axle 621. Track 1. Temperature 63. Detector Out.'

Railroad Atcs Monitoring

Please note you will not here this automated message until the train has fully cleared the detector. Best imac to buy 2016.

Video by Mark Clay McGowan on How Wayside Detectors Work

Programming Train Telemetry
Along with programming, the local railroad frequencies be sure to program Head of Train (HOT) 452.9375 MHz and End of Train (EOT) 457.9375 MHz. These frequencies transmit low power signals that put out a data burst from the train's onboard HOT and EOT devices. Monitoring these channels the listener will know when the train is near their vicinity. Download latest osx. It will sound like a little chirp.

Engineer calling out locations?
On some railroad lines, you will hear the engineer call out key locations along a route on the road channel. Oftentimes these are business references along the route, cities/town names, or even key milepost locations.

Emergency, Emergency
This is never a good thing to hear on the scanner. The engineer has stopped the train due to a problem, which could be derailment, hitting something on the right-of-way or a problem with onboard equipment.

Looking to buy a scanner?
I would strongly recommend the analog Uniden Bearcat BC125AT Handheld scanner. This scanner is simple to program through the keypad. You can even program alpha tags that will give a brief description of the frequency programmed. This scanner even has a railroad service search to find unknown frequencies.

ATCS is a radio control protocol used by US railroads to control wayside systems and train signals. ATCSmon is a program used to decode and display the information. Using a scanner set to a ATCS channel, the audio is plugged into a computer running ATCSmon. ATCSmon will then decode the audio and can display the status of occupied track, switch positions and signal aspects.

ATCS operates in the 900mzh range and consist 8 defined channels with a uplink and downlink frequency. The BCP (Base Control Point) is centrally located and sends radio commands out to the MCP (Mobile Control Points). The MCPs are the track wayside devices and send status messages and block occupancy back to the BCP.

Install ATCSmon on Linux (or Mac) using Wine

ATCSmon can be installed on linux and runs flawlessly with the help from Wine. Wine is an open-source compatibility layer that enables Windows programs to run Linux operating systems. Visit winehq.org for more info on Wine.

Instructions from Ubuntu 18.04

Downlown ATCSMonitor from groups.io/ATCSMonitor file section

You will need Wine and winetricks installed for ATCSmon to work

Atcs Railroad Monitoring

Use winetricks to install MDAC 2.8 and Jet 4.0 ddls which are both required for ATCSmon.

To install winetricks, run in terminal
sudo apt-get install winetricks

To install MDAC 2.8 and Jet 4.0 run:
winetricks mdac28 jet40

You should now be able to execute the ATCSMon installer .exe
wine ./atcsinstall.exe

If you get a missing core fonts error. You can get the missing fonts at https://sourceforge.net/projects/corefonts/files/
Extract the fonts into:
/home/**Your Username**/.wine/drive_c/windows/Fonts

Software Defined Radio with ATCS

This is a quick list of SDRs I have used for ATCS receiving.

NooElec NESDR SMArt

• 25MHz - 1750MHz
• SMA Female Connector
• Aluminum enclosure

Atsc Railroad Monitor

NooElec NESDR Nano 3

• 25MHz - 1750MHz
• MCX Connector
• Aluminum enclosure
• Ultra slim design
• Excellent for raspberry pi

SDRplay RSPduo

Ft Wayne ATCS Package Download. Step 1: Copy the file Ft Wayne.ini into the installation directory. This should be C:/Program Files/ATCS Monitor/ Step 2: Copy the file Ft Wayne Metro12.lay into the folder labeled 'Layouts' in the program directory. Step 3: Copy the file Ft Wayne Metro.mdb into the folder labeled 'MCPs'. ATCS signals are found in the USA, and is used for things like communications between trains, rail configuration data, train location data, speed enforcement, fuel monitoring, train diagnostics and general instructions and messages. An ATCS monitor shows approaching trains from dozens of miles away plus there is a railroad scanner tuned to the local frequency providing communication between the crews and dispatchers. Even from inside the lookout cabin the views of the BNSF mainline are great! Hey guys, Here's part I of a video I shot today giving example to how I monitor one of my favorite railfan hotspots from over 1500 miles away. I'm sharing this to spread the word of how much ATCS Monitor can enhance your railfanning experience.

Individual Layers added for each Adaptive Traffic Control Technology.

A scanner is a valuable tool when railfanning and here is why. There is no way to tell when the next train is coming unless you are monitoring ATCS (Advanced Train Control System). ATCS is a digital display of a railroad line showing where the trains are. In a perfect world, it would be great to see that for every railroad line. Now that we have covered ATCS a scanner is the next best thing for tracking trains along your local railroad lines.

Where to start?
A basic analog scanner would work fine to monitor your local railroad line. Railroads broadcast on the 159.8100 – 161.6100 MHz. Normally a basic scanner will cost about $100. I would also recommend a rubber duck antenna tuned to the VHF frequency band to get the best reception.

Are the railroads going digital?
Right now analog is the primary type of communication of the railroads. The digital switchover will be several years off and will take a team effort by all railroad carriers and passenger providers. Digital NXDN may be used for some yards or short line operations but 99% are still using analog.

Programming
I would strongly recommend using RadioReference.com to get the local railroad frequencies. You will see larger railroads like CSX, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific have their lines broken into districts and subdivisions. So be sure you have the right Road and Dispatch channels programmed into your scanner. If you are going to be railfanning near a yard be sure to program any yard channels. Most scanners do have a programmed railroad service search to find additional area frequencies.

Atcs Railroad Monitoring

Why do I only hear the dispatcher and not always the train?
Railroads use what we call line-of-sight communications which means a scanner listener will hear the train crew when they are anywhere from 5 to 10 miles away. Line-of-sight reception is based on the radio transmit power. The dispatcher can often be heard because they are transiting off tower sites along the right of way. These tower sites have the ability to listen to the train crews this is called a receive site.

Quiet vs talkative
This is dependent on the traffic on a given railroad line. The busier the line the more radio communication you will hear as the dispatcher tries to keep freight and passenger trains moving on time. Other lines that might have one or two trains may still have valuable information that can be heard over the scanner such as Defect Detectors, Train Telemetry, and engineer call outs.

WaysideDefect Detectors
These are automated voice detection systems that will alert a train crew of any problems on board the passing train.

Following problems may be heard:

• Hot Wheel
• Dragging Equipment
• Car Height
• Wide-Load
• Shifted load
• Hotbox

Once familiar with the milepost and defect detectors along the line this will be a great tool to know if a train is coming. Normally these defect detectors are heard on the road channel. These automated broadcasts can be heard up to 2 to 6 miles from the transit site.

Here is an example of a typical automated message:
'CSX Equipment Defect Detector Milepost 123.4 No Defects (Repeat) No Defects. Total Axle 621. Track 1. Temperature 63. Detector Out.'

Railroad Atcs Monitoring

Please note you will not here this automated message until the train has fully cleared the detector. Best imac to buy 2016.

Video by Mark Clay McGowan on How Wayside Detectors Work

Programming Train Telemetry
Along with programming, the local railroad frequencies be sure to program Head of Train (HOT) 452.9375 MHz and End of Train (EOT) 457.9375 MHz. These frequencies transmit low power signals that put out a data burst from the train's onboard HOT and EOT devices. Monitoring these channels the listener will know when the train is near their vicinity. Download latest osx. It will sound like a little chirp.

Engineer calling out locations?
On some railroad lines, you will hear the engineer call out key locations along a route on the road channel. Oftentimes these are business references along the route, cities/town names, or even key milepost locations.

Emergency, Emergency
This is never a good thing to hear on the scanner. The engineer has stopped the train due to a problem, which could be derailment, hitting something on the right-of-way or a problem with onboard equipment.

Looking to buy a scanner?
I would strongly recommend the analog Uniden Bearcat BC125AT Handheld scanner. This scanner is simple to program through the keypad. You can even program alpha tags that will give a brief description of the frequency programmed. This scanner even has a railroad service search to find unknown frequencies.

ATCS is a radio control protocol used by US railroads to control wayside systems and train signals. ATCSmon is a program used to decode and display the information. Using a scanner set to a ATCS channel, the audio is plugged into a computer running ATCSmon. ATCSmon will then decode the audio and can display the status of occupied track, switch positions and signal aspects.

ATCS operates in the 900mzh range and consist 8 defined channels with a uplink and downlink frequency. The BCP (Base Control Point) is centrally located and sends radio commands out to the MCP (Mobile Control Points). The MCPs are the track wayside devices and send status messages and block occupancy back to the BCP.

Install ATCSmon on Linux (or Mac) using Wine

ATCSmon can be installed on linux and runs flawlessly with the help from Wine. Wine is an open-source compatibility layer that enables Windows programs to run Linux operating systems. Visit winehq.org for more info on Wine.

Instructions from Ubuntu 18.04

Downlown ATCSMonitor from groups.io/ATCSMonitor file section

You will need Wine and winetricks installed for ATCSmon to work

Atcs Railroad Monitoring

Use winetricks to install MDAC 2.8 and Jet 4.0 ddls which are both required for ATCSmon.

To install winetricks, run in terminal
sudo apt-get install winetricks

To install MDAC 2.8 and Jet 4.0 run:
winetricks mdac28 jet40

You should now be able to execute the ATCSMon installer .exe
wine ./atcsinstall.exe

If you get a missing core fonts error. You can get the missing fonts at https://sourceforge.net/projects/corefonts/files/
Extract the fonts into:
/home/**Your Username**/.wine/drive_c/windows/Fonts

Software Defined Radio with ATCS

This is a quick list of SDRs I have used for ATCS receiving.

NooElec NESDR SMArt

• 25MHz - 1750MHz
• SMA Female Connector
• Aluminum enclosure

Atsc Railroad Monitor

NooElec NESDR Nano 3

• 25MHz - 1750MHz
• MCX Connector
• Aluminum enclosure
• Ultra slim design
• Excellent for raspberry pi

SDRplay RSPduo

• Dual Tunner
• 1KHz - 2GHz
• Steel enclosure
• 2 SMA Female Connectors
• Antenna Screw terminal

Atcs Monitor Bnsf

Pages: Raspberry Pi for ATCS

Links: ATCSMonitorwinehq.org