UPS intended to purchase amplitude compandered sideband (ACSB) equipment
for use on the 220-222 MHz band, but development of the system faltered
and I believe UPS lost interest in favor of other, more-proven technologies.
In UPS's place, the 220-222 MHz segment has now been allocated to the
railroads for use in their Positive Train Control (PTC) project. PTC
will establish communication between lineside base stations and moving
trains all along the line. The intent is that PTC will prevent a train
from running into territory where the train has no authority, e.g. past
a red signal.
Congress mandated something like PTC after the collision between a
Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train. Accident
investigators concluded that the commuter train ran past a red signal,
possibly because the commuter train's engineer (who was killed in the
accident) was distracted by sending and receiving text messages on his
cellphone. Congress decided that any rail line carrying passenger trains
or hazardous freight must have some form of PTC.
Unfortunately, like many Congressional mandates, no federal funding
accompanied the new law. The railroads are spending billions of their
own money on research, development, and installation of PTC. One
deadline has already passed and was extended by Congress when the
railroad companies threatened to bottleneck U.S. commerce by simply
shutting down the railroads. Things seem to be moving along better now
and, hopefully, the next deadline will be met. If you are in a position
to observe a busy rail line, you may have noticed work being done on the
signals and new radio antennas being installed at fixed lineside locations.
One of the interesting little hold-ups in the project has come from the
FCC. The railroads are applying for licenses for their fixed and mobile
installations, but the FCC has told them that they must gain approval
from tribal authorities for any fixed installations on tribal lands. Out
west, many of our rail lines go through tribal lands. There have been
reports of tribal authorities being less than responsive with these
approvals.
PTC has seen tons of delays. Some of these delays have been the
railroads simply dragging their feet, some of these delays have stemmed
from administrative issues, a lot of the delays have come from the
technical side. Developing a reliable, fool-proof system that works with
moving targets in harsh conditions across hundreds of miles is not a
trivial pursuit.
Bob...
On 1/4/2017 3:11 PM, Shon Edwards wrote:
Speaking of this, does anyone know what happened to that little piece of
the 1.25 M band we lost a while ago 9220-222 MHz)? I heard that it had
been given to UPS, who subsequently just let it lie fallow -- didn't bother
to use it at all. And is still that way. Can anyone confirm the truth or
otherwise, to this statement?
Thanks a bunch!
Shon, K6QT
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