Combining railfanning and ham radio in one weekend road trip.

[W1GUH]

Going to the Marathon hamfest on Saturday. Then, afterwards heading down to Waverly, NY, and Sayre, PA -- two historical railroad towns. The Lehigh Valley had a yard in Sayre -- it's still there now & part of NS. Should see a little something, anyway. Also, the southern tier NS goes through Waverly. Maybe I'll get lucky. In any event, I understand there's a great old coal tipple still standing in Waverly. Hope it's still there.

Will be mobiling -- will leave the hotel in Binghamton about 6 AM. Google says it'll take about a half hour to get to Marathon, so I'll be on the road pretty much between 6 & 7 -- unless they're letting people in early, especially if they buy a vendor's table.

Will probably leave the fester between 10 and 11...but that's a wild card. Depends on who's there and who I meet. Could get hung-up in an eyeball or two. But certainly by 11 & cruise down to Waverly, Sayre -- about 1.5 hours. As always, riding with ECARS 7255, with an occasional call on or about 7245. Hope to hear some of you!

73!

[N8YX]

Sounds like a plan. You'll have the TR7 along for the ride, I presume?

[KC2UGV]

If you are a member of a club, you should try to offer a presentation covering your efforts to combine two hobbies :) Or, at a ham fest.

[W1GUH]

Sounds like a plan. You'll have the TR7 along for the ride, I presume?

Even if I tried to leave it behind, it'd follow me out the door, like a loyal dog! Of course. A great thing about the combo is the radio give me something to do while I'm waiting for a train to go by!

[W1GUH]

If you are a member of a club, you should try to offer a presentation covering your efforts to combine two hobbies :) Or, at a ham fest.

Sounds like a great idea! Thanks, Corey.

[W1GUH]

Oh, and BTW...my 'F6A and my 8x7's both cover RR frequencies.

[kb2vxa]

"A great thing about the combo is the radio give me something to do while I'm waiting for a train to go by!"

Railfans and railway photographers sometimes monitor FREDs as early warning systems to detect approaching trains. FREDs in North America operate on the 452.9375/457.9375 MHz frequency pair with the exception of those operated by Norfolk Southern Railway, which uses AAR channel 67 (161.115 MHz). Railfans often program these frequencies into their radio scanners, which can provide a handy indicator of train activity (usually 2–5 miles, transmitting at 2 watts).

[W1GUH]

Thanks for the freqs!

BTW...and probably a future topic -- that mythical "someday" for armchair modellers has turned into "today" for me. I've found a great model shop with a guy who really knows his shit and who is being very good in helping me plan what I'm going to put together. It's a 3x6' N-scale layout & I'm in the process of acquiring all the things I need for it. Foam construction using Woodland Scenics products looks ideal for my circumstances.