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Has anyone ever 'tuned into 1630 AM for train information on the CR?
By PegH on Wed, 12/25/2019 - 7:52am
The electronic boards, when not providing inaccurate train arrival and departure times at outlying stations all suggest that we, the riding public, tune into '1630 AM radio'. When I googled the station, I got a message that the station was no longer on the air....
Well, i guess defunct AM radio is as good as missing GPS...
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Comments
Supposedly
According to the below web link AM 1630 is a Brighton-based community radio station. However the website seems a bit unusual.
http://radioindependentvoice.weebly.com/
Before that was Allston-Brighton Free Radio
I was involved in a station using that frequency prior..We ceased broadcasting and webcasting in 2005. I had no idea someone else took up the frequency or the effort after us. On Part 15 compliance, our transmission wasn't too useful. With a few measures to "help" it along, it was useful for area seniors, immigrants and technophobes without online access.
But back in 1997/1998, we were FM! Radio Free Allston.
May have Geo Limits
The AM Radio band runs from about 530 to 1600 but there are a few stations elsewhere that run at 1630. It is possible that this is a low power station that has geo limits. According to old articles on this topic it was supposed to be rolled out at stations allowing people to sit and wait in their cars and when a commuter train was approaching, you would get a broadcast stating the train was on its way. Whether that is still functional is unknown to me. MassDOT had a similar system at one time for road conditions and traffic jams.
Many stations still have a system tied in to the train's wayside signals (the red and green signals for trains at trackside) that bellows "Train Approaching."
With the advent of GPS and various apps for your phone would not surprise me that this may have been abandoned.
The AM band actually goes to 1700 now
1630 used to be above the top end of the AM band, and was reserved for so-called "travelers information stations" (TIS) which are low-powered stations typically run by turnpike authorities and the like, for announcements directed at motorists. There are still TIS stations, but I don't think the MBTA ever built many of theirs, as none of the commuter rail stations I've been at actually had anything on the air at 1630. There's never been anything audible at Needham Heights, the station I'm most familiar with.
Short range transmission at the train sta, not a real radio sta.
It is my understanding that this broadcast is only available at the station, as stated above. I have heard it in the car before and it is a computer voice of the exact same thing scrolling on the message board. And yes, if you're just standing on the platform who has an AM radio?
Who has AM radio
Doesn't apply to iPhones but most Android phones have a radio receiver built in. All you need is an app such as myTuner Radio app, Radio Pick, or Simple Radio to pick up AM/FM.
RailRadio, as the MBTA calls the service,
is similar to the Highway Advisory Radio broadcasts many states have sling their highways, but has even shorter range than those transmitters. Supposedly, the idea behind the system was to enable people to stay in their cars, especially on a hot or cold day, until just before the train arrives. As such, the transmissions were very brief and train specific, and did not broadcast more general alerts about broader delays on a specific line. Overall, it was a questionable idea executed very poorly and at considerable expense. And the next time someone tries to convince you that placing ticket purchase kiosks at outlying CR stations is impractical or too expensive, say to them "Well, what about RailRadio?"
Anyone remember
Tunnel Radio? That was awesome.