Radio reception LONG Ducting QQ - UP Trace req 9-1-11 Thurs

[daniel3197]

Would someone very kind and generous help me answer a nagging question and
a mystery. I was monitoring the "Greater Sacramento Area"
Railroad Radio feed from Radioreference dot com (ROCKLIN area)
on Thursday night just after about
11:20 PM PDT (California Time) Sept 1, 2011 Thursday.
I downloaded the audio archive from radioreference just
after the 18 minutes - 48 seconds mark **into** the recording
Here is what was said over the radio pretty lound and clear:
" 8508 west - All RED -- STOPPED -- MARSH---MAIN 1"


The feed traffic did NOT hear what road the 8508 was
so the most likely would be UP or BNSF.

The ONLY control point MARSH that I know of is located
on the UP Lakeside subdivision milepost 746.2
(former SP Lucin cutoff) near the Great Salt Lake in UTAH.
Does anyone know of ANY Control Point or station "MARSH" in the
northern California area closer to Roseville--Rocklin area that would explain this ???
That is why a trace of the whereabouts of the UP or BNSF 8508 on LATE Thurs 9-1-11
would solve this mystery.

IF--IF--IF this is what I suspect, then I heard a radio transmission
from an AMAZING distance of about 470 miles from the
receiver in Rockin, CA. That's correct 470 air miles away
from the feed radio in Rocklin, CA according to the Google Earth ruler tool.
That same distance by road would take you all the way from
Palo Alto, CA to San Diego, CA -- WOW !!!
Thank you so very very much to any kind soul who can help answer my mystery !

By the way, has anyone heard ANY railroad radio traffic from
about 400 to 500 miles away before???
This seems like such an impossible distance for radio signals to carry ,
however you just never know what can be possible.
----- Daniel

 

[roee]

CP MARSH is RV038 on the UP Martinez Sub. This CP was added sometime in early 2009. Still a pretty good distance from Sacramento, 50 miles or so.

 

[Pie-annie-tuner101]

hello all
if it were to happen, it is a VHF phenomenon known as tropospheric ducting. it does happen on occasion... but the prior explanation is probably correct. tropo happens in the 6m band and 2m band and thunderstorms and other weather activity have a lot to do with it as well. and that is to the best of my recollection with out looking anything up on google.

73'
mark

 

[daniel3197]

My bad, I just looked thru the last
Altamont Press California Timetable 20 of March 2009 and see this CP Listed.
This Control Point is a NEW one paid for by the Amtrak Capitol Corridor at MP 38.0 on the Cal P.
Milepost 38 is located between CP Benicia (MP 34.5) and CP Cordelia (MP 42.3).
This means that the historic "Overland Route" now
has TWO (2) stations /control points named "MARSH".
There is this one located about 4 miles east of Benicia, CA and
the Great Salt Lake one located at MP 746 (former SP LUCIN CUTOFF ).
I shall definitely NOT forget about this control point
Aaargh !! The confusion of it all - sometimes !

---- Daniel

 

[ANDREWAMTRAK]

I get radio skip all the time. I live in Western Washington near Olympia and i occasionally pick up the Pasco East Dispatcher in Pasco, 239 miles away and across the mountains.

 

[roee]

This means that the historic "Overland Route" now
has TWO (2) stations /control points named "MARSH".

That is why UP uses the Letter (or 2) and number combination for it's control point naming. Since Union Pacific is made up of so many different former railroads it's likely that the names will be repeated, but there is only one RV038.