ATCS and tracking train movements?

[tree68]

blhanel

CSX has long been unmonitorable by ATCS,

That was a great thing at Deshler - watching the ATCS screen to see what was lined.  Then a black hole appeared (disappeared?) at the North Baltimore IM facility, followed shortly thereafter by the rest of the line.

I think they are still using the same system, but the communications are now via satellite, which may or may not be decipherable for the common man.  

[blhanel]

CSX has long been unmonitorable by ATCS, and BNSF is actively switching their system over to something similar, making them unmonitorable as well.  Two BNSF subs that I liked to monitor while watching VRF streaming webcams have "gone dark".  Sad times...

[tree68]

longhorn1969

So ATCS is ending? 

More like public access to it may be ending, or at least less accessible.  

Many areas have gone to satellite instead of terrestial radio, so you can't pick it up anyhow.

[longhorn1969]

So ATCS is ending? 

[MikeF90]

Overmod

Apparently the Verizon/Oath organization is going to reverse Yahoo's previous policies and facilitate mass download of the content, possibly including the members list and contact information.

I don't think so - all groups will become Private. IMO this Files phaseout probably is due to some groups massively abusing the feature. There are plenty of other sites where video or picture collections are welcome - good riddance.

The ATCS Monitor group has a very small volume of files (monitoring kits) so the policies of groups.io shouldn't be a deterrent. In fact, two other groups that I belong to were migrated very cleanly due to their migration tool; I didn't even have to set up an account myself!

UPDATE - the overwhelming preference of the group site and kit custodians is to move to groups.io ; one person suggested Facepalm which got severe negative reaction (good!). The migration tool has a small one time charge to which many folks have volunteered a contribution.

It also appears that remaining groups will revert to being email listservs       - welcome to 1990!

[steve-in-kville]

Wished I would have had tracking ability this morning... it was non-stop, one train right after another, going both directions. Started around 3:30 - 4am. Lots of radio chatter coming from the trains themselves. Maybe they had to switch tracks or something and it was slowing everyone down. Never heard it that busy before.

[Overmod]

If you were to join the ATCS Monitor Yahoo Group and be approved quickly, you would have just under two months to download copies of the current content and archived messages.  Apparently the Verizon/Oath organization is going to reverse Yahoo's previous policies and facilitate mass download of the content, possibly including the members list and contact information.

A drawback is that any 'hurry-up' upload of Wiki Project collateral to the Files or Photos sections, e.g. to get the 'latest' corrected versions of software on the record, will have to be done in less than a week's time.

Likely, moving to groups.io will be of limited if any real benefit, as that company charges for storage above relatively low limits for both files and photos together.  That would involve either some members subsidizing an ongoing cost for hosting data at groups.io, or a charge for membership going forward, either of which is unlikely for many organizations of this kind.  It is possible, but I don't think likely, that the principal at groups.io will either decide to provide more generous storage 'free' or make arrangements to include inline material like graphics or program code in posts.

[MikeF90]

The ATCS Monitor documentation is a bit of a dogs breakfast. Hence on the Yahoo group there are many newbie questions that should have been easier to find the answer for. This group has not moved to groups.io, although there is repeated talk of it due to the Yahoo powers constantly mucking with the Files storage.

The software version is now 4.2.6, erroneously labeled Beta as it is now required for most monitoring kits.

There are two 'modes': off-air and network. The former requires a specially modified scanner or a compatible commercial radio, and is used to capture radio signals for investigation and decoding. The latter mode is almost all of the usage - the monitoring kit for a given subdivision connects to an 'aggregator' server on the Internet which distributes signals from multiple receivers.

There is a spin off project 'rail.watch' which has developed digital signal processing techniques using open source software; together with Software Defined Radios the intent is to reduce dependence on expensive, hard to get analog radios. The final decoding stage still requires the proprietary, closed source Windows application (runs on Win2K to Win10). Disclaimer - I have not investigated this project much so I may have some details wrong or omitted.

As explained in the docs the ATCSMon app cannot transmit ATCS commands, only received data is processed.

I hope I haven't munged up the explanations too much.

To the OP, the Data files sections shows a number of NS Harrisburg kits which have been updated circa 2017 or newer.

EDIT: looks like I spoke too soon. Yahoo is stopping the file upload function on very short notice. This probably will require the ATCS Monitor group to move off of Yahoo. Stand by ....

[IbanezGuiness]

The ATCS Yahoo Group is still active. You MUST join this ground to get the software. 

[Overmod]

steve-in-kville

I was told there is a website I could register with and use, but google search is coming up dry. Ideas?

Your immediate entry point is likely to Google "ATCS Monitor" (www.atcsmon.com).  The production version listed as 'stable' hasn't been updated since 2010, but it was linked to the aforementioned ATCS Yahoo Group and should still run on many PCs under Windows or even an emulator like Wine.

This, like other Yahoo Groups, may have been 'moved' to groups.io in the wake of the great Melissa Meltdown.  I don't see anything immediate over there with more than a few members, so I suspect you'd still be 'good to go' joining Yahoo, even if the registration procedure is onerous and the long-term promise of the Groups platform still undefined by Verizon/Oath.  Once you have ATCS Monitor loaded, you could look at the WilliamsATCS group on groups.io, which doesn't have many members but might have great assistance in setting up and configuring 'layouts' for display.

Note that the Yahoo Group is now indicated as a SECONDARY source for the ATCS Monitor group's activities:  they indicate that their Wiki Project is the current place to go -- http://atcs-wiki-beta.greatlakesnetworking.net/index.php/Main_Page , but 'like it or not' that site doesn't appear to be fully active.  

If you apply to join ATCS Monitor on Yahoo, you will receive a request via e-mail to provide certain identification to an e-mail address ([e-mail]) within 48 hours.  This includes full name, city and state address, interests, how you intend to use ATCS Monitor, whether you are a ham (give callsign if so), how you became aware of ATCS Monitor (be specific!) and what your Yahoo ID is.

[steve-in-kville]

I looked a little closer and found someone who does stream this online, but its a closed group. I'll dig into it further this evening.

[tree68]

ATCS, where available (more on that in a moment), provides a display much like what the dispatcher sees on his/her screen, which is to say route line-up and block occupancy.

Use of ATCS by railfans requires that someone has a receiver and server set up to receive and process the ATCS information, then make it available on-line.  That works OK if a given railroad is still using radio to transmit the data.  

Setting up the receiver and server is very much a local effort.  I don't believe it's possible to gather nationwide information.

CSX, for one, has gone to satellite for their ATCS information transmission.  To my knowledge, no one has cracked that nut yet.  Deshler, OH is an example of an area that was RF fed but is now satellite.  Fans could sit in the pavilion at the park and see that trains were lined through the complex.

That iteration of ATCS required that users had a client on their computer with the appropriate information for that installation.

No version of ATCS that I saw showed train symbols.  Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but I haven't seen it.  

There was a Yahoo group with information about ATCS.  I don't know if it's still active.

Your first task if you wanted to create your own ATCS display would be to determine how the ATCS information is broadcast.  Then, if you can pull in that info, you've got to set up a computer to process the information you pick up with your receiver (for the RF version, any scanner or other radio capable of the appropriate frequencies) and get the info ported over from the radio to the computer (ham radio has devices for doing exactly that).

You may be able to do the same thing with satellite, unless the data is encrypted.

[steve-in-kville]

I was reading up on this. I'd like to be able to monitor the train movement more closely as I live by NS' Harrisburg line. I was told there is a website I could register with and use, but google search is coming up dry. Ideas? I monitor by radio by all I get most of the time is the detector in town.