A Train Odyssey 7, AMTRAK "California Zephyr" (eastbound) Part 3 

Wow!! Would that include the stuffing/dressing, turkey gravy, sweet potatoes/yams, cranberry concoctions, and, for desert, one's choice of either mincemeat pie, or, a full-dress pumpkin pie, complete with real whipped cream topping, garnished with hazelnuts and nutmeg/ginger shavings/cinnamon? Nice to scarf on this tucker, in mid-Summer, for a change--huge thick SLABS of both white and dark meats, straight from the bird's breast! Oh, yes, to start out, a salad featuring pomegranates, bacon bits, pecans, pine nuts, and spinach, in the mix.

@@swithinbarclay4797 The USA has no cuisine, properly speaking, unlike European countries. But the irony of this is that Europeans like more flocking together to US junk food restaurants in the likes of McDonald's and others, discarding their culinary traditions. And overweightness and obesity are increasing, as a consequence.

That’s nice

Raymond Downing, I DID use the squelch function. But squelch only works is there is enough difference in volume between desirable and undesirable audio. In this case, the digital content on some frequencies was as loud or louder than the desirable audio. The only solution was to turn off the offending frequencies, which I did eventually.

@@youtuuba Yea it sucked. I really wanted to hear everything you were saying as I do with all your odyssey videos, but that scanner was driving me insane so I had to mute them.

Rockymountainjazzfan, I appreciate your comment and advice re: the radio scanner. However, I think you overlooked a few things. First, my scanner is powered from the switching power supply from the trains AC power; the RF noise is not likely "passing through" the power supply to the radio, because the circuitry of that type of supply should prevent it. Second, as for the Faraday cage, the crew of the train (conductor, car attendants, engineer, etc) are all using small person radios to communicate with each other, and those would not work reliably if the structure of the train was blocking RF signals. Third, railfans have lots of knowhow and experience using radio scanners on these trains, and many have told me that this particular interference static is not able to be remedied using the squelch control on the scanner, because it is such a strong signal that the radio can't tell it from normal strong signals that I would want to receive; also, they say that particular static is how my analog scanner deals with the digital signals that are increasingly being broadcast on those train frequencies.....if I bought a nicer scanner, it would deal with those without the static.

@@youtuuba "the RF noise is not likely 'passing through' the power supply to the radio, because the circuitry of that type of supply should prevent it." "Should" is the operative word. The circuitry should prevent the RF interference, but many do not. I have PLENTY of experience with that. Second, the "Faraday cage" effect is absolutely an issue. Communication within the train may not be as seriously impaired as the other crew member radios are not a long distance away and may be within the "cage." Also, VHF radio signals are more able to "bend around" things than is a UHF radio signal, but the signal is a much wider width that can be compromised if the signal has to pass through an opening that is smaller than the width of the signal. That is why UHF signals are more widely used in buildings, etc. They are more line-of-sight than a VHF signal, but will pass through smaller openings because the signal width is less. Third, you are correct, a better quality (most likely commercial) portable radio will be more "selective"--that is, better at rejecting unwanted signals while maintaining sensitivity. That is why I also own commercial portables--one being the Icom IC-F3161D, that is both NXDN digital-capable in addition to having excellent analog performance.

@rockymountainjazzfan1822 , the original RF noise is unlikely to pass through a switching power supply, because of how those circuits work. I assume you are referring to the simpler linear power supplies.

@@rockymountainjazzfan1822 "signal width" is called wavelength in telecom lingo; just saying.

"Well sh*t the bed!"

No, the train is specifically timed so that you get the same scenes either way.

@@abyrupus Your are ALMOST right. AMTRAK times the trains so that (assuming they are more or less on schedule) you get to see all of the Rockies and Sierras during the daylight, regardless of direction of travel and/or the time of year. But many scenic regions will be unviewable at times of year when there is less daylight, and if one gives it a moment of thought, of course a train going west and another train going east will not all see the same scenes as the other one, due to running out of daylight at different periods of the route.

Good point, but the dead or dying trees may be caused by insects

Adaptus, at least in some stretches where there were there were a lot of dead trees nearby, I speculated that it was due to fire. But in one of those areas, the conductor was actually on the PA talking about that those trees had been killed by beetles who only successfully attack them when the tress are stressed by drought. I deliberately let the camera keep recording his speech, and did not edit it out.....but the volume was quite low and it is kinda hard to hear.

n9ntm1992, various railfans have told me that some of the frequencies designated for a given train route are now carrying digital information rather than speech, and those frequencies tend to carry 'digital conversations' that last longer than the typical voice messages. The scanner will lock onto any scanned frequency that has a strong communication going on, and won't leave them until they stop transmitting. This does seem to be the likely cause of the static. As this trip progressed, I started disabling the frequencies that appeared to have this kind of static, so the scanner then ignored them, and the static became less.

RubberDuck, the easiest solution is to turn the volume down a bit when the static gets annoying. Different people perceive and react to such things at different levels. I am not about to stop using the scanner, because I like to have it on, and even this static did not bother me while I was shooting the video, because I was focusing my attention on everything else. I take these trips for my own enjoyment.....I am not a professional RU-vidr who takes trips in order to make a living by monetizing the videos. While I like sharing the trips with others, I am not about to decrease my own enjoyment to make random viewers happy. So I will keep doing what I do, warts and all, and individual viewers can deal with the parts they don't like in any way that works for them, or not even watch some videos. Makes no difference to me. And I really got tired of complaints about something as relatively petty as scanner noise, when I have presented such a marvelous trip, all out of my own pocket, at not cost to viewers.

@@shawnelliott7793 , you are making a false comparison. When I take my train trips, they are on my vacation for my own enjoyment, and I bother to shoot my videos in order to preserve the experience and share it with the world, and I get no compensation and all those viewers have no stake or ownership (they are non-contributing), and thus can NOT watch if they don't like it (but they also have no say in the matter, and are out NOTHING if they don't watch). As for Donner Lake, a lot of people spend a lot of money to have homes in such a beautiful and presumably peaceful location. But some people decide to tear around in motorboats. They have nothing more invested, nothing more at stake, than those who live there wanting peace and quiet. There is little similarity between the scenarios.

@@youtuuba What a shitty mentality to have. People enjoy your videos and you enjoy sharing them. There has to be some give and take there. Theres no way you didn't realize the scanner was going to be an issue within the first hour of the trip. I think most people would agree the sound itself wouldn't have been so detracting if the volume was a lot lower. The static was loud and overpowering, breaking the immersion the viewer has from the outside looking in on the journey. Sure, with everything going on there in person it might have been more tolerable. We enjoy these journeys and want them to be a extension of the travel with you, no need for that static being that loud and constant. Also no need for the scanner in between stops. Period.

@davidmadison6071 , wow. You have some nerve deciding that the way I shoot my own videos, made for my own personal reasons and thus not subject to any other authority, is me having a "shifty attitude". Have you heard the expressions "biting the hand that feeds you" and "don't look a gift horse in the mouth"? You should heed those. You also wrote 'there's no way you didn't know the scanner noise would be an issue'. Well, once again you are wrong. You might also benefit from studying up on "psychoacoustics", which clearly explains why it took a long time for it to become more than the slightest bit annoying to me at the time, but seems a lot more annoying when watching the video. Heck, I even said something about it, and eventually turned the scanner volume down. But you, sir, are inexcusable in YOUR attitude.

@@youtuuba Ignore them. I know me personally and many others that enjoy your content, absolutely love the commentary you add during the trip. I hope you realize how much value it adds to them. The sights combined with your commentary, it's like were there with you. Keep up the great work and hopefully we get more train trips soon!

Robert Gill, this particular scanner does not have a separate squelch knob. It has a 'beta' knob that is used to adjust volume, and squelch, and other parameters. I find it a real pain to use.....my older scanner was much more intuitive in this regard, easier and quicker to adjust things. Having said that, I was messing with the squelch a lot over the first day of the route, and I could tell the difference with normal voice transmissions. But I could not see a significant difference to the couple of channels that were causing most of the long-duration static. I was too distracted from watching the scenery go by, keeping track of where the train was, taking notes for later, checking the atlas, and making voice commentary (and also experiencing all the train motion), that I was rarely noticing the static anyway; more like dimly aware of it in the background. I eventually decided that almost all of the static was on two particular channels, and disabled those....first one, and later the other, so the problem became less over the three day trip. Others (mostly railfans) have told me that this static is due to channels that are carrying digital signals rather than voice signals, and my scanner does not know what to do with those signals, and it also tricks the squelch circuit since the signal is so strong. So I don't think the issue is me 'needing to learn how to use the scanner'. If I had paid more attention to the issue during the trip, I could have ameliorated it sooner. It comes down mostly to the phenomenon of 'psychoacoustics'. When a human is in an environment with various background noises, and their mind is occupied doing something beside focusing on the noise, after a while they just don't perceive it at all, 'hearing' only the sounds they are focused on. But if a sound recording is made of the same exact location at the same time, and played back later and listened to by a person that is not subject to the same non-acoustic stimulus as the original listener, their mind will notice the background noise and will have a hard time tuning it out.

Charles Lott, whatever do you mean? Are you saying you missed ot in person, or did not see it in my video ?

@@youtuuba did not see it in your video

@@charleslott7231 , well it is there. Go look for it again. It boggles the mind why you left a comment like you did. Perhaps you were distracted or were fast forwarding.

@@youtuuba thank you

Problably beacuse you were too distracted by the constant loud static of his scanner.

So many dead trees along the route!

Nathanwooley, the issue with scanner noise in this video is NOT due to incorrect squelch adjustment. This has been discussed many times in comments. It is apparently due to my analog scanner receiving digital data on certain channels, and not being designed to deal with it, simply plays noise. If I adjusted the squelch for THAT, I would not hear the other channels.

CB Johnson, maybe you should stop wearing orange glasses.

@@youtuuba Maybe you should use some color correction software.

@@johnp139 Or turn the volume down on the damn scanner. No need for it to be that loud and obtrusive. A lower volume would have made it more tolerable for the viewer, while still having the radio as the creator. Win-win.

So many dead trees along the route!

Jane Lee, did you even bother to think out your comment before sending it? I guess not.

I am sorry. I didnt me to be disrecpectable. My voice thingy was on i said it out loud and it typed. I promise not to comment on anything else

@@youtuuba I do enjoy your videos and watch them many times again and again. I also found the radio so distracting that I turned the video off.

EXACTLY !!! That is annoying!!!!

@@jFrosty2842 , I certainly understand that if something about a video annoys you, that you decide to stop watching. That is your prerogative. But I have sat here, since posting the 8 part California Zephyr trip, watching them again from the perspective of a viewer, not a videographer or editor. I can hear the radio 'static', but if I focus on the scenery my mind soon tunes out the noise and I barely notice it. And if it DID bother me, I would turn down the volume rather than stop watching, as there is not much important sound in these videos. To each his own. But I also know that there is NOTHING like this video on RU-vid, that puts the viewer THERE in these extended, spectacular areas, and in my view, seeing all this is worth the effort of dealing with the potentially annoying background sounds.