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Train Remote? Been There!

Train Remote? Been There!

First live remote from a choo-choo train?
In response to our news item “Broadcast From Train Called a First,” one reader replies:
“Sorry, but George Marti did it long ago in Texas. I wasn’t with the company at the time, but stories are still told of how he did a remote using an RPT2 on the train transmitting to an airplane flying above the train, which then linked back to the studio. I only wish I’d been there to take part in it.” The reply is from Dave Hallow of Marti Electronics/Broadcast Electronics.
Of course, that remote required the use of an airplane.
Separately, Dennis Jackson writes, “WMEX(FM) VP/GM Good Guy Gary James did his morning show live from The Downeaster, a moving Amtrak train headed from Portland, Maine, to Boston, last June on WMEX, now 106.5 FM in Rochester, N.H. He did the same (different train, though) 25 years ago on 1250/WARE in Ware, Mass. And I believe Ed Perry broadcast from an excursion line he helped to re-establish from Boston through Cranberry Country to Cape Cod, the entire area being served by his WATD, 95.9 in Marshfield, Mass.”
The responses came after we reported that Connecticut station WNTY(AM) had arranged a live broadcast of the program “Travel World” from a moving train on a cross-country tour of Canada, using a cell phone and Comrex Blue Box codec. The station had believed it to be the first live remote from a moving train. Obviously not.
Station Manager Charlie Profit said his research hadn’t turned up those earlier remotes.
“But this live broadcast from the train is still intriguing and important, given the idea of combining cell phone and codec technology. It will be instrumental in determining the possibility of a ‘practical’ broadcast service that anyone could duplicate.”
The remote is being streamed at www.wntyam990.com. Profit said anyone interested in an air check of the broadcast can send an e-mail to [email protected].

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