Katie,
Carry your HT - folks won't flip - in fact, you'll find them asking you for info! (if you see a big fat guy on the 1 train with a huge green backpack - nod and say hello).

I got lucky in the what, 2003 (or was it 02?) blackout, as my train was in the station

I've been "stuck" in a tunnel a few times, but never had to be evacuated. Most of the time it's been because the train in front of us had a "man under" situation. Thing is, USUALLY they can hold you 1 station back - they open the doors - and you sit for 45-60 minutes or so

The lights in the train DO stay on in a power loss situation - they have BIG batteries, but they go to about 1/4 brightness. The train crew will tend to let you know what is going on, leaving out the gory stuff "Due to a passenger incident in the station ahead, we will be delayed here for the indefinate future" - or if they have more details on how long, they will let you know. This is when whipping out the HT gets you more details for "what to do" (helpfull during the flooding problems a few weeks back) - The MTA Platform director at 42nd st and I were comparing radios - he said mine was easier to understand (I carry a UHF and VHF pair of GE M/RKs or M/PAs)

Not a Ham guy, do you have a link or links to these radios. They sound like they'd be very useful.

By the by: The new SOG multi tools with glass breaker is out now. Anyone give us a review?
simon

Once on MTA in Jersey we lost power a mile shy of the next station. We ended up getting out and walking to the station, then having a diesel take us to Hoboken as a re-direct since the mainline to Penn Station was out. There were folks in the tunnel under the Hudson when the power went out, and they were kept there for hours. That would not be too cool. I've seen parts of the subway where the only way to get out of the train would be the front of back as the walls on both sides were too close for a body like mine to fit between.

If your not a ham, you'd be a LOT better off with a quality scanner - I'm not kidding.

The radios I carry cover MUCH fewer frequencies, when you have them in scan are slower, they weigh more, and programming them requires special software and cables. The only plus is that they can transmit if you have a license to do so, and as these radios go down to the ham bands, I do - but only on the ham frequencies

I'm lucky in that I have access to the programming gear through a friend

Which scanner would you recommend? I have a multi-band radio, AM/FM/SW, but I take it you're talking about a scanner for the comm channels. TIA

Thanks. I'm in Boston, so the chances that I'll see you on the 1 aren't that great. I don't know if I've ever seen the T in full emergency light mode, but I do know that the lights/HVAC cut out between stations with some frequency, and that no emergency lights automatically come on. Hopefully that's not indicative of what would happen in an emergency, but you never know.

Unfortunately, we don't have redundant tracks in Boston, so if the train in front of you is disabled for some reason, you're not going anywhere since they can't route around it. "Man under" in Boston == "There's been a medical emergency..."

I have a friend who was on the subway at Chambers St. on 9/11, and was evacuated. He said that the worst part about it was that the train crew and transit police told them that there was a fire, and everyone had to evacuate to the surface. Everyone assumed that meant "fire in the station/tunnel", and when they got to the surface things were in chaos, and the whole group was paralyzed trying to figure out what was actually going on, and where to go.

Gad, I don't know - I haven't looked at what's available in years - check a Radio Shack catalog, and also look at Uniden and Bearcat

I did some surfing and found the Icom-R5 and the Yaesu VR-120 as most likely to fit my needs.

Be sure and visit RadioReference.com to find the frequencies of interest. You can also read discussion threads on a by-State basis.

Many agencies are using digital technology and there are presently only a very, very few scanners that can understand it.

I suggest you learn the parameters of the systems you want to monitor THEN pick your radio.

(Without a digital-capable scanner you wouldn't hear half the action here in Colorado.)