Many years ago the Boston MBTA abandoned its UHF analog conventional system for a new EDACS ProVoice Digital Trunking communication system. After that point the MBTA subway and bus operations went silent for scanner listeners in the metro Boston area. Scanner manufacturer Uniden Bearcat just announced a huge breakthrough for its customers: the Uniden Bearcat BCD436HP and BCD536HP scanners can now monitor the Digital ProVoice format with a paid upgrade.
Many years ago I worked as a contractor at the MBTA as a media liaison. I would update the MBTA website about delays, cancellations, and problems throughout the system. If there were major delays or problems, I would need to contact the Boston media outlets. The coolest part of the job was working in the MBTA Operation Control Center (OCC). The OCC is the home of the MBTA Subway operations. This room has a huge half circle video wall with long semicircle desks. At the desks you would find dispatchers for each line. The MBTA Green and Red lines would have two dispatchers. The Blue and Orange lines would have one. On the huge video wall, dispatchers could track all the subway trains, signals and so on. They could also control everything from signals to switches from this central location. My desk was right next to the Blue Line dispatcher. There was old Radio Shack realistic scanner, I was able to program all the UHF frequencies for the bus, subway, commuter rails, and MBTA police (now known as the Transit Police). That got me hooked and I was listening to everything from then on. I got to know some amazing people in the OCC and I even learned how to read the video wall. Becoming a dispatcher in the OCC wasn’t something you just did overnight. The women and men of the OCC spent many years working in the field, working as anything from motormen to track walkers before they could become OCC dispatchers. I’m so happy I had that opportunity to work in the OCC.
When I found about about the update, I was quite excited. It’s really great to hear the familiar communications of the MBTA subway and bus operations once again.
