Minor editorial error

When I submitted the column, I had the text in the SMP section conforming to Digitrax' verbiage.

Since that does not conform to normal text, it was edited.

What appears as "option switches" is "Option Switches" in Digitrax parlance.

There are currently 23 votes on my column

HO please

Don't hold up on the HO version. I don't do N scale so cruised right on past this month's article.

Thanks!

Thanks for the N scale decoder installs!

Being an N scaler and a DCC go-to guy for several people in my area, I always look forward to your column.

I don't know if you get into this, but a column on N scale sound would be interesting, as I have an N scale Atlas GP40 that I would like to put sound in someday. It seems that I've heard that someone makes a sound decoder for it (with frame milling required).

Andrew

N scale Decoders

Hi Bruce; Keep up the good work.  I have been in N Scale for 25 years and have torn down my old layout and am building a new one and switching to DCC.  Anything you can help with in your articles is appreciated greatly.  I want to print your installs for N scale to have at the work bench and can not seem to get each page to print properly.  I've never had this problem before and my work bench has no room for this desk top computer.  Hope in the future I will be able to print the installs.  Can't keep going back and forth between rooms.  Have been studying DCC for a year now but need to refer as I work.  Thanks Doug R.

RE: HO please

Alan -

You must have missed the second paragraph of the column.

Are you a Digitrax user? Did you read the SMP?

Time

Read SMP. Misspoke earlier. Should have said very quickly scanned.

Haven't had a chance yet

n scale dcc

Sir. I installed a tcs cn-cp decoder into an older atlas rs-3. I had first tried a cn that claimed it was a fit. It was not. the shell would not fit over the decoder. (shell was too short) Thanks to the good people at caboose hobbies and tcs. I exchanged the cn for a cn-gp. This was much closer but still needed sanding out the inside of the shell. 

     I also would like some articles on dcc sound.  Thanks,  John

N scale DCC installation

HO

Bruce,

I've read each of your columns, even the N scale stuff, and have extracted valuable info from each.  I'm even taking notes.

I've also read quite a bit at MrDCCU.   Thanks for all you do.

Ideas:    I can hardly wait for HO specific installs.  I've got some locos that I'd love to put sound in; the machining appears to be the big IF. 

Question:  Is the monthly column restricted to DCC-specific topics, or will you eventually branch into more general model railroad electronics areas?  Or will you leave that to the specific forums and yahoo groups?

F59PHI Athearn DCC ...

Hello,

I'm French and I read with interest the article by Bruce Petrarca. I
would like to mention the case of F59PHI, I have two, the old and the new
version. I have wired the old version like Bruce with a Lenz Silver Mini
decoder. The new version is different because Athearn has made changes to the
frame to accommodate the  tsunami decoder. The new frame is DCC ready but
nobody gives decoder's references. So I've compare and I've tried the
Digitrax DN163K1 ( For SD40-2 KATO post 2006), it works very well without any
modifications to the frame but you must write the value 07 in the  CV29 to
reverse the NDOT because the decoder is mounted upside down with respect to
a SD40-2 KATO.Don't forget the insulation (not shown in the picture).
 

The photo shows the old (bottom) and the new (top) version of the F59PHI. You
can see the differents decoders.

Maybe you know this information, unknown in France anyway.

Thank you very,

Regards

PS: My apologies if my English is wrong

I thank you . . .

That is what MRH Magazine is all about.

N scale decoder Install

Bruce,

I also am a N-scaler with 9x15 size...and I have been seriously considering DCC...currently layout is designed as a dual cab DC...but with DCC in the back on my mind.  I am doing 1950's with a lot of F3's and 7's, and GP's so I am trying to figure out my cost ahead of time.  Sometimes there is just so much info it seems to be confusing.

So I thank you for your article, good job. 

By all means...

Bruce,

By all means, please do the HO install article and continue to write about all that is DCC. The information that you have provided in previous articles is extremely helpful, and I look forward to your column in every edition.

As an aside, I have been installing my own decoders ever since I purchased the old Keller Engineering system back in the late 1980's. After reading your article in the January 2012 edition of MRH, I decided it was finally time to purchase the right materials and stop trying to save a few bucks. I had just completed a custom painted and detailed Stewart C628 with a Tsunami decoder using- you guessed it- all the materials you said to avoid. I replaced the black electrical tape with Kapton tape, removed the white foam tape used to hold the speaker with 3M Scotch tape, etc. And replacing the wires to the trucks with 29 AWG 51 strand wire corrected the tendency of the trucks to skew to one side. Thanks to your article, I now have a loco that performs flawlessly and will hopefully do so for many years to come.

Keep up the great work.

Tom Patterson

Don, RE: HO

RE: By all means . . .

DCC Decoder Install

Thank You!!! Finally a decoder install that is easy to understand and taken out of the daily practice! I just converted my LifeLike 2-8-8-2 and it runs like charm.

DCC Decoder install

NON FUNCTIONING TCS 1004 FL4

I have a CNW commuter with cab car that I have been itching to light prototypically.  So, I recently purchased a TCS 1004 FL4 decoder and LED lights and resistors.  During the instillation I followed the wiring directions.  Before soldering the connections I twisted the wires together and road tested the unit on my programming track.  The tail light, headlight, and MARS light worked perfectly.  Then I soldered all connections and road tested unit again.  To my surprise, nothing worked.  I reread (multiple times) the instructions, tried reprogramming decoder, and still no lights.  Please help me.  Although I am a rocket scientist, I can not figure out what happened or what I did wrong.  

TCS return policy

FMLMC,