Re: TMCC Signal Problem

["Ira Schneider" <ira_schneider@iname.com>]

Adrian,

He said the ground plane could be between the ties.  I assume that means we could
simply attach a wire to the top of the deck, between the adjacent tracks.

I don't think having it below the deck would work, but I am not sure.  If it was below the
deck, I think it would be difficult to ensure that it was between the outside rails of
the adjacent tracks, especially on the corners and transition modules.  Since the
signal is being radiated from the rails which are above the deck, I don't know if
placing a ground plane below the deck would be effective.  The idea of the ground
plane is to provide a path for the RF signal to ground, effectively blocking the
signal from propagating past the ground plane.

If we find a ground plane works at all, we could try the same experiment by putting
the wire below the deck and seeing whether or not it has any effect.

Of course, if the ground plane helps us, we have the minor problem of finding
some way of getting the earth ground connection from the power box to the modules
and propagating it around the layout.  The current 6-wire cable between the power
box and the layout is full.  Also, the wiring harnesses on the sidings are completely
full.  There is one unused wire in the 6-conductor harness on the other modules.
However, since it is unused, we have no way of knowing whether or not it is
actually connected to the Jones plugs on all modules.


Ira