Re: Interference With Other Club's Using Lionel Legacy

[Steve Wise <swise@aoot.com>]

Ira Schneider wrote:
> Here are my two cents worth.
>
>   

Hey Ira!

I only have 1 cents worth (sign of the times?) :)


> We will probably not have enough CAB-2 handheld controllers for everyone at
> the World's Greatest Hobby On Tour show, so we will probably still have to
> use some of our CAB-1's and the TMCC command base.
>
>   

Yup.

> Even if members volunteer to bring enough CAB-2's, do we really want
> to rely on untested technology for our entire layout?  What I mean by that
> is that we have never used Legacy and CAB-2's at a show.  We do not
> know anything about battery life for the CAB-2's or their operating range
> inside the San Antonio Convention Center.  (We have seen problems
> in the past where our command control systems don't work very well in
> certain venues.  For example, the MTH DCS system doesn't appear to
> work at all at the Live Oak Civic Center, while it works just fine elsewhere.
> We have seen problems with the Lionel TMCC system at other venues.)
>
>   

Agreed.  We need cab-1/tmcc1 for the near future at least.  And we need 
to experiment with cab2 at a show to see how it holds up, provided we 
have back plans.  And we have exactly that for WGH methinks.

I don't think this thread was actually suggesting we use only cab-2s for 
WGH.  I think we're more talking about what we do going forward.


> I have no problem with using the Legacy system at the WGH show,
> as long as we have a backup plan in case it doesn't work.  Right
> now, we can disconnect the Legacy system at any time if there is a
> problem.  If we are counting on the Legacy system to completely
> solve the addressing conflicts (if they even exist at this show),
> we have no way to fall back to the TMCC system.
>   

We'll definitely need the cab-1s/tmcc1 at WGH.

So we _do_ need to figure out if we're gonna have collisions with train 
ids and eng ids.   It may not be an issue if we're far enough away??

One solution is to have a central UBER-FAT controller for the whole show 
and folks must register their eng/tr ids with the UBER-FAT controller.


> I agree that we can try to use the multiple frequency feature of the
> Legacy system to minimize our potential interference problems.
> If it works at the WGH show, this would totally solve the problem
> at the TCA Train Meet, since no one else there was using Legacy
> last year.  However, we would need enough CAB-2 handhelds
> for everyone to use (i.e. at least four, and preferably five).
>
>   

And the cab-2's aren't cheap.

Here's a proposal (for going forward):

1) keep the cab-1s and tmcc1 system.  Replace the crystals so we have a 
good chance of not conflicting with any other club.  (need to research 
this, but I think its easy and cheap).

2) buy the legacy system and an expansion set for the club.  This will 
give us the legacy base and 2 cab-2s. (several hundred dollar expense)

3) As we all get cozy with cab-2 and agree its the bee's knees, we can 
purge cab-1/tmcc1 altogether.  But we'll need 2 or 3 more extension sets 
as ira points out.  I would keep the cab-1/tmcc1 technology (as opposed 
to selling it) as a backup...

Fodder for thought...


Cheers!

Stevo