s182ggu Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Good Evening, All I've just returned from an evening at our clubrooms where I was approached by one of our fellow members, not a member of this parish - yet!, who raised an DCC sound issue with me that I had not heard of before, so perhaps there are some you that may be able to shed some light for us. My colleague has a Bachmann Class 37 (D6711 - the Collectors Edition) into which he has fitted an SWD 21-pin Loksound V4 sound decoder. This loco runs just fine on our clubroom DCC test track and produces all those nice sounds that we all enjoy listening to. At home, his layout is also DCC and he has several other sound equipped locos, all of which behave exactly as one would expect and some of these are also fitted with SWD Lok V4s. However.....when he comes to run D6711, he places it on the track, enters the address and finds the loco OK. Now comes the mysterious bit. When he selects F1 to run the start up sequence, the loco starts up just fine, but the radio signal to his DAB radio is killed off completely!! If he then selects F1 again to shut the loco down, the radio signal returns!! This only happens with the Class 37. Can anyone advise us of what might be the issue here? All suggestions will be gratefully received, so thanks in advance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted April 12, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 12, 2012 Might be some odd combination of decoder and loco' electronics. Has the original on board capacitor been removed? If so it could be the decoder is not doing it's RFI job properly. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baldrick25 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Has the track bus been terminated in a 'snubber' circuit ( resistor/capacitor network to prevent 'ringing' ) and is the layout wired as a 'roundy-roundy or as a 'shunting plank'. If the former make sure that there is an electrical track break on the opposite side of the layout to the power feed. As an alternative, try moving the physical location of the DAB radio as they are broadband devices and will pick up everyting from the correct RF to vaccuum cleaners. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted April 12, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 12, 2012 Has the track bus been terminated in a 'snubber' circuit ( resistor/capacitor network to prevent 'ringing' ) and is the layout wired as a 'roundy-roundy or as a 'shunting plank'. If the former make sure that there is an electrical track break on the opposite side of the layout to the power feed. As an alternative, try moving the physical location of the DAB radio as they are broadband devices and will pick up everyting from the correct RF to vaccuum cleaners. Good advice on the roundy-roundy, although I'm not sure what you mean by broadband in regard to DAB. ANY electronic device can and will pick up interference if the field strength is great enough to bypass the filtering. Moving the radio away or to another area could stop interference due to the inverse square law, i.e. if you move away by an amount the received signal will decrease by the square of that amount. If that solves the problem OK, but it doesn't actually find out what's going on, and is someone else suffering. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold SHMD Posted April 12, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 12, 2012 Hi, Radio "Field Strength" drops off as a, sort of, exponential decay away from the transmitter. (Many, many variables involved here!) In this case, the transmitting antenna is a Model Railway! (And I can't think of a more 'wired', or complex, antenna than a Model Railway.) I agree, the answer to this mystery lies with the Suppression, or lack thereof. Or even Earthing! Check that the DAB is Earthed. (It may not be though - if battery operated or double insulated in design.) Is "one of his other locos" also a 37? If so, you could wip the bodies off both and compare! Regards, Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcoblanco Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 I have problems with lok4s equipped locos interfering with a dab radio since moving house. Previously all was fine and dab reception perfect. I note lok3.5 dont interfere with the dab radio at all where im living now, just the 4s. A quite irritating problem.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 DAB radios are very sensitive to interference - my battery powered job will not work in a workroom lit by fluorescent tubes and its signal is also blotted out in the kitchen by the mercifully brief operation of an electric spice grinder. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albie the plumber Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Strange problem but I would have to ask why anyone would want to have the radio on while listening to the music that an EE 16 cylinder makes ? If I watch a you tube video featuring a sound chipped loco , the Radio /TV is either turned off or turned down Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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