Crosland

I was outbid on a book, so bought the same item from an Amazon seller for less than the winning bid (inc postage). Some bidders just do not do their homework

I'm still living it I can think of very, very few situation where a mobile is neccessary where we didn't cope previously. Don't get me started on people who need to use one whilst driving... The most useful use for a smartphone is to run WiThrottle or Engine Driver. Andrew

Or, fill in the missing pieces, remove the unneccessary pieces and spin the other way Control software = bluetooth software stack = bluetooth transmitter = bluetooth transmission = bluetooth receiver = bluetooth software stack = accessory/ loco control As against Control software = computer interface = DCC bus transmission = DCC decoder = accessory/loco control. Andrew

Any system with similar capabilities to DCC is going to require configuration, call it CVs, or whatever. Tuning loco speeds, setting up consists, setting function behaviour, etc,... If all it really requires is a better user interface then there is no real obstacle to achieving that with DCC? How do you see Bluetooth on its own providing user simplicity, other than to the simplest use cases bu the simplest user? It doesn't, it's just a communications medium. You need to decouple bluetooth as a technology from what the system provides or is capable of. There's nothing magical about bluetooth that couldn't be achieved in other ways. Andrew

It's not clear if you are talking about a simple Bluetooth radio interface or an integrated chip with radio and processor to run the software stack. Which of the latter are 10s of pence in volumes likely to be used by decoder manufacturers? The price of the interface or processor is only part of the cost of a decoder and DCC decoders (apart from sound decoders) do not use expensive chips. An integrated chip with Bluetooth radio interface and processor is likely to be a similar cost. What really matters, however, is the production volume of the final product. USB-Bluetooth interfaces, for example, are made in the 1,000,000s and may well become 2 a penny. Loco decoders, whether Bluetooth or DCC are made in much smaller volumes and development costs are amortized over those smaller volumes. Andrew

There is no advantage over DCC. DCC already has "direct connection to software driven computing devices". There are already a number of software packages from free open source to closed, proprietary and expensive. I know of, probably half a dozen, home brew systems connecting computers directly to the layout. The real issues for layout automation, regardless of the transmission medium is instrumenting the layout, designing the panels, signalling logic and interlocking, etc. Merely switching to Bluetooth solves none of this. Already done for a number of layout control systems. Note I don't say DCC as this is outside the core scope of DCC I'm not against using Bluetooth (or IR or Wifi or ...) but lets be honest about what it brings to the party. Andrew

In what way is DCC proprietary? I don't see many open source bluetooth control systems for Model railways. The level of investment required for layout automation will vary little whether the commands are sent via the rails or through the air. The software is just as complex and the hardware required to instrument the layout will end up being just as complex and costly as it is today. That will explain why the European manufacturers have made little investment over the last few years then. You don't think manufacturers of bluetooth system will find a way to lock you in? I think you are being very naive. At the basic control level, DCC does not lock you in at all. Decoders are interchangeable and mix and match with any control system. It's only when you get to throttle busses and control busses that there is significant differentiataion. Even then, you are locked into a particular technology rather than a manufacturer. You can connect a computer to a DCC layout (direcct to the rails) for the same cost as a high end decoder. DCC control is then just "software" Andrew

I am somewhat sceptical about the low power claims. The electronics themselves (e.g. the processors used in smart phones) are always advancing in terms of lower power but when it comes to radio communications there are fundamental laws of physics, related to bandwidth and range, that cannot be circumvented (we aren't quite there yet with the processors). The lowest power bluetooth devices save power by transmitting very short packets and not transmitting continuously. A train control handset need to be "always on" sending a continuous stream of packets, and there will be little or no benefit in battery life compared to earlier Bluetooth or WiFi implementations. Andrew

How does Bluetooth use the allocated radio spectrum? Simply adding more dongles will not increase bandwidth if they are competing for the same spectrum. Andrew

Technically it would be quite easy to have a Bluetooth module drive an existing DCC decoder, but why bother? Half of the circuitry would effectively be redundant and you would need to find the space for two "decoders" in the loco. Andrew

Not neccessarily true. The sale of goods act trumps all manufacturer or retailer warranties. How long you get (up to 6 years) depends on the reasonable expectation of the products longevity. E.g. I expect my £100 Antex to last and I would certainly claim outside the normal "guarantee" period, except it's already well over 6 years old. For a sub £10 Aldi jobbie, expectations are obviously lower and may well have to rely on the retailers or manufacturers goodwill. Andrew

If space is at a premium you could stick tiny surface mount resistors to the caps and wire them with fine copper wire. The charge balancing current will be negligible. Andrew

The theory is correct but given the way some railway modellers ignore best practice in other areas (e.g. the comment "it works for ME!") ... Andrew

Did he say why they don't just use the connection to the PC rather than faffing with memory sticks? Andrew

Is this the same Black 5 kit sold by the association shop? Andrew

The hardware is a no-brainer to people designing this sort of thing, but simply adding a network port is completely useless unless the DCC kit runs an appropriate server to allow iThingies to connect. I doubt ZTC have even thought of this. With a USB connection the "PC" can be as simple and cheap as a Raspberry Pi running the WiThrottle server in JMRI, again assuming the USB port on the DCC kit talks a sensible protocol. Andrew

But is it supported by JMRI or rocrail or...? Andrew

The cost of the electronics in a command station (not counting colour screens and wifi) is peanuts compared to the asking price for the 611. The problem, as I see it, is custom manufacturing of the control knobs, and maybe the case, in relatively small quantities. Even the simple, off the shelf, plastic case for a SPROG is a considerable %age of the cost when the machining is accounted for Andrew

I use the tissue that Nigel Hunt wraps his etches in and add a drop of light oil (Braun shaver oil in my case) to the paper, to help prevent the solder flowing down the crank pin and soldering everything up solid. Andrew

I was listing those I believe to manufacture in the UK I am happy to be corrected, or widen the definition. Andrew

http://signalist.co.uk/ is another UK designer and manufacturer. Also http://www.cmlelectronics.co.uk/ and http://www.dcc4pc.co.uk/ Andrew

This came up on the MERG forum recently. The 6N137 is multi-source and is not obsolete. Farnell have plenty. It's only some particular Fairchild variants that are discontinued. Andrew

Please stop making that claim or at least qualify it. Andrew

I have made the roof detachable but it tends to detach itself at the moment. I need to rework the fixings. Here's a more recent pic with handrails and springs fitted and showing the roof trying to escape Andrew

Exhibit A... I used an extra long PCB spacer beneath the motor to keep the chassis nice and stiff, visible between the motor and gearbox. This has the added benefit that the blu-tac is squeezed in between the spacer and the motor and holds the motor in place. Andrew