NIK

Shakespeare went into a pub but was thrown out - he was Bard.

Hi, Whose to say HM7000 Bluetooth won't have as reliable comms as DCC. Commands can be sent a number of times, as I understand they are with DCC. Also Bluetooth being bi directional there is the possibility of checking messages have been received and resending them (at a faster data rate than DCC). Regards Nick

Hi, Santa's global vacation? - originally built by the Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society for Channel 5's Great Model Railway Challenge. Didn't have any small folks dancing round it or a rock band playing with the amps turned up to 11.

After the news that Shaun the Sheep went around the moon and back to earth on Nasa's return to the moon test flight Shaun was asked if he had been nervous and he just pointed to a little pile of black plasticine poo.

Donald Trump is not to appear in handcuffs if he comes to trial - small hands again.

Hi, I broke a Class 71 motor bogie gear tower trying to get the body back on after fitting a standard 8 pin non sound decoder with leads to NEM652 plug. Regards Nik

Hi, I might get a HM7000 sound decoder to fit in a Class 73 - probably be in a Dapol 73 if I can follow the info sources mentioned earlier. I think I will wait until the Android App is available. I would put a cheap DCC non sound decoder in the 73 first just in case of Dapol wiring problems. I found the latest HM7000 video from Little Wicket very interesting. Hornby seem to have found a source of microcontrollers during chipaggedon and may take a few sales away from other decoder manufacturers. Regards Nik

As part of his arrest Donald Trump was to have his fingerprints taken but his hands were too small.

Oscar Pistorius has had his parole denied. The parole board said letting him out would have been a shot in the dark.

Hi, Just an observation that electronics that works when power is first applied may not necessarily continue to work for years or decades. So I would be a bit cautious about using designs of power supplies other than the ones recommended by Hornby. There are a lot of power supplies around that may not be suitable due to ageing or due to poor quality. Regards Nick

Hi, Please excuse my editing: thinking that Hornby with a stroke of the pen have consigned to oblivion all the faithful users of their TTS Chips? I think not, although Simon Kohler has said that the TTS decoders will be replaced with TXS decoders. However existing TTS decoders will continue to work on DCC layouts and they will work on that same layout with HM7000 decoders, the TTS decoders will be controlled by the DCC command station and the HM7000 will have the option of DCC control or App control. I guess the days of the £40 to £50 TTS decoder are numbered. Regards Nick

Hi Johan DC, Oo err - naughty Hornby. That is confusing. Sorry for just checking the words on the train set contents. Regards Nick

Hi, That's not what Ron Ron Ron suggested, he said remove the controller. Regards Nick

Hi, No they don't. Hornby specifically say on the shop part of their website that they do not include a controller but only a transformer, control is app base. Regards Nick

Hi, How would folks control the speed of their trains with a fixed 15V power supply or are you suggesting putting a £40 non sound decoder in each train set loco?. Also there is a trend towards parents not allowing young children to have access to devices that can access to the internet. Regards Nick

Hi, Hornby say they couldn't get hold of a suitable SMD Bluetooth antenna in time so they have released the initial batches of HM7000 series decoders with PCB zig zig antennas. SMD Bluetooth antennas can be much smaller than PCB antennas. The shortages in SMD Bluetooth antennas may be due to 'chipaggedon' which started in 2020 where electronics production was cut back and swapped to more lucrative products. Silicon 'chip' production may improve this year and hopefully SMD Bluetooth antennas will follow as many chips have Bluetooth interfaces these days. Regards Nick

I met my partner on a house building course. It was love at first site.

Hi, If it turns out that the Hornby system will not talk to other software then a need for something like Railcom may continue for those who don't want to use Hornby software or don't want to standardise on only Hornby decoders. Regards Nik

Hi, I don't think so*, but probably no definitive answer without seeing the circuit diagrams for the decoders. *I understand most Railcom equipped DCC systems are not upset by non Railcom decoders although I'm not sure about those that use non Railcom on track transponding (such as Digitrax?). Regards Nik

Hi, Bluetooth provides a two way link but does as far as I am aware identify where a certain loco is unlike Railcom (using local Railcom detectors). As to how Hornby could add loco position identification: a) amplitude modulating the DC supply on an isolated section of track. Switching diodes in and out (in series) might be a good way. When the loco decoder detects a particular code via modulation it reports that code back to the control system via Bluetooth. b) Some of the HM7000 decoders have an output that can be reconfigured as input. This could be used to connect to a sensor on the loco that detects a local coded signal sent wirelessly from the track. The decoder would then relay that code back via Bluetooth. Regards Nik

Hi, The reference manual says the decoders do not support Railcom. It does mention 'This decoder supports BLE communications and decoder configuration can be readback via the Hornby BLE APP.' However its not immediately obvious to me how Hornby could add the ability to identify which section of track a HM7000 decoder equipped loco is on. Regards Nik

Hi, According to the HM7000 Series Decoder Reference Manual DCC mode is the factory default for HM7000 sound decoders. On HM7000 series sound decoders there is a CV 12 that selects DCC, DC or Bluetooth mode. It does not seem to allow dual DCC/Bluetooth control. Regards Nik

I met a girl after evening classes, she was doing sewage disposal and I was doing carpentry. She'd lost her homework but I produced a stool.

Hi, I found my Hornby new style HST took 500ma just to turn its wheels on my DC rolling road so I was interested to see the TTS decoder was only rated to 500ma continuous. Regards Nick

Hi, Rapido make a 5 car multiple unit in N for the North American market and a 4 car APT-E in OO so maybe a 'tube' train?. Regards Nik