Archive for the ‘DCC’ Category

New Sound Decoder at Bargain Price From ESU

Monday, January 4th, 2010
LokSound Select

LokSound Select with optional speaker and NMRA medium wire harness

The good folks at ESU who make the LokSound decoders have just released something new: LokSound Select. At an MSRP of under $100, the new decoder offers some really amazing specs, including the ability to play up to 8 simultaneous sounds, up to four different engine sounds (different prime movers in diesels, different chuffs for steamers), and six high-output function leads. Further, it will drive two 8-ohm speakers in parallel, and the low current design does not require a program track booster! That’s all in a package 1.4″ x .6″ x .25″.

Download PDF Brochure

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Right Under My Nose!

Monday, January 19th, 2009

JMRI

I most recently mentioned that I was looking for software for model railroad operations. Well, it turns out that a good, free program was right under my nose all along! JMRI is well known for the excellent Decoder Pro application for programming DCC decoders. But, it’s also a suite of Java applications for model railroads. In addition to the DCC decoder programmer, there are control panel design and DCC interfacing; a dispatching system; maintenance scheduling; and a fully functioning car forwarding system that really works and keeps good track of where all the cars are at each op session.

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How to Program a DCC Decoder

Friday, November 18th, 2005

I’ve found the best way to program a DCC decoder, and it’s free (depending upon your DCC system)!

DecoderPro is a free application that runs on pretty much any Windows98, WindowsXP, MacOS or Linux computer. If you have an NCE Powerhouse Pro system of just about any vintage, you can simply plug your computer into the serial port and you’re ready to program just about any decoder currently on the market. Other systems will require some sort of computer interface (for Digitrax users, that’s the MS100).

Decoder settings, including those pesky custom speed curve tables, can be easily adjusted and sent to the loco, along with literally every other setting in the decoder, and all through easy to read and understand screens.

Once you’ve got all your settings for a particular loco set, you can save it off for future reference, or, if you’ve got a “fleet” of one particular loco type, simply change the address and download all the same parameters to each loco.

Did I mention this is free software? What more could you ask for?

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