Lionel Legacy #990 and Lionel Legacy #993.

You can only have one base on a connected layout at a time...what are the problems? If it's CAB2 to Base, then you can improve the antenna and get much better coverage with the CAB2. I like having a spare base, so I would go with the 990.

Hi, Thank You for the reply. I was thinking the same thing, for a few extra bucks I could get the whole package #990. Do you know where I could find out about the aerial.  Thank You,   Shylo

Here's a link to the antenna thread. There are more, search "hawking antenna".

https://ogrforum.com/t...77#15086404584081377

I have great results with one of these. These are good if your CAB2 can't reach the base in the other room. Not a cure for when an engine does the blinking headlight thing somewhere on a very large layout. That is another issue and is with the strength and coverage of the base signal.

cjack gave a good link

for more on the legacy system this is everything legacy.

https://ogrforum.com/t...rials-andamp-manuals

Would one from an old router work? might be cheaper if you can find one.

Hi Cjack,  I looked up hawking antenna and wonder which one to get. An antenna for the base unit or for the controller and which antenna it is.  Thank You very much, you've been a big help.  Shylo

I have no personal experience with this, but I recently watched an old Eric's Trains youtube video where he discussed his signal problems in his multi-room layout.  His solution was a Y-cable at the base to which he attached two lengths of coax cable ending in a ceiling-mounted antenna in each room.

Bob

I recommend you get the 9db gain antenna GRJ recommends in the link posted by Cjack. I use it and have no issues. Multiple 990 bases cannot be used to fix a signal issue. In a multiroom layout a simple 75 ohm splitter with coax feeds to an antenna in each room may or may not help. It would not cost much to try and see.

Another alternative is to get the Lionel wireless base, download the $50 iCab app and use iPhones instead of the Cab 2. Anywhere there is wireless signal The iPhone works. I have 3 of them, plus a 990 base and 993 expansion charger. The iCab app works great and can be loaded on as many iPhones as you want for just one $50 purchase.

If you really want to reach out and touch someone, try a booster amp with the high-gain antenna.  I have a large house, and I use this one for my WiFi as the router is on one end of the house..  I pair it with a 15db corner antenna, gets a strong signal 90 feet away through at least four walls.

At our club, we use the 9db antenna referenced above, it only cost me around $10.

 Sunhans Sh-2000 2000mw Wireless Signal Repeater 33dbm Wifi Signal Booster 2w

More Power! That is always the right answer. I need to get one of these for my Legacy system even though it is working ok.

I thank you for the reply's, the 9db antenna sounds promising.  Thank You,  Shylo

Shylo posted:

Hi Cjack,  I looked up hawking antenna and wonder which one to get. An antenna for the base unit or for the controller and which antenna it is.  Thank You very much, you've been a big help.  Shylo

The base antenna. Note the connector and make sure your purchase is the same. I bought a pretty high gain version (it's long and sort of biggish) and use a 3 foot coaxial cable to go from the antenna under the table to the base. These are SMA connectors and the one that fits the base is a female shell with a female pin inside it. Usually when you buy one of these optional antennas, they come properly fitted with the right SMA connector. I mention this only because if you remote the antenna, you might have to think about the coaxial cable ends.

It's actually pretty hard to buy a 2.4ghz antenna that has the wrong connector, by far the major use is for WiFi, and the Reverse-SMA connector is the gold standard for connecting them.

Another Advantage of having a spare base is that you can have 2 entirely different sets of locos on them.

Ron

I need to get a better base antenna or a cable to remotely mount my antenna in my train room.  Probably put it on the ceiling centered over the layout, then the Cab-2 will always have line of sight to it.  Just make sure you use the correct antenna for the remote-base signal.  If it was just like the TMCC base and only received, you could use just about anything as an antenna.  But since the Legacy base also transmits, you need to get the proper antenna like the one Lionel recommends or else you can burn out the transmitter on the base.  Being so low power it could take a while, but nevertheless it will happen.  A lesson learned from ham radio.

This isn't ham radio, I can't imagine a hi-gain antenna damaging the Legacy base.  You obviously need to get a proper impedance matched antenna, but that's all I can see being a consideration.

RailfanRon posted:

Another Advantage of having a spare base is that you can have 2 entirely different sets of locos on them.

Ron

I just use LSU and keep different database "saves".  I can change out a db file in about a minute now that LSU can connect via wifi.

cjack posted:

Shylo posted:

Hi Cjack,  I looked up hawking antenna and wonder which one to get. An antenna for the base unit or for the controller and which antenna it is.  Thank You very much, you've been a big help.  Shylo

The base antenna. Note the connector and make sure your purchase is the same. I bought a pretty high gain version (it's long and sort of biggish) and use a 3 foot coaxial cable to go from the antenna under the table to the base. These are SMA connectors and the one that fits the base is a female shell with a female pin inside it. Usually when you buy one of these optional antennas, they come properly fitted with the right SMA connector. I mention this only because if you remote the antenna, you might have to think about the coaxial cable ends.

Hey cjack, Thank you,  Shylo

gunrunnerjohn posted:

This isn't ham radio, I can't imagine a hi-gain antenna damaging the Legacy base.  You obviously need to get a proper impedance matched antenna, but that's all I can see being a consideration.

Hi gunrunnerjohn,  Thank You,  Shylo

AmFlyer posted:

I recommend you get the 9db gain antenna GRJ recommends in the link posted by Cjack. I use it and have no issues. Multiple 990 bases cannot be used to fix a signal issue. In a multiroom layout a simple 75 ohm splitter with coax feeds to an antenna in each room may or may not help. It would not cost much to try and see.

Another alternative is to get the Lionel wireless base, download the $50 iCab app and use iPhones instead of the Cab 2. Anywhere there is wireless signal The iPhone works. I have 3 of them, plus a 990 base and 993 expansion charger. The iCab app works great and can be loaded on as many iPhones as you want for just one $50 purchase.

Tom,  Thank You, Shylo