Just finished upgrading Lionel T-1 to ERR cruise command. Every thing works except for short tmcc range. Installed antenna on bottom of tender coal pile. The coal pile looks to be made of plastic. It has great range when running with tender shell removed , what do I need to do?
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There must be metal under the coal or the coal is metal. Anyway, you need to expose the antenna. Some folks float the tender shell from the base with thin electrical tape or plastic washers and plastic screws. Then the whole tender shell becomes the antenna.
Are you talking about a PRR T1 4-4-4-4? If so, didn't it come with TMCC installed? If so, the locomotive handrails are isolated from the boiler shell and they are the antenna. There should be wires inside the boiler to make the connection.
Reading T -1 4-8-4
Ahhh. In the immortal words of Roseanne Roseannadanna, "Never mind!"
I have my antenna under the coal pile on the Reading T1, and it works fine there. I'd look to see if you somehow shorted something to the antenna. It should work fine there. I used about 18" of wire and coiled it around and stuck it with hot glue.
If you have really short range, you might try swapping the R2LC(R4LC), they have been known to have a TMCC reception issue at times.
That's exactly how I installed it. I did lengthen the antenna wire a bit, it's probably about a foot long. No shorts any where, I will try an other board, thanks.
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