MTH premium app issues? or 6.0 issues? FIXED!

I also saw a button for protocast. When I pressed it the engine went silent. The phone did not work for talking thru.

I couldn't get the sounds to come back on. I tried several button presses. I finally did when I shut down the engine, pressed the refresh, and restarted the engine, the sounds returned.

Joe,

I've done this often without any issues.

I also saw a button for protocast. When I pressed it the engine went silent. The phone did not work for talking thru.

ProtoCast requires a sound source plugged into the TIU's ProtoCast port. You could stream music from your smartphone or tablet with the appropriate cable.

OK! I'm seeing why some are posting about losing channel #1! I just did too.

The signal on channel one is fine. What is wrong is that the remote will not add, nor run any engines on that channel. However, the phone with app runs them fine. It's like the phone has the channel tied up and won't allow the remote to communicate with it. I get out of range or other messages when I try to do stuff on channel one. I tried cycling power and other steps. When I turn the phone back on, it will immediately work that channel.

 Yet the remote is running trains on the other channels? It's getting confusing to keep things straight. It makes it hard to describe in full as things have gone south with no particular reasons.

 I tried several steps when each issue crept in and I did not make notes. So I'm going from memory. I have to assume there's remote communication issues by the way the remote is acting and the messages. I pressed track signal for example by mistake while going to turn channel one DCS signal on. The remote locked up. Then came free and did half of the next asked assignment. Then I selected engine list and there was only one engine available? I noticed that it was still in the track signal mode? from 2 steps earlier. I'm getting errors and problems. Yes I tried to tether it. I tried cycling power, turning DCS signal on, etc.

 So I will upgrade to 6.1 soon. I need to get my patience back. It is frustrating to have stuff go wrong while trying to run. It's worse when the grandson is so full of energy and making noises right now in my ear because I'm not paying attention to him. Urrrggg!

BTW, the whole time the remote was able to run a 2 engine consist on channel #2 of that TIU.

Only the phone can operate channel #1 still. Weird.

Joe,

I posted this in response to what  you posted on the DCS user group thread.

The problem is most likely a loose transceiver board in the TIU, remote or both. Only the remote talks to the TIU via the 900 MHz radio while the app talks 2.4 GHz via the WIU.

Connect a 4-conductor telephone  handset cable between the remote and the TIU's Remote Input port. If that works for the remote, proceed to reseat the errant transceiver board.

CS Barry Broskowitz posted:

Joe,

...I also saw a button for protocast. When I pressed it the engine went silent. The phone did not work for talking thru.

ProtoCast requires a sound source plugged into the TIU's ProtoCast port. You could stream music from your smartphone or tablet with the appropriate cable.

Barry, according to everything I've read ProtoCast and ProtoDispatch work thru either a direct audio source or microphone plugged into the TIU or the mic on the DCS handheld controller. Since MTH advertises on their website the DCS Premium App is a wifi alternative to using the DCS handheld controller and allows users to gain full access of their DCS controlled layout via wifi control  providing access to the DCS  features that a handheld controller accesses and since all smartphones and tablets have a built-in mic, then why the shortcoming Jim mentioned that "The phone did not work for talking thru."?  If the Premium App is a fully functioning Bluetooth alternative for MTH's handheld DCS Controller shouldn't a phone's mic work for ProtoDispatch the same as the mic in a MTH handheld controller works for ProtoDispatch?  Is it just Joe's phone's mic that wouldn't work for ProtoDispatch with the DCS Premium App or does the DCS Premium App software have a known "bug" preventing the mic built into smart devices from working for ProtoDispatch voice announcements? 

Kenn,

According to what I was told back in April when I asked MTH R&D, ProtoCast is implemented the way it is because that's the way the remote does it.

I also asked if ProtoCast and ProtoDispatch (which is not at present implemented in the app) could be implemented using the smart device's music library and microphone for these two functions, respectively. I was told that this was a non-trivial effort but could, possibly, be in a future app release.

Barry Broskowitz posted:

Joe,

I posted this in response to what  you posted on the DCS user group thread.

The problem is most likely a loose transceiver board in the TIU, remote or both. Only the remote talks to the TIU via the 900 MHz radio while the app talks 2.4 GHz via the WIU.

Connect a 4-conductor telephone  handset cable between the remote and the TIU's Remote Input port. If that works for the remote, proceed to reseat the errant transceiver board.

I will try that again Barry as this doesn't make sense to me.

However I'll point out again, the remote is running a train on the other TIU channels! It only can't communicate with channel #1!!!

I'll do further troubleshooting and try and post solid comments.

OK I know I'm hogging things right now.

If anyone using 6.0 has issues, I have to recommend upgrading to 6.1. That worked for me.

Four TIUs, three remotes, two scales, and a phone app is upgraded by me! (sung to the 12 days of Christmas)

I should also state the thing about the protocast issue for me was I couldn't get the engine sounds to come back right away. That might have been when my issues started? The phone mic thing is something I'll have to look into. I'm just a little gun shy right now after spending several hours of troubleshooting!

I also couldn't get the remote to fully respond correctly and the cure was to upgrade to 6.1. So maybe that will help others with issues using the premium app and a remote.