Reception Issues with Command Base/Legacy Base

Doug I believe the issue is the old cab1's we are using, they are just dying.  jon e does not have an issue when he uses his personal cab1.  also batteries must be new or near new.  as and fyi club legacy base has 1.51 loaded.

Ok, Doug, I'll bite on this one.

The remote to base radio frequencies are different on the Legacy and the TMCC Cab 1.

The base signals to the track are the same frequency, with Legacy having a unique configuration and the ability to send TMCC coding and Legacy coding.

Radio interference for the Cab1 would be similar to a TV. Line of siTe and physical objects would cause a problem. There are not many other devices on that frequency, so that doesn't seem like the issue.

Radio interference for the Cab2(Legacy) could come from many common devices, cordless phones, wireless routers for computers and such. Cab2 has a channel change feature to resolve that issue.

I would assume the issue is with the bases and how they are connected to the track. I don't intend to insult your knowledge and not knowing your physical configuration, I am not sure how recommend a solution.

If you could describe the physical connections of your power and base systems that help.

Lionel recommends connecting the TMCC base to the Legacy base via the Y cable and then the Legacy base to the track. That permits both systems to operate simultaneously. In this short video, the speaker briefly mentions that there will be problems if they are not connected that way, but he does not provide any detail.

So, if the bases are not connected that way, that may be source of the problem.

New batteries in the Cab1 for optimum transmitter power(as suggested by

bigdodgetrain) would definitely help performance of the TMCC remote signalling.

Interference between the two remotes is not possible.

The Legacy base interfering with the TMCC base is likely, hence the need to physically connect the two with a data cable and let the Legacy base run the show or handle all communications to the track. Only one signal connection to the track should be present.

Am I off-base here? Still learning this mess and using other networking experience.

You could open up the TMCC command base and add a proper antenna, the rubber ducky you mention would be a large improvement over the stock antenna inside the base.

The orientation of the TMCC Base could have an effect.  The antenna in the Base is parallel to the bottom, and a rod antenna perpendicular to this would seemingly have the best pattern, but you could compare various orientations to see what works best.

Dale is on to something by changing the orientation of the antenna. I have the Powermaster Bridge running on Legacy with a Powermaster about 8ft away. With the Bridge sitting at about a 15 degree angle and the Powermaster horizontal I was having reception issues. When I moved the Powermaster to a vertical position the issues went away.

Ron

The Austin Tinplate Trackers have had issues with signal lately too. We run Legacy, TMCC, and DCS. When V1.3 came out for Legacy we amazing signal. You could be 100ft plus away from the base and still be able to connect with the base and run your train. Since further upgrading it to the various upgrades (V1.4 and beyond) we lose signal 5 ft away from the base. We have changed the channel, have had the extension antennae, and nothing seems to work. Anyone have similar experiences?

I was using TMCC and a borrowed Legacy system on my modest home layout.  The TMCC base was mounted vertically.  The Legacy base sat next to it on the on the same shelf as the transformer.  The two units were wired together using the Lionel Y cable and one common from the Legacy base was run to the transformer common.  I didn't have any problems with either system.  The signal was very strong.

I have returned the borrowed Legacy system to its owner and I only run TMCC and DCS at home.  I intend to buy a Legacy system someday.

I am building the G&O outdoor 3-rail layout for a club.  The club has TMCC, Legacy and DCS.  The TMCC and Legacy systems are configured as described above.  We don't have any problem running the TMCC system.  We can stand outside and run TMCC equipped engines from nearly 100 feet away from the base using the Cab-1.  We do have to fully extend the Cab-1 metal antenna to do this.  

The Legacy system has about 1/4 the range of the TMCC system in our garden.  It also loses the signal from time to time.  Sometimes we need to hold the Cab-2 above our head to get it to work.

I believe that the problem is caused by the internal antenna in the Cab-2 not being designed to transmit over anything but short distances.  We have the same problem with the DCS remote.  I speculate that adding an external antenna to both the Cab-2 remote and the DCS remote will increase their range.  Unfortunately, I don't how to do this and I don't know anyone who does.  The club will be working to find a solution to this problem later this year.  

I was visiting a very large home layout a couple of weeks ago.  This layout is located in a 50 foot by 60 foot room and runs a lot of trains on multiple levels at the same time.  Control is by TMCC.  There is no Legacy.  DCS is used to control accessories, not trains.  

TMCC worked perfectly while I was there.  The single TMCC command base on this layout is mounted on the ceiling about 15 feet above the center of the layout.  It is mounted horizontally upside down on the ceiling.  The base is painted sky blue to match the rest of the ceiling.

The builder told me that the only TMCC problem with this layout was interference between the multiple levels.  He solved this problem by running many ground planes between the levels.  The TMCC ground plane issue has been discussed elsewhere on the forum.

Joe

For the NP O-Gaugers, I added a 9db external whip antenna to the command base, solved our issues of losing contact with the base from the CAB2.  That's an easy fix, since you can just screw the antenna on.