Ultra-fine magnet wire whistle cord as TMCC antenna

On a receiving antenna, such as you are contemplating, the only concern is how physically fragile the wire will be and how well the insulation will hold up where it passes through the various stanchions and orifices.

The amount of current running through the wire is almost un-measurable without laboratory instruments.

Whatever is sturdy enough will be fine.

Thank you.  Found and ordered some 30 ga silicon insulated super soft stranded copper, O.D. 0.8 mm, that should serve well.  Should be able to pass through cab wall fine, and will improvise attachment to whistle crank so as to maintain insulation from boiler and still look OK.  Also ordered 2 Lionel plastic handrail stanchions and will incorporate those somehow, using prototype photo if I can find one.  “Photos at 11:00”

I have a big spool of #30 black Kynar insulated wire that would be perfect for such an application.

Thanks.  I understand Kynar is also very soft copper. Is OD less than the 0.8 mm of the stuff I have coming?

The stuff I  have has an OD of 0.6mm.  The Kynar is the insulation, the characteristics of the wire are likely dependent on the application.  Mine is wire-wrap wire, so it's pure copper with silver to enhance conductivity for the wire-wrap application.

I just built two MTH FEF’s converting them to TMCC for my best buddy & my son Brian, …..we put plastic stanchions on the oil tender’s rear most set of handrails, isolated them well, and ran the wire through the shell, …..I used brass round stock for those two handrails, and colored them black with brass blackener …..worked out well, ….and the handrail is just a straight run, no funny bends,….so if you’re whistle cord idea don’t work, there’s your second solution……I couldn’t see putting the CC in the locomotive shell, ….that was a no-go for me, ….so into the cavernous tender it all went…..the stock 10 pin had enough pins to carry everything we needed forward to the engine…..

Pat

All helpful, gentlemen. Will report after more gets done.

GRJ, an old post of yours has already helped. Learned from you that I could use an original ProtoSound coupler with TMCC board but not the PS2 coupler that was on the tender. Sure nuff PS2 had <3 ohms resistance. Stole PS1 coupler from a soon to be sacrificed PS1 doodlebug  chassis with 7 ohms and fits perfectly.

Yep, the Lionel and PS/1 couplers were all designed around track power, 16-18 volts.  PS/2 couplers are designed for 6V with higher current, no workie with TMCC.

If you end up unable to put the CC in the loco and it ends up in the Tender I have buried magnetic wire in the coal pile on several locos. I solder a stranded wire lead to it that runs to the antenna pin on the board.  I dig out about half the coal and drill a hole through the metal at the bottom of the coal pile.  Snake the magnetic wire back and forth and tack it down with tiny spots of hot glue then re-glue the coal on top.  Works well and is easy to do.  Once I glued a piece of the spiral from a note book under the coal pile as an antenna. Worked well.        j

@JohnActon posted:

If you end up unable to put the CC in the loco and it ends up in the Tender I have buried magnetic wire in the coal pile on several locos. I solder a stranded wire lead to it that runs to the antenna pin on the board.  I dig out about half the coal and drill a hole through the metal at the bottom of the coal pile.  Snake the magnetic wire back and forth and tack it down with tiny spots of hot glue then re-glue the coal on top.  Works well and is easy to do.  Once I glued a piece of the spiral from a note book under the coal pile as an antenna. Worked well.        j

These are oil fired tenders John, …..adds a small level of difficulty, ….but yeah, on coal fire tenders, I’ve been burying brass strips in the coal for years now with no issues,…..buried in epoxy and coal, they work well,…

Pat

I float the whole tender shell as the antenna.  I've done tons of them that way.

All good thoughts.  Now I'm thinking to put boards in tender anyway. I'll use the screw terminal on the board for tight connection of the antenna wire, and the only connector will be a micro-connector separate from the main multi-pin, between engine whistle "cord" antenna and board (to avoid that capacitive coupling you guys remind us about.)