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It absolutely uses the house wiring (earth ground) as one half of the signal.  The other half is the U terminal on the Legacy base connected to the outer rail.  The antenna on the engines (inside the shell on plastic, the handrails on Diecast steamers) picks up the earth ground signal.  The U terminal signal is picked up through the wheels. A time tested way to improve the Legacy signal to to run a ground wire from a grounded outlet above the problematic track. I had a long email conversation with a Lionel Sr Electronics Engineer (the guy who designed the latest radio board in Legacy engines) and he gave us lots of tips to improve the signal.  At the NJ Hi-Railers we've run ground wires strung on telephone poles above the problem areas and it's made a world of difference.  One of us (Bob DeGuarde) using info he found on this forum has built a TMCC signal strength meter car and we see readings in the 20s in bad spots and then after a ground is put into place we frequently see mid to high 40s.  

I attached some info about TMCC Hints and Tips and the Signal Strength Car

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Kerrigan posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Kerrigan posted:

Does the TMCC system really rely on receiving part of the signal from the house wiring? 

Yep, it really does.  In truth, it's the earth ground, so your lawn would work as well...

I keep hearing "yes it does" and "no it doesn't" so was wondering what the horses' mouth (Lionel) had to toss into the mix.  If I set up a loop of track on a board in a field, run a non-grounded extension cord to it for power, TMCC won't work at all without the "house wiring signal"?

Really?

Try it!  Occasionally, we'll plug the Legacy base on our modular layout into a non-ground extension cord and wonder why we can't run trains.  It really needs the ground connection, REALLY!

John, just a side note, hope all went well with today's cataract surgery. Take care.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Kerrigan posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Kerrigan posted:

Does the TMCC system really rely on receiving part of the signal from the house wiring? 

Yep, it really does.  In truth, it's the earth ground, so your lawn would work as well...

I keep hearing "yes it does" and "no it doesn't" so was wondering what the horses' mouth (Lionel) had to toss into the mix.  If I set up a loop of track on a board in a field, run a non-grounded extension cord to it for power, TMCC won't work at all without the "house wiring signal"?

Really?

Try it!  Occasionally, we'll plug the Legacy base on our modular layout into a non-ground extension cord and wonder why we can't run trains.  It really needs the ground connection, REALLY!

The house ground wiring is the transmitting antenna. The engine sits on the outside rails and that is the common side of the signal. The house ground wiring transmits to the antenna in the top of the engine.

If you want to run outside, run a wire from the db9 connector on the base connected to pin # 5 and hang it over or near the track.

ogaugeguy posted:

John, just a side note, hope all went well with today's cataract surgery. Take care.

Thanks, I'm back home, but it'll be awhile before that eye is useful for anything.

Is it possible to replace a sound chip (whistle) in a scale Legacy Berkshire with another sound chip? For example, to replace the sound file in a scale Legacy Polar Express Berk with the sound file from a scale Legacy Erie Berkshire. I like the Erie Berk's whistle more. If so, can I buy the Erie sound chip from Lionel, how much is it, etc?

Probably have to call Lionel on that. They might require your polar for the erie.

The "chip" is the whole board in new Legacy stuff, they're all SMT stuff that's soldered on.  The sound set is factory programmed into the FLASH on the chip.  As to whether they'll swap the board for a different sound set, only Lionel will know that.