Train sets .

[Evans Electric]

Question from a good customer .    

He's buying a train set for his two lads  , to be laid out in the loft .         He says there is warning  about interference with aerials  from the set ...he has two TV aerials in the loft  that we fitted.  

The train set is a DCC  stype  , no idea what this means but must involve some radio control  I assume .  

Anyone know anything about modern train sets  ?    

 

[ProDave]

Just try it and see.  No point trying to pre guess this just because someone else had a problem.  If there is an issue, address it then.

 

[Geoff1946]

It's quite hard to interfere with a modern digital TV signal.  Gone are the old Band 1 days when every passing car or motorbike gave a string of dots across the screen.  

The only thing I know about modern model train sets is that they must be marketed as being in conformity with electromagnetic emissions  legislation.

No guarantees, but the odds are on your side.

 

[Evans Electric]

Yes  ...I'm guessing it will be fine  .  

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Question from a good customer .    

He's buying a train set for his two lads  , to be laid out in the loft .         He says there is warning  about interference with aerials  from the set ...he has two TV aerials in the loft  that we fitted.  

The train set is a DCC  stype  , no idea what this means but must involve some radio control  I assume .  

Anyone know anything about modern train sets  ?    

Traditional Hornby railway controllers were supplied from a 12v DC PSU and output power to the two track to the train.

Trains had electrical pick-up via metal wheels to a basic motor with a worm gear to drive the wheels.

{the track was only live when the train is moving.}

Controllers had a polarity switch to reverse the 0v & +12v between the rails (to change direction)

and a knob or slider to control the voltage (speed) of the train.

In the late 70's early 80's Hornby introduced its digital controller, (called Zero1), that could work up-to 16 engines,

A small decoder module had to be fitted inside each locomotive between the pick-up wheels & motor to operate that train..

The track voltage & encoded signals were increased from 12v to, (I think), nearer 20v..??

But..

ALL of the signals were still via the track rails to the locomotives..

NO wireless involved...

(Zero1 was phased-out after approx 10 years)

I Haven't really dabbled in model trains since I got married & left home in 1985..

But my dad used to enjoy his '00' gauge railway models..

AFAIK, DCC is the generic name 'Digital Command Control' given to various makes/versions of model railway controllers,

to operate multiple trains from a single controller..

The more recent Hornby version is called the Elite Digital Controller...

which would appear to still be sending digital signals via the metal rail tracks.

Not via any wireless transmission methods?

So I can't really see how that would interfere with TV signals?

But don't know if other systems use other voltages and/or wireless? 

:C

 

[Evans Electric]

Wow !!! :signthankspin:

 

[OnOff]

Wow !!! :signthankspin:

Chuffed with that answer I take it?

 

[Evans Electric]

Well yes  ...ask a question about model train sets  and you get that response .       How good is this place sometimes.? 

 

[binky]

TV aerials are tuned to TV signales and the cable shielded, so I wouldn't have thought it would be an issue - think you can get signal filters if it is. 

 

[Sidney]

Gone are the old Band 1 days when every passing car or motorbike gave a string of dots across the screen.  

For several months my missus would have a fresh coffee ready for me when I walked through the door, the ignition system on my Armstrong MT500 would mess up the TV signal roughly 1/4 mile from our house much to the disgust of everyone on the estate...

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Thinking back to the days as a kid with the train sets made by my dad..

I got a feeling the 12v motors in the engines,  (supplied from a very "Unsmoothed" transform + bridge rectifier), could cause some interference to the old TV..  

Buzzing & crackling over the sound..

as I can vaguely remember not been allowed to play with the trains when mom was watching her favourite TV program..

(Probably watching Crossroads or Coronation street..  the days before Eastenders et al) 

And the supply technology was pretty much the same as used in Scalextric cars..

As said before I haven't any dealing with the old trains since leaving home..

BUT.. our two lad both had Scalextric cars & tracks..

And I don't remember us ever having TV interference when the Car tracks were in use.. maybe 10-15 years ago.?

:coffee

 

[Sidney]

Scalextric cars

Do they still use braided steel contacts on the track?

 

[phil d]

Do they still use braided steel contacts on the track?

No, that was on scalextric cars, trains today pick up through the wheels, the DCC system basically allows one controller to run several trains on one line, each train has a module in it that can be changed to avoid interference with another train. It's to make them run more like a real railway, on the old system 2 trains would eventually catch each other up, slowing one slowed the other. Under the DCC system you can slow say train one and stop it at a signal while at the same time train two can be diverted into a siding or made to change tracks.

I always wanted a train set, even more so when I worked on the railway (sad I know) but the price of them now put me off, even to get a fairly reasonable basic set I was looking at about £400!

 

[OnOff]

As a kid, if you were lucky you had either a train set or a Scalectrix. Often your elder brother's hand me down. Remember the whole HO/OO lark and Lima vs Hornby? N guage anyone?

Posh kids had both.....and walkie talkies WITHOUT wires that their dads had brought them back whilst on business trips to the States. 

 

[phil d]

As a kid, if you were lucky you had either a train set or a Scalectrix. Often your elder brother's hand me down. Remember the whole HO/OO lark and Lima vs Hornby? N guage anyone?

Posh kids had both.....and walkie talkies WITHOUT wires that their dads had brought them back whilst on business trips to the States. 

My mate's dad was a signalman, he built a replica of the local line it was on a large 8x4 sheet of ply that folded down from the wall in my mates bedroom, the only thing was he was never allowed to play with it, 'it's not a toy you know' was the reply he always got when he asked his dad if he could have a go.

Walkie talkies, now they were a thing, I remember my grandson wanting some, a few of his mates had them, I got him a set like we used at work, all the other kids could barely get a few hundred yards range with all the houses and stuff, he could get about 3 miles on his.

"Dad, can I have one of those for Christmas, they're only a fiver" you'd say pointing at something in a catalogue, "ONLY A FIVER, ONLY A FIVER, do you know how long I've got to work to earn a fiver?" he'd yell. Last year my grandson wanted a new bike, the one I'd bought him 3 years ago he'd outgrown, he'd seen one for about £250 and was going to save up for it, I found an even better one for £300 and bought it for him, the kids at school thought he was really posh, we didn't have a lot of dear stuff when I was a kid, other kids had bigger and better presents so it made me feel good to buy something really good for my grandson, after all, there are no pockets in shrouds, as my old grandma used to say.

 

[OnOff]

I just bought How To Make Walkie Talkies by F G Rayer, to replace the copy I had as a kid.

 

[a3]

Hi @EmmaBecker_

Where are you from ?