Model Train Journal

DCC hasn't been a strong topic around here by the lack of threads, but I just learned about a new (to me) Soundtraxx decoder yesterday (who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks).

Anyway, I've always liked anything that added more realism to our make belief worlds in the train hobby.....we don't have the imagination we did as children, so anything that helps to boost that imagination is good. When DCC arrived in the 90's it was another boxed ticked for adding realism and enjoyment to the hobby.....although I never went that direction. It always seemed fairly complicated to learn and since I had/have no layout, I figured why bother.

But, watching and listening to the video Chris posted the other day, which showed some OMI O scale SD-70's running on Boyd Reyes layout, I was really impressed.....those locos sounded like the real thing. I later learned Boyd built this layout in his single car garage (amazingly realistic IMHO), but the locos are actually owned by Ed Kurzenski. I've been selling and trading UP trains with Ed for a few years and yesterday he told me they were his models with Soundtraxx Blunami decoders installed....the decoders are controlled by your phone. So, I went to the Soundtraxx website and now realize a technology challenged analog nerd like me should be able to set this up easily.

So, I was wondering if any of you guys have any experience with installing DCC decoders or even the Blunami. I also learned about the Tang band speakers which judging from the posted video are the most realistic sounding loco speakers I've every heard. So, I think I'm going to play with this a little.

Blunami seems to be the latest rage as of late. Lots of guys on you tube doing demos and installs. Norm Charboneau has done some pretty insightful videos on Blunami. I’m not sure what the advantages are over DCC or Legacy, I do know they haven’t worked out the synchronized smoke but that’s probably not much of an interest for what you guys are doing over here.
You can pretty much control everything from a smart phone or tablet if that’s of interest and I believe it’s done through Bluetooth. Anything under the boiler of that loco or tender is way over my head. I run Legacy and DCS but the truth be told the next stop for me may just be conventional. Trying to keep up with parts and the ever changing systems and how to trouble shoot them makes my head hurt. Anyway here’s a link to one of Norms videos.

https://youtu.be/huUolEsE2sY?si=258OSrKVQfCCCs8d

I have only done two Blunami Installs. One steam, the other in a gas powered Plymouth. No previous experience with DCC. Basic sound and motion is very easy as is lighting using LEDs. No real limitations with diesels, they still don’t have synchronized smoke with chuff for steam but that may not be important to you. The big advantage of Blunami vs common DCC is you don’t need any control hardware other than a smart phone or tablet.

Pete

It all started with Dave Reece from Bluerail, he then liecenced to Backmann, Bunami etc The truth is Blutooth can do anything DCC can do, without DCC. But then some venders have grate sound fills etc[*https://youtu.be/-jmXEAFk4hY?si=VctbFokBGl0jVjhG]heres an early video I did.

It all started with Dave Reece from Bluerail, he then liecenced to Backmann, Bunami etc The truth is Blutooth can do anything DCC can do, without DCC. But then some venders have grate sound fills etc

Blunami boards are the same as Soundtraxx Tsunami but with Bluetooth added. They will operate off DCC on the track as well as through the air with Bluetooth. They share the same CVs as the equivalent Tsunami board. Whats handy is the Free App allows you to manipulate those CVs without something like JMRI.

Pete

Totally ignorant on this subject. I do have an MTH Hudson with chuff, whistle, bell, and brake squeal - all quite realistic. But I cannot access it because the electronics needs a factory reset.

Maybe I should pull the board and send it to Mikey.

But I always dreamed of setting my giant Cab Forward up with battery and RC power- so maybe this would be the solution. I can borrow The Greek's iPhone once in a while. The tender is so large I could fit a battery in there from my Mustang.

gregj410 wrote:I’m not sure what the advantages are over DCC or Legacy...

Oh, this is such a sore spot with me, so read on having been warned! GRIN!

The big advantage is quite simply one is not sending control-packets as a carrier signal up and down dirty rail with mechanical joints, through arcing wheels and sliding pickups, praying the information will get to the decoder in some understandable form.

Just about every other animated/motion model hobby uses RC in some form, be it aircraft, cars, monster-trucks, construction equipment, or tractor trailers. They often have far more information capacity than we require, sound, lights, steering, swivelling cabs and booms and shovels and sheave-heads, and the info speed required for racecars is far faster than what any of these antiquated carrier systems like DCC or the cack-handed proprietary systems from the highrail people.

Unfortunately, in the scale world we have the NMRA and the silly notion of making DCC a standard. They have singlehandedly stifled innovation in the model railroad world simply because they can't move remotely fast enough to keep pace with the innovation the rest of the animated model is currently enjoying. The whole thing of a digital signal fired down the track over top of a voltage goes back to the 1960s and GE Astrac, that back in the day when aircraft R/C was lucky to have enough channels for rudder and elevators.

If NMRA had not become a boffin-fest over DCC, and just defined the plugs for power in and power distribution out, one could swop in a new board and new technology of ones choice in a model rather than have the whole dam thing become obsolete for most users who aren't technophiles and EEs. It doesn't matter the source of the power, track or battery; define the voltage and form, the plug into the board, let the designer keep pace with the tech as it unfolds, define the plug array/outputs to motor, speaker, lights, &c. We could be up to speed with the rest of them using R/C, Bluetooth, &c, instead of being hobbled by this horribly obsolete carrier signal nonsense from the 1960s.

Even with the hirailers ignoring the NMRA, they haven't come up with anything better simply because they just wanted their own brand-loyalty-bullshit carrier system. If you really want to see how backwards we are, go see the model construction equipment people at a show and see what they can do with R/C as it is now.

That said, Blunami sends the control signal over-air rather than through the rail. The install is as easy as any DCC decoder and you can at least get a taste of what everyone else has been enjoying. It's already a decade old or so by now, though, and still niche in our world simply because of the unholy adherence to these horrid digital carrier control systems as either an industry standard or, in the case of highrail, proprietary systems to ensure you keep buying this manufacturer's or that importer's exclusive shyte.

Oh, I feel so much better now!

sarge wrote:Oh, I feel so much better now!

This is a good thing....

...the NMRA....highrail, proprietary systems....

A pox on all their houses!

Yep! NMRA hasn't bothered with their body of standards and RPs since the 1960s, except when the current-heads piled on to carrier control like a pack of hyenas on a carcass. They had such a great time making the state-of-the-art of the 1990s itself a standard when what they should have been doing is making the interfaces a standard so the state-of-the-art today would plug right in. They'd have known it if they had anyone with real standards-organisation experience on board rather than a clutch of unsupervised eggheads behaving like a shoebox full of puppies.

sarge wrote:NMRA .......... behaving like a shoebox full of puppies.

That would be multiple orders of magnitude toward positive. At best, these people are deluded cheerleaders for a lost cause.

Interesting comments and information and I appreciate all the comments. As I mention, DCC control has always put me off due to my ignorance of the subject. But, adding Bluetooth control seems to simplify the DCC process and eliminate many problems. I know it's been around for a while (2020 according to Soundtraxx) but it's new technology to me.

Butch, if sound is a requirement for you, then Blunami is my recommendation for robustness and simplicity of operation.

Because sound isn't advantageous for our operation here, we use conventional cab-control. Properly done, there is nothing more robust. Carrier control in any form is inherently too unreliable in an ops club environment.

I did use components from NCE's DCC system to build a radio-throttle system here, though, and the result as a whole has been very robust over four years of service so-far.

As a side note Bluerail preceded Blunami by a few years. While it can be used independently with fewer features than Blunami it can be connected to standard DCC encoders so you can control it with Bluetooth. So rather than ripping out your DCC board you can add a Bluerail board, assuming you have room, and get over the air control and even switch to battery power if so inclined. It even uses the same APP as Blunami.

https://bluerailtrains.com/tam-valley-dcc/

Pete

I love learning and this has been very educational....thanks for all the comments.

I know sound can be an irritant for many reasons: too loud, club atmosphere or if you just want peace and quiet, but it does add another layer of authenticity for me, so I'll be trying it eventually. Right now I have no layout, but I will be building some dioramas and a loco sitting on the diorama idling with work lights and others illuminated would be rewarding for me. There is also a great club in OKC that I can join and most likely will.

I didn't know about Bluerail Pete and I appreciate you pointing that out.......I'm obviously way behind the power curve on DCC.

I have a couple of locos with DCC installed at this time. One is a modified frame and drive with DCC and sound installed by Jay Criswell......it is set up to install the Red Caboose GP7/9 shell. Pretty sure it would need the Bluerail board as Jay did this installation well over a decade ago. And the a KTM/USA FEF3 that Gary Shrader DCC'd for me. I'd have to pull out the specs to see what decoder he put in, but pretty sure it was a Tsunami....so it would need the Bluerail board as well.

Since I would be using my I-Phone for control, do I just find an 18v transformer to connect to the rails? I have a decades old digitrak power supply with built in control buttons, would that possibly work temporarily?