Hornby's 2023 OO range announcements

[Bigmet]

https://uk.hornby.com/new-2023/hornby-r ... 0_oLe6bOgT

Briefly, this year we want to sell you a pacific or three. Available in 'regular' or the Hornby-Dublo style presentation diecast range.
Surprises, the streamlined version of the LNER B17, and the English Electric Deltic demonstrator, this last also in the Hornby-Dublo style diecast range. I suspect the big diesel will go a bomb, as the Hornbyistas that won't even look at other manufacturer's products have been deprived of this colourful monster, cornflower blue with go-faster stripes and all.

[centenary]

The DCC bluetooth control and sound chips is interesting and in a way, Im a little surprised someone like DCC Concepts hasnt brought this to market already. If your bluetooth is anything like my phone though, it will need to be permanently on charge as it flattens my battery very quickly!

Most garage or loft sized layouts should be ok for bluetooth range although is you're one of these lucky people who have a 40+ foot long layout, might be struggling unless you stand midway between both ends of the layout.

The freely available sound files you can download to the chips easily is also a very good idea. I do wonder how good these sound files are and will possibly be a few years on before something like Decoder Pro and a SPROG can be used to edit them?

The rest of the locos and rolling stock, goodness me, it will almost be 2024 before they are available!

[RAF96]

Range has been proven to 45 m, but each static or mobile node at full stretch will extend that range by mesh relay say for garden railway use.

[Richard08]

Range has been proven to 45 m, but each static or mobile node at full stretch will extend that range by mesh relay say for garden railway use.

Indeed. Bluetooth was originally developed for factory automation, the range is whatever you want it to be - with relays.

[D605Eagle]

Range has been proven to 45 m, but each static or mobile node at full stretch will extend that range by mesh relay say for garden railway use.

I must be getting old. I barely understood a single word of that!

[Alexander Court]

And A 'D tank' in the railroad range, of course,for £54!
When I was a child, and a teenager, you could get a Hornby trainset with a D tank and three wagons or coaches for £50.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we are having a catch up year (Cough Cough Ruston 88DS Cough Cough) and I do understand Simon Kohler's frustration at the situations, but come on now, £54 for a D tank?

Alex

[RAF96]

Range has been proven to 45 m, but each static or mobile node at full stretch will extend that range by mesh relay say for garden railway use.

I must be getting old. I barely understood a single word of that!

That’s OK. All it means is the more things (nodes) you have connected on the layout, the greater the range and better the reliability of those connections.

[End2end]

Nothing there that I'm interested in buying.
Those magnetic couplings might be interesting though for permanent rakes.
Thanks
End2end

[Buelligan]

I'm tempted by the B17/5 streamliner, and might go for the LNER teak coaches too, including the full brake. I've lost my enthusiasm for making my railway at the moment, but still intend on building my collection of stock in the hope my urge to build returns.

[ChrisGreaves]

That’s OK. All it means is the more things (nodes) you have connected on the layout, the greater the range and better the reliability of those connections.

I am at this time an "Observer", but curious. I have used only DC motors and am confident that DCC is the way to go in the future.
I have used hand-sized routers to relay WiFi signals through a large apartment.
Question (1) Are similar portable "Relays" or "Boosters" available to extend WiFi range for DCC gear?
Question (2) As an example, could one load wagons/carriages with these things and establish a roving fleet of boosters on a large (especially outdoor) railway?
Thanks, Chris

[RAF96]

That’s OK. All it means is the more things (nodes) you have connected on the layout, the greater the range and better the reliability of those connections.

I am at this time an "Observer", but curious. I have used only DC motors and am confident that DCC is the way to go in the future.
I have used hand-sized routers to relay WiFi signals through a large apartment.
Question (1) Are similar portable "Relays" or "Boosters" available to extend WiFi range for DCC gear?
Question (2) As an example, could one load wagons/carriages with these things and establish a roving fleet of boosters on a large (especially outdoor) railway?
Thanks, Chris

Talking first to HM7K and not general DCC...
1. Bluetooth (BT) and Wifi are different methods of using ‘radio’ for communications. In the case of BT mesh these nodes or extenders tend to be devices that are purposeful to the layout, such as points or signal decoders or loco decoders. There may be in future such things as BT ambient speakers or lighting controls, etc which by remote placement would extend your BT range. At present there are no mains plug in PowerLine adapter type of extender such as you get for Wifi.
2. The only useful wagon load I can see would be a BT developed version of the Hornby TTS Vent Van. If each loco decoder was BT then you already have your travelling extender talking to the next nearest loco or static node.

Talking now to basic DCC and going back to Q1...
DCC Boosters are normally understood to be a method of providing more power to a layout by way of splitting a very large layout into electrically isolated sections, each powered by a booster that relays the DCC signal from the single master controller across to the isolated sections. Some folk use boosters on smaller layouts as a way of being able to isolate for fault finding purposes. This track power method could be used for extending the ‘range’ of a DCC garden layout, but not for a BT controlled system, for which Mesh connectivity is the way to go.

[Richard08]

Here's a an explanation of why asking what range a bluetooth device has is not a straightforward question : https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-b ... tes/range/

It seems relays have now become known as 'extenders' as well as repeaters. There are a great many on the market at all sorts of prices (google 'bluetooth extender'). If you had an area where reception was iffy, you'd just need a repeater near that hears your 'base station' and boosts the signal in that area. There's no need to have it mobile, Bluetooth is a broadcast system, all devices receive all signals but only act on them if addressed to them. If you wanted to experiment, bluetooth headphones would be a cheap starting point.

[ChrisGreaves]

Here's a an explanation of why asking what range a bluetooth device has is not a straightforward question : https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-b ... tes/range/

Richard, thanks for these two responses and the link to the article.

The BT article mentions a trade-off in data vs range; I would imagine that DCC signals are low-data content compared to, say, audio/video. I don't know DCC but I would imagine that generally it sends a brief signal to change something such as speed, rather than a continuous signal to maintain a given speed.

For a garden model train layout, regardless of size (say up to one hundred acres, why not?) the cost of implementing static repeaters would be minimal compared to installation of track, stock etc. A train layout is more like a one-dimensional line, curved and branching, but a restricted passage.

I suppose that a model Jeep layout, two-dimensional, drive-anywhere, might benefit more from mobile repeaters, which could function rather like a tow-truck heading out to provide a few gallons of petrol to a car that had run out of fuel.

Thanks again
Chris

[Bigmet]

...The BT article mentions a trade-off in data vs range; I would imagine that DCC signals are low-data content compared to, say, audio/video. I don't know DCC but I would imagine that generally it sends a brief signal to change something such as speed, rather than a continuous signal to maintain a given speed.

DCC is low data content, all embedded on an 8kHz waveform; but all the commands are continuously repeated to ensure reliable reception by the decoders via the noisy interface of rail-tyre-pickup wipers.

[ChrisGreaves]

... all the commands are continuously repeated to ensure reliable reception by the decoders ...

Thanks Bigmet.
So this is a form of data-redundancy built in to combat the "noise" signals problem.
(I remember a bit of Shannon's work from years ago)
Cheers, Chris