[Accrs] NMRA Coast Division Saturday Meetup - Tomorrow - Saturday, 6/20 9-11 AM PDT

[Alameda County Central Railroad Society]

We will have a Coast Division meetup tomorrow at 9 AM using the same Zoom channel below. Unfortunately, I did not get any volunteers to do a layout tour or other major topic this week, so I am improvising content. I have asked Peeyush Garg, the founder of LocoFi<https://www.wifimodelrailroad.com/> to come talk about his product for the first bit (30 mins. or so).  LocoFi is a locomotive control system with a decoder that only gets power from the rails (DC or DCC), uses an Android phone app as the cab, has distributed system control between multiple Android phones, and uses WiFi between them all (air not rail).  It is an interesting way to have locomotives you can take to other layouts with different systems (DC, DCC, different vendors) and control them directly from your phone or in a shared environment.  It is also an interesting and potentially less expensive way to convert a couple of engines on older DC layout as an easy entry point to going digital (no cab/control base purchase or wiring issues). I have seen a couple of messages and emails on this topic from Coast Division members. The mechanism for obtaining/installing sounds is different from the traditional DCC and may be interesting as a group.

Personally, I think the longer range implication of a WiFi channel between the locomotive and a phone (tablet – I bought a $60 Amazon Fire Tablet with Android) are very interesting. It overcomes a number of the issues with signaling through the rails and is fundamentally different than adding WiFi/WiThrottle. It also has the bandwidth to do some interesting new applications like video. Imagine having a cab view video and loco controls on a tablet to operate your engines? We have run a GoPro Session with WiFi to a tablet in Pleasanton for a couple of years and it works well across the layout and are actively looking at video.  With a WiFi channel from each locomotive with controls/sounds and video it would create an interesting experience.

I met Peeyush on a channel for new model railroad businesses and I thought it could be of interest for the Coast Division members.

Full disclosure, I have not tried the LocoFi products and am not promoting them, in fact, I saw them last year at one of the GATS train shows and ignored the idea completely (I have a WiFi adapter for my DCC system and use WiThrottle regularly).  I did not understand the value for my modeling. However, after listening to a quick presentation and thinking it through, I am going to get a decoder and try it with my Fire tablet. 😊 The CCC On30 modular group I am part of is considering is combining together with a number of other California On30 modular groups to create a large layout for the NMRA convention train show next year. One issue is which DCC control system to use across the combined layout as the groups use multiple DCC vendors.  With this type of system, that does not matter. I am thinking of doing one or two engines I would like to run there and know with the WiFi control I can do that with a device. I won’t have to find a cab or have issues with the complex DCC signaling for a large layout. As I run only two to three hours per day at a show like that, phone battery use is not a real issue. As I get going I will report back.

After that we will have a great opportunity for looking at what is on our workbenches and what we are doing. If there is time and interest we can look at how to do complete printed interiors in PowerPoint.

If you are interested in sharing your layout, a project, or a short preso (CeD talk), let’s talk tomorrow.

Join us Tomorrow at 9 AM PDT for the Zoom meeting.

Topic: Coast Division/PCR Saturday Morning Meetup
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet Saturday 9-11 AM PDT

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/93850662773?pwd=M3c5b1o5dk1lZzBmNzBLZXhYK1ZtUT09

Meeting ID: 938 5066 2773
Password: 4014
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,93850662773#,,,,0#,,4014# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,93850662773#,,,,0#,,4014# US (Houston)

Dial by your location
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
Meeting ID: 938 5066 2773
Password: 4014
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kddTCKyBnQ

Phil Edholm
Mobile 408-832-5618

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mail.accrs.org/archives/accrs/attachments/20200619/60b91f97/attachment.html>