Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
If the interface you are talking about is the cable from your computer to the dcc system I suggest you check E-bay. I bought mine there and it was 1.99 for the cable and 5.99 for shipping, at radio phone the cost was over 40 dollars. I use NCE if anyone is wondering.
Decoder Pro is worth it! As you have already made your decision, you must agree.
I added Decoder Pro and a LocoBuffer-USB to my Zephyr about 16-months ago. One of the best moves I have ever made in model railroading. Beyond the fact that you can store your settings for future use, the programming interface is relatively easy to learn.
After hooking things up and installing the program, I was off and running in just a couple of hours. If I can do it, anyone can!
Good luck and enjoy!
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
jfugate wrote: ... And did I say DecoderPro is free?
... And did I say DecoderPro is free?
... don't forget to DONATE to the JMRI cause. It is a great tool that someone is fighting a long drawn out battle to keep availlable " FREE " to all who appreciate and use it, if only for DecoderPro.
According the the JMRI Decoder Pro web site, the program will also work with the Digitrax PR2. The PR2 is a stand-alone programming interface. It will NOT connect to your DCC system, but rather to a separate programming track.
I know that the PR2 is a relatively new device, and its primary job may be downloading sound files into Digitrax programmable decoders, but does anyone have any first-hand experience with using this, now that it's been on the market?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
You will find speed matching two locos using DecoderPro to be super easy! And to top it off, the program is free!
DecoderPro lets you open an window for each loco, so I like to arrange them side by side -- and then use ops mode programming (Programming on the Main, or POM) to program the speed settings.
I put the two locos on a stretch of track with a long siding, and put one loco on the main and the other on the siding. Then I match the speeds at 1/4 throttle and 3/4 throttle, both forward and reverse. Often when I check 1/2 throttle and full throttle, they are "close enough".
With the two locos speed settings in side-by-side windows on my PC screen, speed matching doesn't get any easier!
In my opinion, if you are comfortable with using a PC for non-railroading tasks, you should consider a computer interface and DecoderPro an essential part of your DCC system. Any DCC system that does not have computer interface capability is not a serious DCC system, IMO.
DecoderPro brings so much power and ease to decoder programming, it's like night and day. Programming a new loco decoder with the same settings I used in another loco takes less than 60 seconds with DecoderPro. Try that with your DCC system that has no computer interface!
And did I say DecoderPro is free?
Joe Fugate Modeling the 1980s SP Siskiyou Line in southern Oregon
No more questions from me.
A wise man once said, "It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious."
The interface is now ordered!
Once you have Decoder pro and the interface set up and correctly working with your DCC system the use of the application is trivial. The graphical user interface for the speed curves is very intuitive.
IMO one of the very best features is the ability to save your settings for a particular loco/decoder combination. Imagine that you have put several hours into getting your locos speed matched perfectly and you have fine tuned the lighting effects and maybe all the sound effects to your satisfaction. Then one day your decoder gets scrambled and needs to be reset to factory defaults. With Decoder Pro you would then just re-download the settings file for that loco and it is back to how you want it. This alone is a great feature and well worth the cost of the software! (Free)
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
I don't have it YET, because my system won't interface to it.
However, when that changes, I will get it immediately. Joe Fugate's video on DCC demonstrates speed matching, and it really looks like a snap! And it would be much harder, and time consuing to do otherwise. Decoder Pro also gives you the ability to save your configurations, or even copy them, so you can duplicate setups, and reprogram lost settings. To me it looks worth it.
Jeff But it's a dry heat!
I am going to start a new post on this. I am intrigued by the suggestions about using Decoder Pro and an interface to speed match locos.
I see by a quick read of the manuals online that Decoder Pro is a quite powerful or complex bit of electronics. I have no experience with it.
Is it worth it to get the interface and install Decoder Pro to help speed match locos....if that is all I want it for? Or would it be using a hammer to kill a bug? That is, putting too much on my plate to learn for just this purpose?
I have no experience speed matching locos, but will soon be at the point of trying to make eight to ten consists of almost two dozen locos (I have collected too many duplicates and AB or ABA sets one might say....six H16-44s....four Stewart/Kato F series etc. etc.).
I have no reservations about using the computer and making the connections. That was part of my occupation as a high school teacher. However, the learning curve looks daunting for the software....or is it just my grey matter disappearing?
So, to the root of the matter: How long would it take me to learn to use Decoder Pro to speed match locos?
Thanks.