So I visited my favorite LHS to compliment the owner on his elaborate window display. He told me he’s taking it down because visitor’s cell phone calls were interfering with the TMCC commands and ‘burning out’ the command chips in some engines. The command equipment is by the register - I’d never heard of this and thought he’s just giving me an excuse. Might this be possible? A visitor’s in the store - or a viewer outside the window - receiving a cell call and this 1) interfering with the commands being sent to the engines - and 2) somehow impacting an engine’s chip…
The original TMCC command base operates in the CB band, not even close to cell phone frequencies. The Legacy base/CAB-2 operates in the 2.8 ghz range that is used by cell phones, wifi, bluetooth and even microwave ovens. The loco’s circuitry and track rf frequencies are the same in both TMCC and Leagcy.
Thanks, Chuck! I’ll try to convince him to just run his conventional trains - it’s a great window display.