hi guys . i am new to dcc and don`t know a whole lot about it yet . the main question i have is how do you tell if a decoder is an operational decoder , a sound decoder ,or both? i am getting close to converting my locos and would prefer to have everything in one decoder if possible .please educate me . thanks ,RON
There are variety of decoders to suit a variety of situations, for non-sound equipped locos there are some general-purpose decoders, but often require soldering to install, for sound decoders there isn’t really a “one size fits all”. If you want “Plug-And-Play” you’ll have to get locomotive-speciffic decoders in many cases.
It sounds like you need to read up a bit, I would suggest you start here: http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm
Modelmaker makes a good point, as one size does not fit all…
Also check out the DCC forum here at Trains. There are a lot of knowledgeable folk and good information over there.