Anyone know when Digitrax’s new system will be avalible in the US? Will there be a new throttle or just an “upgraded” DT400?
RF & PRR
Nothing’s been officially announced that I know of, but it’s common knowledge that Digitrax is coming out not with a new system, but a new throttle similar to the DT400R with duplex radio and other upgrades.
I’ve also been told by Digitrax that the duplex radio (don’t know about the other new features) will be available as an upgrade to existing DT400’s.
The release date hasn’t been announced yet, but the new throttle has literally been in the hands of beta testers for some time now. Rather than offering $35 firmware upgrades later, they want to get it right from the getgo.
Steve
When I used one at the Digitrax booth (when the WGH show was here in Cleveland back in March), it was labeled as “DT402(?)R”. The rep seemed to infer that early summer was the intended release date for their long awaited duplex system.
I used the DT402R to operate a locomotive and open and close turnouts. The sequence took a little getting used to but it worked well.
Tom
Didn’t get a photo of the DT402D throttle. Here is a photo of the UR92 Duplex radio receiver that was mounted on my module last june at the Derby City Express N Scale convention Layout. Digitrax had 8 of them spread around the layout room while testing the new throttles. Several of the DCC gurus got to take them home for further testing.
Thanks for the info and pic. Does the DT402R throttle have any new features / buttons, a different layout compaired to the DT400? Still have 2 engine control? A better LCD readout?
Thanks,
RFP & PRR
I had the opportunity to test the forthcoming Digitrax DT402R last January at the West Springfield show.
These throttles are the same size of the DT400 with the same display and key layout. The rep told the duplex radio was working to their expectation and they were still working on adding F13 to F28.
A delivery date was targeted late Spring or early Summer of 2009.
I’m new to DCC, so please forgive my ignorance, but what is duplex radio as related to the soon-to-be- released Digitrax radio throttle and how is it better than the current radio throttle?
Bob
In short, the current Digitrax radio system requires you to plug in the throttle to acquire an engine or consist. The new system will not require that.
Does this mean that the new Digitrax duplex radio throttles will no longer have the plug-in cord tail on them. This should be a real plus.
Bob
Gosh, I hope so!!! To me, that would be the whole idea behind a radio throttle…no tethers (except as a sometimes handy fallback option).
-Crandell
If you want to hear about Digitrax Duplex directly from the designer you can watch the Digitrax User’s Formun taped at Anaheim last summer: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/digitrax_2008 There are 6 segements to the presentation.
IIRC they do mention that the new throttle will still have short cord attached but just for registering the throttle to the system at start up (I think this is correct but you can listen for yourself). It was also mentioned the you could remove the cord it you wanted to.
Of course some of this info could change when the new product is finalized but one thing is for sure…that you will no longer need to plug in to do any train running operations.
The DT402D I had in my hand had the short cord.
I was told that there would be three versions of the new throttle. One with no radio, one with simplex radio, one with duplex radio. What I was not clear on was if the simplex radio model would be on the new 2.4ghz frequency or the old 900mhz frequency. Still not sure. At any rate, besides the new duplex throttle, a UR92 will also need to be purchased. Unlike the UR91 receiver, UR92 is a receiver and transmitter. DT402D will need to be plugged in once to acquire the radio ID for the layout
The throttles will have to F28. Other than one button now doing duty as a shift key for the extra functions, the throttle looks and feels the same as a DT400. The radio version will be programmable. The one I had the radio ID as DCE2008.
According to the Digitrax rep I spoke with the new duplex throttles will use 2.4Ghz. You’ll need and can run both the UR91 and UR92 at the same time if you want to have users with old and new throttles to work on your layout. You simply add a UR92 and you’ll be able to support the new throttles and keep the UR91 for any throttle which hasn’t been converted.
We had 16 UR91’s and 7 UR92’s operating on the layout at the Derby City Express.
It sounds to me like they plan on doing the following:
DT402 - No radio but 28 functions
DT402R - old 900 mhz simplex radio(would work with a UR91) and 28 functions
DT402D - new 2.4ghz duplex radio and 28 functions
I suspect that may be the plan as well.
I was hoping for a way to turn the duplex off on the 402D. A.J. said that won’t be possible.
Duplex may create trouble on a multi user club layout. Being able to choose the wrong address without plugging in will surely fill the slots with garbage faster than they get filled now. Need to train a few more members to close Op Switch 36.
On the other hand, I’d like the 2.4 ghz frequency so we don’t have to deal with slow response when the adjacent NCE club’s polled system is up and running.
He also said that there would be duplex radio UT throttles. Didn’t elaborate on the model numbers.
BTW. A.J. did say that the DT500 was not ever a throttle that Digitrax was planning.The 500 was something that we thought up mostly on the Yahoo group when we were speculating on new throttles. I think they went with 402D just to throw us off[swg]
Which is also why AJ happened to mention that the only time anyone seems to complain about the simplex radio system is when owners of the ‘other’ systems laugh about us not being able to aquire without plugging in. Be careful of what you wish for - you might get it.
At one point I did hear him say UT4D but that should be rather interesting since even the plugged-in UT4 uses a plug in and out step to select a new loco. Would be nice if there was just a button to do that - hitting without changing the number dialed up on the switches should have no effect since you would in effect be ‘stealing’ your own loco. So any accidental presses of the ‘select’ button would be harmless unless you also managed to somehow change the dials.
–Randy
I’ve read a lot of comments about the new radio system and even seen the link to these videos posted several times before, but I had never sat down to watch the videos until last night. They are very informative and I suggest to anyone who is interested in the new system watch the videos. A.J. Ireland goes over some very neat features I had never seen mentioned before.