I am putting together a group order for CT Elektronik DCX74zD decoders from Oliver Passmann, as he said he would do this for us and at a discount. These are the illusive 4 function decoders, smallest DCC decoders in the world, and a real hassle to get. I bought 5 from him and the price was 26.50 EUR plus shipping and the total was $193 US dollars, so about $38.75 each. Shipping a larger order would bring the cost down, so what I'll do is order as many as replied here by Friday. Also, of note, I am not going to open or test them, and if you get a bum one, you have to deal with the manufacturer yourself, as that is exactly what my recourse would be. Oliver is doing this as a favor to us who cannot get these decoders here in the North America, but he has no affiliation with CT Elektronik himself.
Rob, How about the sound decoder, If you can get the sound decoder I'll take 4 sound decoder sl74 and 7 dcx74 decoders. if not I'll just take 10 dcx74. Kim
Robert, is the sound decoder SL74 suitable for Z? If its suitable for Z It must be an easy one for N Scale. Do you have a link for info on it, preferably in English!!!!!! Thanks.
Here is their website http://www.tran.at/ Try this link http://tinyurl.com/y9hdd3 if it does not work: to translate go to http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en and put the website link and select German to English translation SL74 is a sound decoder. Kim
robert, i'd like two of the decoders. if they can get the sound decoders, i would try at least one of them. i'll wait for you to confirm that part, however, before i go farther. thanks for doing this. dave
I think there is more involved to the sound decoders than just getting a decoder, as you also have to buy a programmer, and software seperately. As far as I understand it, they use a WAV format file that you program in for your locomotive.
Rob, I was looking at their website and they have only one programmer called soundprog and it is used to program sound decoder and other regular decoders. From the translation I guess the SL74 and DCX74z are pre-programmed. I downloaded the files for programming and it is very easy to program and lot of options for customization I hope the sl74 is programmable, but from the specs it is not clear. I dont mind getting the soundprog we could share it for programming. The software is free download. Kim
Kim Can you find out more about the sound decoder, and what all will be needed to work with it? I asked Robert for two of these also, but am having a hard time trying to figure out what else i'll need to make them work, i.e. sound module or software. It looks like the software can be had via the net, but what about the sound module or whatever it is called. Thanks for the info. Tony B..
Tony, The only other device needed is the "soundprog" with which one can program the sound decoder and other decoders. What is not clear is if the sound decoder sl74 is programmable. From their website one link states it is fully programmable with soundprog but the manual does not talk anything about programming and the firmware update page does not have any updates for the sl74. I'll enquire them with a email and let you know when I get a reply. The software is a free download with the .wav files. Kim
I could not find any contact email info for CT on their website. I am just going to get the "soundprog" and the sound decoders sl74.... if Rob can get them. Kim
Robert Please put me down for six of them. Let us know of the mechanics for payment, paypal, money order, personal check etc........ Thanks kestutis
Stu, Can you send me a PM? I have a couple questions for you about NTS 2007. The email you gave me in Philly doesn't seem to be getting through. Thanks, Randy Smidt ZTrack magazine module coordinator
obviously your German is not very good here is the link to the contact info: http://www.tran.at/Kontakt.htm in my contacts with him mr Tran responded promptly and was very helpful Chris
Chris, What do you mean German? It's Japanese.... ;-) I sent them an email, waiting for a response. Thanks for the link. Kim
Hello, First I'am happy to meet here people from which I know the homepage longer time. Kim, Your animated house story, I will remember for all my time, you did wonderfull things. For the SL74, I have one lying here. They have 3 ready products : SL74DA for Steam, SL74DI for Diesel and SL74EL for Electric. For my own, I will never integrate a sound decoder in an electric loco, the only thing interesting is the horn. The SL74 is smaller as the ESU, but has also less features. So the functions output just allows dimming. The ESU has about 200 CV's and features marslight, gyralight, firebox and more on the auxiliaries. The smallest SL74 speaker is 15x11mm in surface. For Z I think it takes to much place. I also would like to make it even smaller next time, so the SL74 is waiting for this, but to profit from the smaller size it will need a new speaker solution. I have some ideas, but nothing tested.
I have some 10mm 8ohm cell phone speakers that I got from a surplus store that might work if the CT Elektronik decoders use 8ohm speakers. I was able to fit it easily in a Marklin tender: The MRC N Brilliance Steam 0001637 will fit in a Z Scale USRA tender. Also fit inside was a 3/8" speaker and 2 D size Tantalum Caps. Kim is working on a supercap backup to smooth out the rough spots so the sound does not glitch when we loose power due to poor track pickup.
