12-03-2010, 05:09 PM
Or go here: http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm and check off the boxes for the feature you want and it will tell you what value to put in CV29. It also has a sectio to calculate CV17 and CV18 for you, which isn;t really necessary for most DCC systems - although it can come in handy programming stubborn sound decoders.
I am convinved people make this out to be harder than it really is. If I say to write down one thousand, nine hundred and fifty six, you write 1956 (I hope!). Setting 'bits' is the exact same thing, only instead of 0-9 you only have to deal with 0 and 1. Use the scientific mode of the calculator in Windows and you cna enter the binary and press one button and it tells you the decimal number. FOr simple on/off things it makes a heck of a lot more sense than to have 8 individual CVs that can only be 1 or 0. There are only a limited number of CVs in the NMRA specifications.
For those with Digitrax, NCE, Lenz, CVP (ok, pretty much everyone EXCEPT MRC), look into getting the computer interface for your system and the free JMRI program. You won;t have to know ANY of this stuff - what a flashing becon? Just check the check box that syas beacon and JMRI will handle whatever CVs need to be set for the decoder you are using. MRC has their own proprietary software that does some of this but it's highly lacking compared to JMRI. Can;t use JMRI with MRC because MRC does not want to participate.
--Randy
I am convinved people make this out to be harder than it really is. If I say to write down one thousand, nine hundred and fifty six, you write 1956 (I hope!). Setting 'bits' is the exact same thing, only instead of 0-9 you only have to deal with 0 and 1. Use the scientific mode of the calculator in Windows and you cna enter the binary and press one button and it tells you the decimal number. FOr simple on/off things it makes a heck of a lot more sense than to have 8 individual CVs that can only be 1 or 0. There are only a limited number of CVs in the NMRA specifications.
For those with Digitrax, NCE, Lenz, CVP (ok, pretty much everyone EXCEPT MRC), look into getting the computer interface for your system and the free JMRI program. You won;t have to know ANY of this stuff - what a flashing becon? Just check the check box that syas beacon and JMRI will handle whatever CVs need to be set for the decoder you are using. MRC has their own proprietary software that does some of this but it's highly lacking compared to JMRI. Can;t use JMRI with MRC because MRC does not want to participate.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad of the 1950's in HO
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com
Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com