# Repeater questions



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Howdy,

I really need to improve the antenna situation on the layout, which is long and skinny. 

I currently have the base station in the middle, and the control equipment is also there. I would like to add two new repeaters, about 30' away, to the left and right.

Question: Can I leave the RB02 where it is, and use a splitter from its B port to go left and right to the new RPT1's? Or do I need to daisy-chain them without any splitting?

Nuther question, is there a simple cheap alternative to the repeaters? They seem pretty simple for a ~$105 item, but maybe there's a lot more to it. 

Thanks,
Cliff


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

There is only one RB02 in a system.

The RB02 has 3 ports, one goes to the command station, and either or both of the other 2 can go to a repeater.

Each repeater can go to 2 more repeaters.

There can be NO splitters.

did you look at the manual, no offense.

https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/200502369/rbo2-rpt.pdf

so rb02 in the middle, and then 2 repeaters connected to it, they come wiht 40' cables as I remember.

or rb02 at one end, one cable to a repeater, and another cable from the first repeater to the second.

page 4

there are no alternatives...

greg


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

What about moving your centrally located station to about 1/3 of the way down the layout and then putting a single repeater 2/3 of the way down. If it doesn't work, you can add a second repeater later and if it does, you've saved $100.

While I like the NCE system overall, I've not been too impressed with the NCE radio units. I have the newer 1/2 wave antenna on the base unit, and still find reception poor. Along with the very short battery life and the seemingly interminable wait between a cab keypress and reaction, I rarely use it.

In fact, I have some of those CAT5 conversion boards somewhere along with a spool of direct burial CAT5, and I've been tempted to just put a cab panel somewhere convenient to the center of the layout and not bother with radio. Since my layout currently is roundy-round capable but not operations ready, the number of times I need to take a cab with me to control a train close-up could be counted on the fingers of one finger.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I get pretty good battery life on the throttles, but I used rechargeable batteries, eneloop.

The antennas I used were the standard whips that are about 9" long as shown in the illustrations in the manual referenced above.

The same antennas on the throttles gave me good range, I did not get the same range with the newer throttles with the internal antenna.

I also did the "splatch" antenna mod for a friend and he compared it with the external antenna and it was not as good. I have not tried the internal wire mod (long wire down the inside of the unit) because I figure your hand on the throttle would attenuate the signal too much.

I kept my base stations about 30 foot apart, but I had tracks down the side of the house, so I needed the additional base stations.

The 900 Mhz stuff, whether Digitrax, NCE or Airwire just cannot have the range of the newer 2.4 GHz stuff due to FCC regulations for full duplex/bidirectional communications.

I now run Zimo and it goes everywhere. Of course that system cost more than 3 times the NCE system!

Greg


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Greg Elmassian said:


> The antennas I used were the standard whips that are about 9" long as shown in the illustrations in the manual referenced above.
> 
> The same antennas on the throttles gave me good range, I did not get the same range with the newer throttles with the internal antenna.
> Greg


Greg--do you know if anyone has come up with an easy way to put an external antenna on the newer internal-antenna-only cabs?

(Sorry to hijack your thread Cliffy--but maybe better antennae would help us both.)


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Later this year I might try wrapping a wire (like 12 ga. Romex) up and down the back side of the cab. I wonder if that would help performance. If it was "glued" onto the back you'd hardly notice the wire when holding the cab.

Just a thought. 'Cept I've never opened up the cab case - don't know what I'd find in there.

JackM


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Should we start another thread on this? Anybody care? Buehler? Buehler?

JackM


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Greg Elmassian said:


> There is only one RB02 in a system.
> 
> The RB02 has 3 ports, one goes to the command station, and either or both of the other 2 can go to a repeater.
> 
> ...



Thanks Greg. I'd seen that manual long ago, but couldn't find it at the NCE site. Gotter printed out now. And I'd completely forgotten that the RB02 has 2 ports, so that solves my problem. (Mine has a plastic hat on it, and I haven't looked at it in years, so there you go).


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