Welcome on the DCC-Portal

The new ZIMO system folder 2006 is ready (currently o­nly in German)
Download from German start site www.zimo.at
Englisch (printed) version in spring 2006, maybe some pages already earlier o­nline ! The new folder has 16 pages, and for that much information included than former versions !

Working group RailCom

Under the slogan "It's time for the future" the well known DCC companies LENZ, KUHN, TAMS and ZIMO joined forces to market and further develop the "bidirectional communication" based o­n the NMRA draft-RP's 9.3.1, 9.3.2. "RailCom" (a trade mark of Lenz Elektronik) is an efficient method of data transfer from the decoder to the command station and is the suitable completion of the DCC standard.

ZIMO is already well prepared for this new era: all (!) loco and accessory decoders since 2004 are equipped with the necessary hardware; all that's required is a software update, which as is generally known can be performed by the ZIMO customer without opening the loco as soon as the RailCom software becomes available.

This software as well as the RailCom detector (= bidirectional detector) for installation in ZIMO command stations already exists as a pre-production sample and has been shown in operation at various shows in 2005 o­n our "ARS" show layout. This layout will of course be present in Nuremberg again.

ZIMO Miniature decoder: MX620 replaces MX62 !

More information in March 2006 www.zimo.at !

The new MX620 has the microcontroller core of MX69. Some features, which exist today o­nly in larger types (MX63, MX64, MX69), are implemented in MX620: measurement of rail voltage, SUSI interface.

MX620 is not a sound decoder, but the microcontroller is able to play some sound samples which could be made audible by a very tiny external amplifier (later in this year).

MX620 will start ca. April 2006 !

Athearn news update 01-2006 and 02-2006 currently available on the NOCH-site! 4-8-8-4 Big Boy in H0 scale, the king of the steamengines N-scalers watch out: 4-6-6-4 Challenger now also available in N - scale and WITH Sound! Before the play goods fair in Nuernberg it is rather hectic at NOCH and the preparations for the large novelty presentation are running fullspeed. You may look forward  again to an indeed impressing novelty fireworks. In time for the start of the fair o­n the 2nd of February 2006 will will release all the novelties o­n our site. Thus you should schedule for a visit of our site o­n next thursday. Also our partner Athearn starts with full power into the new year. We are pleased to be allowed to present you the first novelties already before the play goods fair. Particularly we want to emphasize the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy in H0 scale and the  Challenger in N scale. Both models are equiped with a dual decoder for DC and DCC operation including an extremely realistic sound and a remote maintenance! Make shure that you secure yourselves these models immediately with your dealer. Further new announcements of Athearn to be found o­n our site: http://www.noch.de/de/neuheiten/athearn/index.php Yours NOCH-Team (official press-text translated by http://www.dcc-portal.net)

LokSound micro is the youngest fellow of the successful LokSound family of ESU. With dimensions of just 28mm x 10mm x 5 mm the LokSound is so extremely small that it can be fitted without any hassle into vehicles of sizes N and TT. The inventor of the LokSound technology proves impressively that nowadays miniaturization is possible by the employment of most modern technology.

Features

• Supports all NMRA DCC format loco decoders
  
• Use any LocoNet® throttle, e.g. the FREMO FRED
  
• Run up to 6 loco addresses at the same time
  
• Use up to 6 throttles at the same time
  
• Numeric keypad, and four digit LED display for easy operation
  
• Painless short (1-127) and long (128-9999) address selection
  
• 128 speed steps for smooth speed control
  
• Control light (FL), and F1 to F8 (depends on throttle)
  
• Supports 14 and 28 speed steps throttles
  
• Built-in booster (~600mA) for running one (small) locomotive
  
• Read/write programmer for Address and CV byte/bit programming
  
• Direct mode programming (NMRA prefered Service mode), and
  
• Operations mode programming - to program individual locos on the layout