On larger layouts, if one booster stops providing power, the
rest of the boosters, and the command station, will continue to
run normally. This can drive a train from a powered region into
one that has shut down, temporarily bridging power from the
active region to the dead one, as the wheels of the loco(s)
bridge the gaps between the districts.
8. Programming-On-the-Main is
dangerous
This myth comes from down under, where Marcus Ammann
suggested it. But it is a world-wide myth.
“Intrinsically, the command station does
not know whether the booster is function-
ing normally, or is shut down due to an
overload.”
First, let’s talk about two sim-
ilar, but different things:
Programming-On-the-Main
(POM, aka Ops-Mode pro-
gramming – shown as Po
on Digitrax DT400 series
throttles) – where you tell
your command station to
program a specific CV in
a decoder with a specific
address.
Blast-mode programming
– where (frequently by
selecting address zero) you
tell the command station
to program the same value
into every decoder on the
layout regardless of its
address.
Both of these are methods
of programming a loco that
is not located on an isolated
programming track, so they
are frequently confused.
POM uses the same mecha-
nism (sending a packet of
data to a specific address on
the DCC track bus) that is
used, for example, to tell a
loco to turn on its headlight
or ring its bell or move down
the track. POM is no more
dangerous than running a
DCC Impulses Column - 7
7: Digitrax DCS100 – command station and booster in
one box.
7
MRH-Mar 2014
