NEW from RCS. Whistle only Plug in sound for Live Steam locos.

Tony Walsham

Manufacturer of RCS Radio Control.
25 Oct 2009
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RCS is proud to announce the immediate availability of whistle only sound systems for Live Steam locos.
Click Pics to hear sound play.
L & B "LYN" whistle. British Narrow Gauge
USA Mainline 3 Chime. (Sound clip courtesy of Mr Jon Radder)
USA Narrow Gauge 5 chime.

In a nutshell each sound system is literally plug in. Power is provided by the 5 volt R/C battery supply.
The only wiring is hooking up a suitable 8 ohm speaker.
Use any R/C Channel to activate sound. The Channel # 5 bind button on all RCS, Micron and Deltang Tx hand-pieces is ideal. Stick radios too.

Full details are HERE

USA sounds made available with the assistance of Peter Thornton.
 
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Tony Walsham

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Hi Greg,
I don't know what the amp wattage is but I can and will find out.
They do have an audio output which can be amplified of course.
They are just simple triggers and not playable.
Maybe in the future.
 
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Well, I will get a lot of flack for this, but besides the novelty of a real steam whistle, nothing that could fit on a G scale loco can sound like the real thing, I think this is a very cool product at a good price point and easy to interface.

Greg
 

dunnyrail

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Superb they sound really great, look forward to some more Euro Sounds and perhaps MLS can get an update as well?
 

Tony Walsham

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Thanks JonD
Euro sounds will be added as and when I can get hold of good clean recordings.
 

Fred2179G

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I posted this on another thread about electronics in live steamers, but it is appropriate here too. Lyn whistle in Accucraft Countess. (Whistle starts at 0:39. Speaker is a 1" Radio Shack Mini-speaker.)


I wondered about altering the volume - presumably it would be easy to reduce the sound output with a few bits?
 

Tony Walsham

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Excellent Tony..how do we get them over in UK?
Hello Mike.
Thanks for the interest.
At present they are only available direct from RCS in Australia and the postage isn't cheap.
Before COVID-19 I was able to send very small and thin packets anywhere in the World for around A$ 3. Unfortunately that cheap rate has been suspended for the duration.
 

Tony Walsham

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Hi Peter.
As you know your 3 x chime sample was recorded at too high a volume level and is a little distorted.
MRW is remaking them at a lower volume level such as the clickable links are set at and they should be here soon.
The other whistles are just fine.
There is no volume control as such.
 

Fred2179G

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The 3-chime was also used on the East Broad Top locos, so if you have an Accucraft #12 it is perfect. Nevin at the East Broad Top confirmed the PRR whistles are very similar. The 3-chime will work on the PRR K4 (which is where mine is going, and that tender is mostly empty so I am hoping to get a BIG speaker somewhere.) It also works for the G5 and E6 (Accucraft & WuHu) live steamers, and many more.

I think Tony found the 5-chime whistle recording on a std gauge loco, and from my digging it appeared the D&RGW used that type on both their std and narrow gauge locos. I plan to put one in my DSP&P Mason Bogie with a big speaker.

Almost any Youtube video of a steam excursion includes lots of whistling, so it is easy to compare these sounds with the prototype you have.
 

Tony Walsham

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They sound great Tony, is there a spec on the wattage of the amp?

Do they "loop" if left "on"? Can you "play" them by moving the stick, or are they just triggered to play?

Greg
Hi Greg.
As I understand it, the amp is 1 Watt.
I understand what you mean by "play the whistle" with the stick? as it is a digital proportional signal. Would be desirable, but not yet.
That will require totally different logic and that costs money.
 

Moonraker

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I purchased one of these Lyn units from Tony for one of my (Roundhouse) live steam locos. The device uses an ISD1616B recording and playback chip with a built in amplifier. That amplifier only delivers 0.67 watts when used with a 5.5v R/C input so it is important to use the best speaker you can find and to fit it to an airtight box to avoid loss of volume and quality. I tried several speakers and ended up using a 23mm round TUC810129 speaker. I also wanted to make the installation as neat and robust as possible and the attached photo shows the end result. I 3D printed a soundbox to fit the speaker but made it large enough that I could fit Tony's unit inside the soundbox as well. The whole thing then becomes a single unit to bolt on between the frames.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
 

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PhilP

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I can supply the units in the UK.. - Looking into what whistles I have access to at the moment. Covid restrictions make this slightly awkward at the moment.. :(:rolleyes:

PhilP.
 

Tony Walsham

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Hello Phil.

Thanks for the offer. Normally I would gratefully accept, except I don't have any dealer discounts available in the current price structure.

Perhaps you would like to drop me a line and I would explain how we could work something out.