There is a web special over at MRC for non-sound decoders for Atlas and some Kato. Can't beat the price of $15. Just passing on info for those that may be interested. I didn't want to post the link in case of a TOU violation.
I believe that these decoders are for the Kato SD70MAC and a few other locos. If it is the same decoder, I bought some a while back and they ABSOLUTELY SUCK!!!!! They are the crappiest decoders I had ever used and even with a bunch of tinkering in DecoderPro the lowest speed step that an engine equipped with one of these will start at is 10 out of 28. Fresh out of the pack they needed speed step 14 to get my locos going. I will admit that there were a few things I liked about them though. They were pretty darned easy to speed match as opposed to a few of the other decoders I have owned, and they also ran the quietest. The locos I had with these in them ran quieter at the same speeds as some of the locos equipped with Digitrax or other decoders. Take this however you will, just my two cents on the whole thing.
I dont have time right now to check it out (I will in a few days) but do they (MRC) offer it for the Kato Gen. P42 or the Kato EMD F40PH? Even if they might be crap right out of the box, they would be good to start with until I can aford to upgrade to better ones. Besides, right now I have no decoders in my engines. Thx for the heads up.
No, these decoders are for the Kato SD70MAC and AC4400. I will list the appropriate decoders for the P42 and F40 later when I can get to my notes.
Bruce- For the Kato F40PH, about the cheapest (and oddly enough best) decoders would be the Digitrax DN163K0D and they run between $28 and $35 depending on where you get them.
....or you can go with the DZ135 and hard wire it in (dead easy with the P42). And at 15 bucks, light years ahead of the MRC. David B
