I'm planning to put DCC and sound in some of my Athearn F units and GP 35s any recomendations? Is there a complete control and sound unit that will work or will I need two separate decoders?
Walt
You will need two decoders. One to power the loco and then a sound decoder. Digitrax makes sound upgradeable decoders but good luck getting a straight answer out of them. When I emailed tech support they told me to do one thing when their website clearly tells you to purchase something else. Let me know if you get a straight answer, I am sure we are not the only two trying to put sound in an Athearn loco.
If you want straight answers. call Tony's Trains. Why on earth would you need two decoders in one engine, when one decoder will more than do the trick? One to operate the potty, perhaps?
One thing I've found with Athearn "blue box" engines is they need a decoder with Back EMF "cruise control", it really improves the running characteristics of the engine. However, I'm not sure if any diesel combined sound decoders have BEMF??
As it happens, I just bought a couple of MRC "sounder" sound-only decoders that are under $30 each, haven't had a chance to install them yet and try them out, but that with a regular decoder from Digitrax or TCS might be one option to look at.
Otherwise, you could just try the Soundtraxx LC decoder for EMD engines, it has a good first-generation sound and would work well in an F unit, although it doesn't have the Back EMF. I have a couple in Life-Like and Atlas units and like them.