What's the deal with DCC?

[steinjr]

Thanks Dave,

The DCC decoders are all standardized, so why not all of the throttles?

Not part of the DCC standard. Any throttle(s) are part of the DCC command station, not part of the communication between the command station and the decoders aboard the trains. It is the communication between command station and train that has to be specified for the system to work.

The most obvious practical solution for a modular club would be to pick and buy a specific (whichever you guys prefer) DCC command station belonging to the club, and then either require that all club members buy an extra throttle for this type DCC command station, or to buy a given number (five or ten or whatever seems sensible) throttles of this brand to use when running the modules as a club layout.

Then people can use whatever command station they want for their home layouts, but the club has a given command station for club use.

Stein