Old Infrared Controllers by Catnip Enterprises

wrote

Since IR is liine of sight only, it would help to have the

IR *isn't* line-of-sight only. Like any form of light, it will reflect from most smooth or shiny surfaces to some extent. I remember watching a guy use his IR throttle by simply pointing it at the white plaster ceiling above him and letting the reflected beam bounce off and hit the receiver -which was behind him- on the rebound. (Similarly, my IR TV remote-control will control our TV set while it's pointing at *any* part of our living room: walls, ceiling, coffee table, Etc.)

Have you tried seeing how far away you can point the beam before your receiver doesn't pick it up any more?

Pete

Wasn't that the Cat Mountain IR controller? I seem to remember them (Model Railroader) having an article on building IR extenders in the ceiling for that system...

Yes, the bounce-effect works okay at home, but at a train show where walls are sometimes miles away, there is no "bounce." The effective range of the Catnip Enterprise's hand-held remote is 30 feet.

I could just have somebody dress up in aluminum foil and stand on the other end of the layout, I suppose.

g.

-------------------------------------------- Never criticize another until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way you'll have his shoes and be a mile away.

--------------------------------------------

For email reply, try jwudgy at tds dot net and you'll get through.

Thanks.

Try trolling for left-over hats at Ron Paul HQ.

On 2/3/2008 11:23 AM Steve Caple spake thus:

Better luck yet at Larouche HQ.

On Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:21:55 GMT, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and snipped-for-privacy@SooLineFan.Net instead replied:

I've been watching the responses to this thread and have a few tips for you.

Realistically, almost any IR repeater will repeat exactly what goes in and faithfully. The only thing you need worry about is the frequency of the IR control bits. What I mean is that there are 3 different frequencies that I know of. Each pulse of light is modulated by a frequency and you must be sure that yours matches the repeater. Some repeaters are smart enough to simply echo the incoming pulses but others need to be matched. So, take your IR with you to an audio/video shop and ask about repeaters. Check Radio Shack or Tandy as well. Failing that, buy a kit. They're available.

Here's a hot tip for you. Your video camera, digital camera or phone camera can all "see" infrared. Go ahead and try it. Leave your camera on, point the remote into the lens and watch the flashes. You'll be able to see what your eye can't. Take that along when you test your remote at the A/V or electronics shop and try to see both at the same time or one at a time. If there's an output, chances are it will work. If you buy on the proviso that it does work, you should be able to return it painlessly should it not work.

I've never had a remote fail yet but use the phone camera to test for weak batteries when the remote starts acting up. It's just plain super geeky and very cool to do.

-- Ray

"Ray Haddad" wrote

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

Pete

Not a lot of difference - except the Laroushies have full three piece suits of Alcoa wrap.

"Steve Caple" wrote

Recommended for extremists of all sorts.

wrote

Hmmm.

How about suspending a shiny foil "moon" up over the layout and pointing the remote at *it*?

On 2/3/2008 10:20 PM P. Roehling spake thus:

Ha. Funny.

But I think you have "extremists" confused w/"nutcases", in your never-ending quest for perfect middle-of-the-roadness.[1]

[1] I refer you to the Jim Hightower's immortal saying (and title of his book), "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos".

Secretary of Agriculture in my dream cabinet. With John Edwards as Attorney General.

And not a cabinet post, but David Cay Johnston* as head of the IRS and also of a commission to root out all the accretion of special interest loopholes and rules that enable the top few percent by income to avoid most taxes.

Kinda makes you wish there really was a "death tax" - up against the wall billionaires - pay at least 35% or pay for the bullet.

• NY Times tax reporter, and author of "Perfectly Legal" (2003, available used from ABEBOOKS.COM for aroound + shipping) on the gaming of the tax "system", as well as "Free Lunch", more recent book about things like state and muni tax giveaways to WalMart or Cabela's or various sports franchises.

If you haven't read "Perfectly Legal", it's a must read, unless you like paying a higher tax rate than, say, Warren Buffet.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote

I have no such quest. My politics haven't changed much since 1964, although the American political pendulum has swung past me quite a bit since then. (As a Goldwater supporter I was then considered a right-wing fanatic. Now I'm sometimes told that I'm a "radical liberal" because I'm neither racist nor homophobic.)

But to business:

In my view an "extremist" is anyone who believes that only *his* political position can be correct, and that anyone who disagrees with him is disloyal at the very least. See Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, or Bill O'Reilly for examples. (I'm sure there must be left-wing examples out there as well.)

A "nutcase", on the other hand, is one who firmly believes that Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida are creations of the Jewish controlled world media, that George Bush personally ordered the attack on the World Trade Center, or that the little green flying saucer men are coming to collect their true believers any day now...

Such people aren't really politically oriented at all, although they may seem to be: in reality they're just totally disconnected from reality.

But hey; feel free to define the terms for yourself.

Pete

Hmmm - not so sure about Rush; I remember when he gave Roberto d'Aubisson (of death squad, bishop assassinating and nun-raping fame) a big hug and kiss at a caveman right wing to-do at the Sacramento Convention Center. Then there's the oxycontin abuse.

Draft-dodging Patriot?

Drug-swilling Conservative?

How about just Oxy Moron?

"P. Roehling" wrote in news:47a6af49$0$24094$ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com:

If your layout's set in the '70s, maybe you could get a couple of disco balls... :-)

Puckdropper

Now that he's endorsed McCain, I see McCain with an pirate eye-patch and rudy as the little parrot on his shoulder still squawking "9/11! 9/11!! Rawwwwkk!!!"

ARRRRGGGHHHHHH!

Powerful antibiotics can cure that.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote

Wouldn't dream of it.

I looked into it in depth several years ago out of curiosity, and I simply don't believe it. Given the incredible convolutions needed for *any* of the popular WTC conspiracy theories to work, Occam's razor says they're about as likely as my being awarded the Nobel Prize next week. Or even the Pulitzer.

(See

for more examples of this sort of thinking than you'll ever want. There's some pretty darned funny reading in there, but take a lunch.)

Every history-changing event attracts it's share of conspiracy nuts, but it's vanishingly rare to see one of their theories stand up to close examination. So far, the WTC theories all share that same weakness, and so do their dedicated adherents.

But you will form your own opinions, as you should.

Pete

On 2/5/2008 12:06 AM P. Roehling spake thus:

Without belaboring the point, I think it helps to consider the official story just another conspiracy theory*, so it becomes a matter of choosing the most plausible conspiracy. (As I said, I'm agnostic and haven't made my mind up on this.)

*Itself not a very credible one at that.