gunrunnerjohn posted:Richie C. posted:John - you're right, but of course everything has worked perfectly for the last three years (even the CC switches on the old layout), so this issue of some of the CC switches randomly switching or not being able to be programmed on the new layout was just not anticipated.
When you moved all the track around, the signal propagation obviously changed. The only earth ground antenna you had with no grounded outlet was the power wire from the command base to the power brick. You have a small amount of additional antenna with any devices connected to the serial port and using pin-5 ground.
That being said, that's not nearly enough antenna for optimum signal strength, and the fact that the new layout is probably significantly bigger, the track signal is probably swamping out the limited amplitude available from the earth ground signal with the limited antenna.
That has to be it - changing things around plus the larger layout (including an additional 4' x 9' section not shown in the first photo) probably contributed to the signal degradation. Any signal boosters left ? 
