@cjack posted:The antenna that transmits the signal to the engines is the ground wire in the house. So it stands to reason that you might run out of range outside. Running a cord outside over head, preferably, would probably work to put the ground wire antenna over the layout. The common and hot wire will not affect the use of the ground wire overhead.
That wire is called "earth ground" for a reason, it's actually bonded to "earth ground" at the panel! That being said, I suspect he has plenty of the antenna signal, the issue here sounds like excessive coupling between the "earth" and the track signal.
Note that newer command bases like the Lionel BASE1L or the Legacy command base have about double the signal amplitude of the old TMCC BASE1. If you're working with the origional TMCC BASE1, it might be time to upgrade.
One effective way to get more signal is the TMCC Buffer.