mal

Thanks very much. Yes I learnt that from the Forum last year, I think from you, and although I have an ssd I do leave it as you suggest. Today I got the elink message back and voice recognition not working but for some reason it seems to be changing the microphone settings and when I changed them back (they should have been the default) all went very well indeed. I have to say once working it is impressive. I ignore the elink message as the elite seems to be working fine and obviously not effecting voice recognition. Computers???!! thanks again Malcolm

Hi All What a difference a day makes (is that a song) Yesterday when I logged on railmaster recognised my elite as an elite and the same today. No idea why it has decided to drop the elink but delighted. Alas speech recognition did not work so today I went back to basics and started again including the tutorials. This time though I noted that when doing the tutorials each sentence seemed to be recognised without issue. I then opened up railmaster and speech recognition and called up a loco and up it came. (as it had done each time) but this time to my delighted the second and subsequent commands were recognised and it was responding like last year about 95% or so of the time. It is great to have it working I must admit. Whether or not not a file had got corrupted following one of the upgrades or not who knows. ~that is computers I suppose. Thanks again for all your help Malcolm

Thanks for that. I will do a reset. It is the same one I used last year but technology does tend to have a mind of its own. I found an old post from last year when I initially had a problem and that advised not loading RM for about 10 minutes to allow for all windows files to be loaded. It worked after that last year but alas not tonight. The first engine requested came up but then nothing else. I then started to get all types of weird words in the speech recognition window not related to what I was saying. Try again tomorrow and will do that reset. I will also try another port perhaps. Malcolm

Hi All As my layout is in my garage I do not use my computer during the colder months but have just set it up again. I have two issues: On loading RailMaster it says my settings say Elite (which is correct) but identifies that I am using eLink. All appears to load correctly and work but dont remember this happening last year. The second is in relation to speech recognition Last year it worked a treat and I reckon it was nearly 90% responsive. This year I get an odd response with an engine appearing not always the one I asked for but will not respond to any other command. The headset and microphone settings are all correct and the windows speech recognition window is responding to my voice. I have redone the speech tutorial but it has not made any difference. I am so disappointed that I have gone from one end of the spectrum down to the other. Could it be because it thinks I have an eLink ? Any assistance as ever would be welcomed thanks Malcolm

Hi Thanks very much. Yes I picked that up from the text and had had a look at the links you post. The Flying S is a newish model which came fitted with TTS but I think I will reset to default and start again with it as I probably did several changes at once instead of checking them out. I have done 5 locos now, a class 57, class 66, FS, Tornado, City of Liverpool and the limited edition Sir Tom 66, and they are all running so much better. Only really the FS however the Tornado is interesting in that it runs so smoothly and is now quite happy to just go around and around however I don't seem to be able to increase the speed which is slower than it was but certainly smoother. I don't seem to be able to see anything that relates to limiting the speed so not sure which CV would increase it. thanks Malcolm

Hi All Thanks to you all as I have been having the same problems and never got around to doing anything about it. I read about CV's last year and got lost, however having read all above I have spent the afternoon altering settings and what a difference it has made to the locos. I fitted TTS to the limited edition Class 66 for the NHS and I always had to give it a hand to start and then it would and odd stop for no reason Did the changes today and now it just starts off. The only one that still provides a problem is the TTS fitted Flying Scotsman which whilst it starts off okay, it still likes to have a stop even though track is clean and alike. Does anyone know the best setting for 153 and 154 for this engine or indeed any other guidance. I have learnt a lot in the last few days thanks all Malcolm

Hi All Thanks very much for all the valuable information. I have ordered some more from ekmexhibitions having already ordered some from ebay. A lot cheaper at ekm and hopefully quicker delivery. Think the ebay ones are coming from China. Not due until 12th March. regards to you all and keep safe.

Hi Brew Thanks for that and I have now ordered 2 packs although to pay a £1 each for those pockets is over the top . But as cannot get them you have to swallow your discontent and buy. Shows the value of many eyes looking as I not seem them despite by searches thanks again and stay safe Malcolm

Chrissaf Thanks very much. You would think that such an essential piece of kit would be made in their thousands and supply would not be a problem. I think Hornby and others need to get their priorities right when it comes to these things. No good having stock you cannot use. Still not the first time I have had to be calm and wait stay safe and keep up the good work Malcolm

Hi I just wondered if anyone is having a problem getting nem couplers particularly with the little holder with the triangular name. I dont find them the most robust couplers and I am now struggling to get the little holder bit. (the correct name will not come to mind). I have searched the web but all out of stock and I even got some from the USA that are made on a digital printer but they are slightly smaller than the receiving hole so would need gluing in which I would like to avoid. I have had some of order from one model shop for getting on for a year now. I would have thought such an important spare would be readily available from Hornby at least. Any ideas anyone please Malcolm

Thanks everyone for your responses they more or less confirm what I though I had read somewhere or other. I appreciate fully the garage and the recent climatic conditions are not the most conducive to good running. I do keep the tracks very clean but as you say you can get odd spots individual locos dont like either being just that loco or a little bit of dirt. I will do another clean and as one of the engines is new and has got a new tts decoder so I would have thought that in itself was okay. As I say once they have started off normally little problem at all. I might try resetting the CV to 5 and see if that does anything as I am not really too bothered about a realistic start off. I will sacrifice that for it starting off. I do like the sound and it is very nice for it to be real but life is a compromise. thanks again Malcolm

Hi I am sure I have seen posts in the past about slow start off of engines fitted with TTS. I know they are designed to work up to speed but I am finding that several of my locos dont start and need a gentle helping hand and once running they are fine. This seems to be be more noticeable over the last few months, cold damp weather and layout in garage. Could it be related to lower power because of atmospheric conditions in the garage. I think also that I could set just to start off with maximum power. I am not to bothered about the slow start off so if that can be done and would help That would be fine thanks Malcolm

Hi Thanks very much. I tried to run with another loco but do not have one that it will fit. It is the correct tender. Made it a static display now but I hate things which dont seem logical. I did think of by passing the pin and wiriing straight to tender. thanks again Malcolm

Hi Sorry I misread the question in that I was concentrating on the tender problem and not the fixed linkeage. No I no need to take it apart as I just disconnected the broken link from the wheel which rectified the problem and of course loco is running fine on own. I did take body off to see if any wires leading to the tender coupling had broken or whatever but they were all intact thanks Malcolm

Hi Sorry I misread the question in that I was concentrating on the tender problem and not the fixed linkeage. No I no need to take it apart as I just disconnected the broken link from the wheel which rectified the problem and of course loco is running fine on own. I did take body off to see if any wires leading to the tender coupling had broken or whatever but they were all intact thanks Malcolm

I have had another look tonight but nothing at all obvious... Engine working fine on its own and whilst I have had the body off that I saw nothing that would link with the tender stopping it running. Think perhaps time to retire it from service Malcolm

Thanks everyone. I have checked above as you describe but cannot see anything obvious. As I say when tender connected the elite does not go into error mode. I will follow each wire again as got to be something to do with the tender when connecting. Still cannot find the logic though why engine runs no problem without tender but not with. I will need a bigger magnifier I think thanks again for taking the time to respond Malcolm

Hi I have had the above loco for some time now and I fitted a decoder to it more or less from the beginning. It has always been a good runner until last week when it suddenly stopped. On close examination I discovered that one of the wheel linkages had broken off its rivet type fitting and jammed. Sorted that out and expected it to run but alas no. After some time playing around I discoverd if I removed the tender (only has pickups) and it worked perfectly. Reconnected the tender and will not work. I thought of a cross wire but the elite did not short out. When you place pin of tender into the reception area on error quite often you got a short but when connected no problem. I have taken the tender to bits but all the wires and connections seem normal. I have taken the body off the engine and no obvious problems with the wires which I did not expect as engine runs no problem. I am confused.com Any ideas please thanks Malcolm

Thanks Thought it might have vanished without explanation. They still need to get their act together on DCC Be safe Malcolm

Thanks for that explanation. I did not realise it was doing that but certainly a pain although now I do have an ssd drive which I fitted a couple of months ago. I did it on my desktop and started from scratch and although a pain putting things back the performance is incredible. cheaper than a new one. That is when I decided to do my laptop but I made the mistake of cloning the hdd ironically because of the hassle of reloading Railmaster. I now realise I would have been better starting from scratch on it. I do think though your advice has made a difference even though I have an sdd,. I even give railmaster a little time to settle before opening voice recognition. I only hope it will perform like it is at the moment more often than not and not go back to the poor intermittent performance. What ever happened to those detectors (I cannot remember the name) that Hornby promised for years and the Forum had a 'raffle' on when they would arrive. thanks again for the information Malcolm

Hi All Just an update. I have now got a splitter. If you saw the size of the box from Hattons I thought I had bought the shop. All Selects now working and the great news is that tonight I had an excellent session virtually all voice activated. 90% of commands got a first time response. Does not like Double Horn or Whistle but great. My daughters got me a new set of headphones for Fathers day and I had to test in case not suitable. They have a boom mike which has to be plugged in and obviously mainly for gaming and the other mike is built into the headphones which are wireless via bluetooth. At first no joy and though mike was not good enough being built in but did the tutorials again and had a play about and letting windows load fully as suggested they work a treat. YThey are OneOdio M Studion wireless M Y80B they are good with music as well thanks again Malcolm

Ordered the splitter from Hattons. Cost more for postage than product but in these times no other option but still only just over £5. Tonight waited for a whilse for windows to do whatever it does then loaded railmaster and again waited and then activated voice recognition. Worked well (about 85/90% success) for about 20 minutes then started to misbehave in that long delays and eventually locked up. but still progress thanks again for your help Stay safe and be careful. Malcolm

I am sure you are right. I have always Felt nit fully integrated. I like your idea of getting it warmed up. Will try that next time although I do feel the whole software is old in its structure. Thanks again Malcolm

ooops Sorry about the blue button - not been on for a while and forgot., thanks for the information on the elite being different and the part number. I will try to track one down now. Tried the voice R tonight in desparation and hey presto it started working fine for about 10 minutes and then dropped to about 75%. Done nothing since last use when nothing would happen. Obviously my kit is working just something in the processing within railmaster and perhaps window voice recognition. It does seem that RM locks up for a while and then kicks back in action. Thanks to you both and you both have certainly been answering the forum for some years - well done and thanks for the time you give to us less knowledgeable. Green button coming in view Stay safe and be careful. Malcolm

. I should have given more clarity. . When I said, "Is there any way you can hear what the microphone is picking up..." . I didn't mean ambient background noise. I meant can you listen to your own spoken voice, is your voice being reproduced clearly and distinctly by the microphone i.e not noisy, distorted or muffled. No but I have just done voice tutorial again and seemed to responding. I have checked all settings including starting cortana It seems to recognise first command no problem but then nothing until I perhaps start a train manually and then when I go back seems to recognise loco number but then no control. This is old software now and I think Hornby do need to restart giving it some attention Just bought a new elite as well so feeling frustrated notice on elite now only one extra controller whereas old one had two so noe need to find another splitter to enable my selects to be connected and cannot find any reference to them I was hoping after a yearaway from railway things would have improved seems not Malcolm