DCC ICs from China

[Jac]

@GidionDehaan

Just a word of encouragement. Love the dedication to keep the format alive. I think many would be happy with “new” parts

I think I speak on behalf of all of us at the Museum when I say that the enthusiasm of the fans and the traffic on this forum and elsewhere (e.g. Facebook) is what keeps us going. So thank YOU!

Eventually it may be possible to replace old parts that are becoming scarce, with something else. I think we have all the information to theoretically replace all the electronics in a deck by modern hardware (don’t think this will happen any time soon though, that would be a LOT of work).

The only thing that I don’t see us replicating for now or anytime soon, is the heads. Most other parts are a matter of how much effort someone wants to put into it.

===Jac

[Fretlessfender]

The heads… that is not solvable is it?
And then there is the adjustment of the read write amps… well that might be doable.

Best thing we can do is collecting broken gear… parting them out and send them to the Museum?

[Max]

@Fretlessfender

The heads… that is not solvable is it?

We have no idea how except for preserving all heads by not using analog tapes that will more or less damage them, replacing capacitors and so on.

@Fretlessfender

And then there is the adjustment of the read write amps… well that might be doable.

This has been done.

@Fretlessfender

Best thing we can do is collecting broken gear… parting them out and send them to the Museum?

Replacement gears have been available to Patrons of the DCC Museum for a little over a year now: Gears for all Second Generation DCC Players

[Fretlessfender]

Thanks Max! I know,
I have an out of order 175 with a good head and dito pcb… I will package that and send it off to the museum. Perhaps it will come to some good use one day!

[Fretlessfender]

@Jac

I’ve gone on Octopart before to find out if anyone had any DCC chips and I also found out that there were some sellers in China that claim to have them.

Whether it’s true is doubtful. They could be fake chips (unlikely because what would you fake them with) or they could just be bait (you make contact and they make you pay for a large shipment and they only send you a few that they have and then they try to sell you their other stuff and never leave you alone and never give you a refund).

Philips did ship numerous chips to china…