RFID Special Interest Group (SIG) A zoom meeting group only

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RFID Special Interest Group (SIG)

Train Identity Detection! Perhaps a black art to some and, quite possibly, avoided by many members as being a bit too far for their needs. Whilst DCC can encompass Railcom as a feedback mechanism for establishing the broad whereabouts of a train, that's not a lot of use if you don't use DCC…and quite a few members don't.

However, nearly all of us now use RFID for everyday activities, reading of credit and debit cards being possibly the most widespread. If you have a travel card and use it to board a bus or train then it uses RFID. So the technology is no longer that arcane and if such technology can be applied to model trains then it opens up a wealth of control opportunities surpassing basic train detection using ToTIs, DTC modules or IR-based Hectors. It can add actual train identification to the 'train in section' or 'train passing this point' message.

MERG has had RFID kits for over 10 years now but many found their performance difficult to get reliably working and the elements such as readers are expensive. In the interim, things have moved on and an operating frequency of 13.56MHz has joined 125KHz as a potentially more reliable technology.

Many MERG members have been experimenting with RFID but their successes or failures have not been easily tracked within the Group. This SIG therefore provides a discussion and presentation point to gather and display their industry and provide the opportunity to spread better understanding of how it all works.

Welcome!

As a start, while I get my head round how to run a SIG, may I encourage you to watch a video made at the McKinley Railway in Bournemouth owned and run by David Townend. I had the opportunity to visit there on MERG business back in April 2022 and was shown how they have embraced RFID wholesale on that layout, principally for managing the freight operation. The video is

47. Beta Readers on the McKinley Railway ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pLO-v_PfTI ).

Two other of their YouTube videos are also of interest. Check out videos

33. Managing Freight with RFID on McKinley Railway

52. RFID is now operational at McKinley Railway

Whilst I am, in no way, suggesting that the technology used at McKinley is the best choice of system, the videos serve to illustrate just how useful RFID can be to us modellers.