DCC SIG information page

 DCC logo

Here is the information we have for you today:

DCC SIG Charter

Interest Area (as defined by the DCC SIG board):
The DCC SIG is a group of people who are interested in any aspect of Digital Command Control (as defined by NMRA DCC Standards S-9.1, S-9.2, and related NMRA DCC Recommended Practices). The SIG mission is to encourage the collection, evolution and dissemination of DCC knowledge. The SIG offers periodic educational activities and publications to further the knowledge and understanding of DCC and related topics. The SIG provides an unbiased forum for discussing issues concerning DCC.

NMRA disclaimer notice

The Digital Command Control Special Interest Group (DCC SIG) is an independent, not-for-profit group affiliated with the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). The NMRA is not responsible for the actions or publications of the DCC SIG.

SIG type (as defined by NMRA):

Open model railroad groups - A SIG may adopt a membership policy which permits anyone to join regardless of NMRA membership status. The SIG Coordinator for an open-membership group must be the leader of the SIG and an NMRA member.

Back to table of contents

DCC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Have a nagging question on DCC? Check the FAQ:
http://jdb.psu.edu/nmra/dcc-faq.html
No answer there? Send it to the list and we will try to answer it and consider adding it to the FAQ.

Back to table of contents

Membership application and benefits

The membership application has not been finalized yet, but will be put online after the Madison convention.
Electronic communications are available through links on this page.
Paper communications can be sent to: 
DCC SIG
3077 Williamsburg Drive
State College, PA  16801-3016

Primary benefits to members are the open forum Email list and reporting in the newsletter. Non-Email (surface mail, phone, fax, netnews, chat group, web page, etc.) questions will be forwarded to the Email list and responded to in the manner they were sent.

Back to table of contents

Email Listserver

The DCC SIG provides an open Email listserver as an unbiased forum for discussing issues concerning DCC. There are no membership requirements for this listserver (open). The server is run at Penn State on an IBM mainframe. Note that the DCC SIG list is not geared towards the discussion of modifications to the DCC standards or reccomended practices; that type of discussion is best directed towards the DCC Working Group list.

Back to table of contents

Email List posting etiquette (rules):

(Last changed August 31, 1998)
  1. The list is for the exchange of DCC information. Avoid postings about prototype sightings and people sightings and anything else not DCC-related.
  2. The list is for the constructive dissemination of information. Avoid postings about people and their habits. This includes posts indicating a repetitive or predictable nature.
  3. Ask first, then do. Ask the list if anyone has run into a problem, if no responses, then ask the manufacturer. Avoid postings indicating a response from the manufacturer is required. This assumes that the manufacturer has time to read the list and respond to individual questions. Post your findings after you have contacted the manufacturer to the list.
  4. Keep humor to a minimum. The only humor tolerated will be that which does NOT require a "smiley" ( :-) etc.). If you remove the smilies, and it is hard to tell what is fact and what is fiction, don't post it. Humor works best when it is pointed at oneself.
  5. Keep commercials to a minimum. An occasional post indicating an item you wish to sell, buy or trade, a new product, or a service is welcome. Weekly or more frequent posts of a commercial nature are not tolerated. Comments about the quality of service from a particular shop or vendor are welcome as long as they do not violate rule #2.
  6. Large posts are to be avoided. If you have an information source that you feel would be useful to the list members, send the web page URL not the entire source. If the information is not available on a web page, ask on the list if someone would be willing to host it for you.
    This is in consideration of list members who pay per byte for downloads and the time of people who are on slow links. It also saves storage space for email and allows updating the source without updating all the list members' email stores.
  7. More rules may be added at any time. Watch for [ADMIN] messages.
Lastly, and most importantly: penalties (the bottom line):
Failure to adhere to any of the above rules will result in the following:
A. First offence: Email warning and "yellow flag".
Expires in one week. First offence may be cleared with a public apology.
B. Second offence: Email response and "red flag"
Posting from the source email address disabled for one week.
C. Offences from one category set the yellow flag, offences from any category will move the yellow flag to a red flag.
E.g.: Posting about a train wreck one day and then flaming an OEM the next will result in the red flag.
D. Repeat offenders: Two red flags within a month result in loss of posting privilege for two months.
Public apology reduces penalty to one month

Back to table of contents

Newsletter

The last copy is online at: http://jdb.psu.edu/nmra/news2a.html.

Back to table of contents

DCC lists and other resources

Back to table of contents

A brief history of the DCC SIG

The DCC SIG was started by Chris Claterbos in 1994 (?) but time constraints only allowed one newsletter to be published. It has remained "on the books" since then, and we are now (with some prompting by Stan Ames on Wed, 26 Feb 1997) renewing the effort.

Back to table of contents

DCC SIG Board members

Back to table of contents

Last updated: 11:07 PM, November 24, 1998
This web page is written, maintained and hosted by:
John Balogh, NMRA member # 096639, (home page).
Original DCC SIG-related contents copyright 1997 - 1998 by the DCC SIG. All rights reserved.