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DT 300's have been discontinued for a few years now.
Your only current options for Digitrax throttles (new) are the DT400 and UT4 series. If you can find some on ebay, the DT300 is great. I had mine upgraded to radio, and would advise doing so.
The IR system has been pretty much discontinued by Digitrax. It never worked that well anyway. I'd recommend getting a UR90 and Radio throttles. If your layout room is large you may want more than one UR90.
I don't know much about the power supplies, but the ps2012 will be more convenient as you only need one, but if it breaks, the whole layout will be dead. If you use the ps515, only part of the layout would die if one breaks.
You'd need the DT400, which is similar to the one in your first link. If you'll notice, the other DT300 throttle has been discontinued for three years. Assuming you're buying new, the DT300 has the radio transmitter and receiver built-in. You can add an infrared module but, as Fred said, infrared for train control is pretty much dead technology. You can send in your UR 90 to have it upgraded for radio control for $50. You do need handheld throttles that transmit and receive on 916 MHz to make these work with the command station.
What type of two way radios are you usung? If they are FRS/GMRS radios, there have been reported problems with all radio equipped thottles having bleed over problems from these UHF radios. The better quality radios like Motorola have less problems but you may still run into issues if an operator transmits on his radio at the same time he's using the radio throttle to make train control movements. CB walkie-talkies, units operating in the older 49 MHz band, or MURS radios operating the VHF band will give you less problems with interference.
The other thing too is if you can hold off on buying it Digitrax should be releasing its new radio system soon which is in the Giga Hz area and won't be suseptible to interferance not to mention it will be full duplex. Also I would recommend going with the Super Chief over the Empire. And of course depending on the set if you buy it radio equipped you will get a throttle that is radio equipped as well as the reciever. This is the set I was looking at but am going to hold off for the new system. http://www.gadgettom.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SCFRE-8A&Category_Code=D-S
Mavrick, don't be too quick to jump on the new RX bandwagon until it gets some field testing. As I understand it, the new system will use 2.5 GHz, which is very close to the same frequency used by a lot of cordless phones today. Even worse, many of the so-call 2.5 GHz phones actually use 900 MHz to transmit from the base and only the handsets transmit at 2.5 GHz. Now you have a double whammy, a phone base that's transmitting in the same 900 MHZ range as the existing system and a 2.5 GHz handset that's most likely to be close to the layout, increasing the interference potential. As long as Digitraxx builds the receivers with well-engineered, triple conversion front end, this shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, consumer electronics are not known for being built to anywhere near commercial standards.
You are correct but there has already been field testing by Digitrax at some of the larger shows in the last 6 months or so. So they are out there working on it. What would be nice is if they are using that high of a frequency that they look at the spectrum technology that will not allow for cross talk or interference as a lot of the cordless phones are using now.
But it is still something to keep in the back of your mind if you are looking at buying a complete system in the near future. If you can wait the little while to buy it, it will save you more in the end not having to buy or upgrade equipment.
i didnt know it was possible to get a radio equipped super cheif for that low of a price.
i will most likely go with the super cheif now. thanks.
UP2CSX
i am using FRS radios. I have operated on another layout using track warrants by FRS 2 way radios. and it worked just fine, no interference at all.
the dcc system in use was a CVP wireless Easy DCC system.
