The DT300 Throttle has two throttle knobs, allowing you to select and control two locomotives.
We refer to the throttle knob on the left side as the L THROTTLE and the throttle knob on the right side as the R THROTTLE. This corresponds to the L and R labels that appear on the DT300 near the throttle knobs.
The throttle knobs on the DT300 use “encoders” to control speed and direction of the locomotive. The encoder can be pressed or rotated to “activate” the throttle. Pressing the throttle knob once activates that encoder. Pressing the knob twice will change the direction of the loco controlled by that knob. The encoders provide very smooth, fine speed control. In 128 speed step mode it takes four complete rotations of the knob to go from stop to full speed. When you select a locomotive that is already moving on either throttle knob, that throttle will continue to run the locomotive at the same speed and in the same
direction in which it was traveling before being selected to the throttle.
As you turn the DT300 throttle knobs you will feel a mechanical detente (and hear a beep if your throttle is set up for beeps and clicks). Each time you move the knob, the system processes information. In some cases, the LCD display will not change each time you feel the detente. In the case of increasing and decreasing loco speed, this is because each detente does not equal an increase or decrease of 1% speed.
If your DT300 is set up for ballistic tracking, the speed you rotate the encoder (throttle knob) will affect how the display changes. You can customize the tracking characteristics of these knobs for either straight line (normal) tracking or ballistic tracking. With straight line tracking each movement of the knob causes a fixed rate of change. With ballistic tracking, the faster you increase or decrease the the throttle knob, the faster the data changes in the throttle. Your DT300 was shipped with ballistic tracking as the factory default setting.
The throttle knobs on the DT300 are also used to select a new locomotive address, access the recall stack and select a locomotive to run on a throttle, or to reverse the direction of the locomotive currently selected on that throttle.