Ham radio/scanner go-box

[MGOOSE2754]

This is my go-box. I built it at home and custom made the rear power port
Panel. I also did all of the custom wiring. It has four uniden BCD996T scanners, a Yaesu FT-817 multi band transceiver, and a TYT TH-9800 quad band radio with 29/50/144/440 MHz bands. The rack panels are from novexxcom. The rack case is a 6u shallow unit made by Diandian.

The box can be powered via AC power that can be plugged into the back panel, or DC power via an Anderson power pole connector. I wired a switch that allows you to switch from one power source to another. The circuits are isolated so you can’t choose both at once. The AC power port runs to a small 30 amp DC Chinese made power supply I found on Amazon. Either power source runs to a rig-runner 8 port fused power strip. I added a USB dual power port with a built in digital voltage meter. The top panel in the back is the antenna ports. The four BNC ports are for the scanners. Two SO239 ports go to the FT-817 and one for the TH-9800. I left two spare SO239 ports for future use.

So far this thing turned out better than I expected. It weighs about 35 pounds and has carrying handles on both ends. The end caps have latches and sealed gaskets making it water tights when the end caps are installed.

 

[MGOOSE2754]

Some additional photos:

 

[737mech]

1. How’s the audio when this is all running? 2. Is there a plan for PC interface for logging and recording? Nice setup. Might need to find something for DMR maybe add a AnyTone 578?

 

[03msc]

Looks great! For a 'go kit' or 'bug out box', having analog only (for tx) is likely plenty. In a true emergency, it is unlikely that DMR or other digital voice modes would be the go-to mode.

I, personally, would want at least one digital scanner to monitor digital public safety systems but that's just if this was a kit a built. It is all dependent upon use case so having all analog scanners may more than meet the needs here.

 

[MGOOSE2754]

Looks great! For a 'go kit' or 'bug out box', having analog only (for tx) is likely plenty. In a true emergency, it is unlikely that DMR or other digital voice modes would be the go-to mode.

I, personally, would want at least one digital scanner to monitor digital public safety systems but that's just if this was a kit a built. It is all dependent upon use case so having all analog scanners may more than meet the needs here.

All the scanners in the box are digital.

 

[03msc]

All the scanners in the box are digital.

Yes, I see that. I meant to say "to monitor DMR and NXDN public safety" but I see I failed miserably and repeated myself.

 

[N1SQB]

How are you addressing the audio side of things? I do not see audio jacks for external audio. Are you planning to add them or not? Just curious...In my avatar you can see I did something similar ( still a work in progress ) Very nice job overall. I would love to see some pics of the internal wiring of this. May give us some pointers.

Manny

 

[MGOOSE2754]

At this time I do not plan to add any external speaker jacks. I am able to hear the radio speakers just fine. Next time I have the back panel opened I will take some pics of the wiring.

 

[TAC4]

That is very cool. How are the scanners supported inside the
box ? and what tool to cut the rectangles out for the scanners so
it's a clean look ?

 

[03msc]

That is very cool. How are the scanners supported inside the
box ? and what tool to cut the rectangles out for the scanners so
it's a clean look ?

Lookup radio or scanner mounting plates and you'll see how they function. The mounting plate holds them.

 

[TAC4]

Lookup radio or scanner mounting plates and you'll see how they function. The mounting plate holds them.

Thanks, is the front of the box hard plastic and has to be cut
to fit the scanners ?

 

[03msc]

Thanks, is the front of the box hard plastic and has to be cut
to fit the scanners ?

It's a standard 19" equipment rack. He's using scanner faceplates / mounting plates to mount the scanners. This is all in the first post.

 

[TAC4]

Thanks