Home "EOC"

[firetaz834]

Well, since the term "command center" has already been claimed I thought I would coin my own phrase for my home office/communications center. Had it almost completed and then my landlord (after some prodding) put new carpeting in my whole place.

So, that meant my whole office had to be disassembled and then reassembled. Which is what the pictures will show. But, I also opted for rearranging to a much better layout and workflow for me.

During reconstruction, I only have 1-30 Channel Regency Scanner functional. But, in addition I'm using the stand alone PC for internet monitoring of the Boulder County Sherriffs Office.

When it is fully assembled, communications equipment will consist of the following:

Yaesu FT-1802 2M Mobile
Yaesu VX-170 2M Handheld
Motorola MT1000 VHF (Programmed on local Fire/PD Frequencies)
Motorola MT1000 VHF (Programmed on local Amature Frequencies)
Motorola MT1000 UHF (Programmed on GMRS Frequencies)
Motorola MT1000 UHF (Also programmed on same GMRS Frequencies - family use)
Motorola Saber III VHF (Programmed on local Fire Frequencies)
Motorola GP-68 VHF (Programmed on local Amature Frequencies)
Kenwood 2m/440 handheld radio.

On my main desk, I have 3 19" flatscreen monitors which I use for my own work and also when I need to remote into my work computer (for that I use a KVM swith) which allows me to utilize the 1 screen for dual purposes. I can still do my work on my center monitor. The 3 monitor I use for the different programming softward for my kenwood radios. I also have EchoLink installed on my computer.

In addition, when my office is put back together, I use a dedicated printer to receive severe weather printouts from the local NWS office. The stand alone monitor is connected to a second PC for which I monitor local weather radar using weathertap.

The pictures are just the parts of the main office put back together so that I can do a little work. Getting it fully functional is a day by day operation. Hope you like what you see so far.

 

[rhicks6000]

Nice setup

 

[kc2kuy]

Ummmmmmmmm WT---- so whats the reason for all that? Hmmmmm....

 

[newsphotog]

Holy cow man, at least zip-tie all those wild cords

 

[hoser147]

looks like it is coming along well, be sure to show us the finished product.

 

[Kwstalk]

This may be a dumb question, but why all those routers?

 

[firetaz834]

This may be a dumb question, but why all those routers?

To explain what your seeing, this is the following items in that photo:

1) Linksys wireless AP
2) Linksys 16 port switch
3) Linksys Firewall/VPN Router
4) 3Com Office Connect Hardware Firewall
5) Cisco Catalyst 2900 22 port managed switch

The Firewall/VPN rounter just replaced a standard Linksyst router. The 3Com Firewall is being tested to see if it can be made functional, if not it will be removed from the stack, also it may be not fast enough for my network, so I'm playing with it. The Cisco switch is used for troubleshooting with my ISP without me having to tear everything down when they want a direct connection between my work computer and there network.

The reason for all that is when I'm not playing working on my computers or putting out fires, I'm a network support analyst and do a lot of remote support when needed. Or, you might say I'm putting out fires all the time.

 

[firetaz834]

Holy cow man, at least zip-tie all those wild cords

They just finished putting in my carpeting on Monday and I just finally started putting everyting back online, so once I insure that everything is working in the new envirnoment I plan on very neatly bundling all my cables. Right now the cable are just temporarly running that way so I can make sure it is working.

No, I could never sleep well if I left it that way permanetly. It is "work in progress"

 

[firetaz834]

Ummmmmmmmm WT---- so whats the reason for all that? Hmmmmm....

Well, the reason for all that is that it is my office, my main job is as a Senior Network Analyst, I'm also a on-call Firefighter and skywarn spotter. So, your going to see a combination of computer equipment and when I finally get it in place my communications equipment.

But, I wanted to post pictures of my shack in progress till it is fully completed.

 

[eddie412]

looks good so far

 

[NeFire242]

Awesome! I really like the computer set-up too.

 

[RedPenguin]

I love it....

I love seeing setups like this, where there is not only scanners/receivers but also tons of computers and computer parts.

Sometimes I think people think I am a total geek, having two scanners (only person I know in person that has 2 most don't even have 1) but also having a computer just dedicated to nothing but scanner recording. So it's nice to see someone else geek out, LoL.

I must admit that I really like the networking look. I'm a computer networking nut, I don't normally ever give anyone one of my NIC cards and defiantly never one of my switches/routers/hubs LoL.

 

[ScanManQSL]

Nice communications center!!!!!!

 

[kb0nly]

Whats the big white cabinet that the stack of routers are on?? Looks pretty impressive thats for sure!! lol

 

[AlmostHandy]

Nice shack! I love that monitor setup.

You should get yourself some of this stuff!:wink:

 

[firetaz834]

Nice shack! I love that monitor setup.

You should get yourself some of this stuff!:wink:

Aww that was cute, but I do plan on making everything nice and tight. I had just gotten my office back online after they put down new carpeting and I rearranged everyting and prior to putting it all neat I wanted to insure everyting still worked as it should. Once, t hat is done then I will be running the cabling against the walls in the cable management tubing. I would hate to make it all neat and then find out that there was a problem with a cable.

So, it looks quite messy now (have already tripped on the lose network cable). So, I hope to have it together by the beginning of next week. I do a little each day.

 

[firetaz834]

Whats the big white cabinet that the stack of routers are on?? Looks pretty impressive thats for sure!! lol

Well, I had attended a local auction of the K-Mart Headquarters and they were selling everything that from top to bottom. So, when I ventured into the area of networking equipment I saw that cabinet which I thought would be nice for putting my networking equipment in. Well, when I was bidding found out that it came as a lot which included another cabinet of simular design, a cabinet for mounting electronice on the wall with a glass window and would flip up and also a full-sized network rack. Well, I got everything for a very low price (still can't belive the price I got it for). Well, what it contains is the reminents of a priority computerized voice mail system. I had thought I might be able to sell it back to the company, but they no longer support it and all there end users were advised that the equipment is obsolute. So, my next project is to gutt it and put my networking equipment inside. The unit has power and a nice fan installed in the rear of it.

 

[AlmostHandy]

Aww that was cute, but I do plan on making everything nice and tight..

hehe, I was just teasin' about that. It really does look great.

 

[bezking]

Very sweet setup. I envy the tri-monitor setup.

 

[crazyboy]

Looks great. Ultramon or a diff program?