I wouldn't really call this a shack per se, but it's just a little something I have on a bookshelf next to my computer desk:
Setup is a BCD396XT with an RH77CA and a cheap iPod dock that was on clearance at Walmart for $30, as well as a $5 phone stand off eBay.
Scanner is monitoring the Greater Victoria CREST system in BC.
(I have a fairly decent amount of accent lighting... It's really not that bright in-person.)
Quick intro:
I've never really been into amateur radio that much, to be honest, so I might seem a little out of place here. I'm in charge of radio communications for a local event that we run, and I have a UHF-R2 XTS 2500 that I like to play with. The thought of getting a scanner never really crossed my mind until I discovered the ScanBC online feeds about a month ago, and started listening. I was instantly hooked, and it ended up becoming routine for me to fire up the stream first thing once I got on the computer after coming home from work. The online stream was decent enough for what it was, but I still wanted better quality and to take the computer out of the equation altogether, enough that I was willing to do some research and throw down good money for some good hardware, hence why I ended up with the 396XT I have now.
What appeals to me the most about the scanner feeds is that you learn so much about what happens in your city that you wouldn't otherwise know or hear about, unless it was some major event. Even then, you'd end up knowing about it long before it even gets reported in the media. There wasn't really much I knew at first about my 396XT and I still have a lot of learning to do, but a CREST file for FreeSCAN that's floating around this site, and a bit of quick reading, had me up and running in less than 5 minutes. So far, I'm really enjoying the setup.
Anyway, that's my story. Nice to meet all of you!
Setup is a BCD396XT with an RH77CA and a cheap iPod dock that was on clearance at Walmart for $30, as well as a $5 phone stand off eBay.
Scanner is monitoring the Greater Victoria CREST system in BC.
(I have a fairly decent amount of accent lighting... It's really not that bright in-person.)
Quick intro:
I've never really been into amateur radio that much, to be honest, so I might seem a little out of place here. I'm in charge of radio communications for a local event that we run, and I have a UHF-R2 XTS 2500 that I like to play with. The thought of getting a scanner never really crossed my mind until I discovered the ScanBC online feeds about a month ago, and started listening. I was instantly hooked, and it ended up becoming routine for me to fire up the stream first thing once I got on the computer after coming home from work. The online stream was decent enough for what it was, but I still wanted better quality and to take the computer out of the equation altogether, enough that I was willing to do some research and throw down good money for some good hardware, hence why I ended up with the 396XT I have now.
What appeals to me the most about the scanner feeds is that you learn so much about what happens in your city that you wouldn't otherwise know or hear about, unless it was some major event. Even then, you'd end up knowing about it long before it even gets reported in the media. There wasn't really much I knew at first about my 396XT and I still have a lot of learning to do, but a CREST file for FreeSCAN that's floating around this site, and a bit of quick reading, had me up and running in less than 5 minutes. So far, I'm really enjoying the setup.
Anyway, that's my story. Nice to meet all of you!