Allan_Love_Jr
Member
Hey I Like That Kitty. Nice Setup By The Way.
My Shack w/Max
- Thread starter chgomonitor
- Start date
- Status
ve3fnd
Member
i like the cat but love the radios. NICE SETUP!!!
w8mkh
Member
nice shack
i also have a shack cat
he keeps things purring along
i also have a shack cat
he keeps things purring along
ElroyJetson
Getting tired of all the stupidity.
landonjensen said:
Mobile radios often have better performance than portables. Often as in, "the best mobile
radios are almost always better." And where are you going to find an HF portable that's worth having?
I don't have a home radio setup at this time but if it did, it'd be a rack full of equipment.
I've always wanted a Centracom II setup, myself.
Elroy
Nice Set Up, I love that CAT !!
scannerpro
Member
Good Shack, and I also have to comment on the cat. Give him a pat for me! Thx
A couple questions...chgomonitor said:
How do you go about research & detection and is this basically setting a search range and having it auto-record hits? What kinds of hits are you searching? I used to do this often with my 246T (and years ago w/ a Pro-2045).
What do you mean when you say built from boards?
And what are you talking about when you say milair special systems receiver?
platinumrx8
Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2007
- Messages
- 50
just curious, but why would anyone need so many scanners like that? how could you possibly listen to it all?
scannerpro
Member
platinumrx8 said:
At first I thought the same thing how do you listen to 5 things at once. I can do it know. I've been a ham radio op as of July 2006. I could not do it at first. I can listen to my scanner, ham radio, FM Radio all at once.
It also depends on the person as well.
platinumrx8
Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2007
- Messages
- 50
some of you folks on here must make some good money ;0.
Last edited:
Turbo68
Member
Your set up looks excellent and I beleive you can never have enough Radios.
Regards Lino.ALINCO-DJX2000E,AOR-3000A,AOR-8200MK3,ICOM-R5,ICOM-R20,ICOM-PCR1000 W/DSP,ICOM-R2500 W/DSP & UT-122 APCO 25 DIGITAL BOARD,ICOM-R9000,ICOM-R9500,RADIO SHACK-PRO96,REALISTIC-PRO2035,UNIDEN-245,UNIDEN-780,UNIDEN-396,UNIDEN-996,YAESU-VX7R,YAESU-VR500,YAESU-VR5000.
Regards Lino.ALINCO-DJX2000E,AOR-3000A,AOR-8200MK3,ICOM-R5,ICOM-R20,ICOM-PCR1000 W/DSP,ICOM-R2500 W/DSP & UT-122 APCO 25 DIGITAL BOARD,ICOM-R9000,ICOM-R9500,RADIO SHACK-PRO96,REALISTIC-PRO2035,UNIDEN-245,UNIDEN-780,UNIDEN-396,UNIDEN-996,YAESU-VX7R,YAESU-VR500,YAESU-VR5000.
rlocone
Member
platinumrx8 said:
or acquired them over time.chgomonitor
Silent Key
Replies...
Some comments and replies…
The Pro-2055 I use frequently in signal stalker mode. I also use it a lot on local area LTR trunked systems, both to determine the repeater/channel numbers which it decodes and to attempt to identify active talkgroup ID’s and their users. Using Win 97 to program it and it’s Pro-97 little brother adds a lot of versatility. These radios in user-search mode also are among the very few which get the re-farmed VHF channel plan correct across the various VHF services, at least as far as I can tell. The 2055 is mod’ed with a NBFM discriminator output jack for use with the CD-1 tone decoder. Signal stalker works well on the 2055 while hooked to the mast discone. I bag base transmitters for miles. I don’t personally experience the overloading others report with this radio.
Both my Scout and the Pro-2004 are built from various pieces, boards, modules and chassis from non-working units which I’ve managed to scrounge, purchase and trade from various people over the years. Both were fun projects and both are about 90 percent good to go. Saved me hundreds of bucks and the pieces enjoy their new life I am certain, LOL.
I’ve always liked the Pro-2004. Lusted after one for 2 years when they came out. Finally bought a new one which was a store demo when they were getting closed out. Got a steal from the manager as it was cosmetically damaged. But I blew up my original while doing a mod many years ago. I really like these radios, especially for aircraft receive use, good AM audio and solid RF front ends. I had looked for a used one but never saw one at a decent price that was in good shape. I like the one I built as one of the broken radios I picked up had a very hard to find after-market LCD display panel with high contrast, quite bright, too. Keypad is a little worn but the radio generally works well.
As it is currently configured it is fairly heavily moded with speed-up, output jacks, etc. I’m using it to detect and receive the DOD/USAF Wideband FM Multiplexed “Northstar” system, aka “Combat Cinders”, etc. on 225-400 UHF. It has both NBFM and WBFM discriminator output jacks. For this system the WBFM discriminator output is fed into the antenna input jack on the Icom R71. The R71 is keypad/tuning mod tricked into tuning down to zero Khz, (normally 100 Khz). When a link goes active I throw the R71 antenna switch over to the 2004’s output and I have the various sub-carrier associated freqs (8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 & 56 Khz in USB and LSB modes) loaded into R71 memory channels. I can then freely scan the sub-carriers looking for commo links. Works well, though the system is somewhat rarely heard here outside of Chicago.
I also use the 2004 to scan to detect activity on the frequency hopping Havequick system on UHF aero. When I start picking up strong hits (sounds like sputtering noises) on the Havequick freqs I’ll quickly make notes on which ones have activity and start loading them one by one into the various radios. This actually works and I’ve been able to copy some local Milair comms this way with about 75 percent intelligibility. Pretty weird hearing those voices jumping around between the various radios syllable by syllable!
“Why do you have so many radios?”
“Why, do you have one you want to sell?”
Seriously though, aside from the generic techno toys factor, any big incident, event or disaster needs more than one radio to monitor effectively. As soon as any single channel starts getting busy you start missing traffic on other related busy frequencies. I work in a comm center and over the years I’ve trained my ears/brain to be able to listen to four or five active conversations at the same time and still “get” about 75 percent of what is being said. That’s an art. Having multiple radios lets me engage in several different monitoring research tasks / searches at the same time. This is also handy during events or incidents. It’s also fun to park each radio on one single local freq and just sit back and listen. You’d be surprised what you often miss. And hey, I live in the Chicago metro area so there’s always something happening.
Money. I’m very blessed to be making a decent coin these days but it wasn’t always so in the past. What you see here is actually one of the cheaper shacks on this section of Radio Reference. Unlike most of my friends, I keep many of the radios I buy. I shop carefully and try to buy on sale or discount. Befriend your local Radio Shack manager! They will sometimes deal on closeout stuff. Go to Hamfests and consider web auction sites. Trade with care. Learn to build and repair electronics. The hard thing for me is hardware / carpentry skills, of which I had none. This console was well under 100 bucks, a great weekend project and I still have most of all ten fingers. Network, join a local monitoring club. Make contacts with local public safety people. Keep your eyes and ears open when local networks are being refurbished. My GM300’s, one 780 and the Visar are on loan from work following their replacement with newer models. My GE cabinet receiver and power supply I literally saved from the scrap heap during a network re-build. Yes, I had help (Richly!) learning to assemble and transport these solid state boat anchors. The two Icoms, the InfoTech M6000, the Kenwood and several others were carefully purchased used. The CD-1, the 2006, the 2040 and the 2045 were closeouts. One radio here I found laying on the ground at an event. The Compaq wasn’t working and a guy gave it to my wife for free, I fixed it. Identify your monitoring tasks and needs. Then look for the gear which best suits those needs. Then shop with care. Sometimes you have to buy new, save your dough. When you get something you like, keep it. Save scrap parts, tools and hardware. When you get something you don’t like, trade it. Or, give it to a newbie for free. My FRG-9600 I bought new, cost me $549.95 at Erickson’s in 1982 and I still have it and recently refurb’ed it. The Sony Vaio was two grand twelve years ago, but I still have it and it’s still working fine. Meets my needs. The Gateway was big bucks which I’m still paying off, but it replaced 3 other computers. My Comcast bill is like slow death. The Yupi MVT-7100 is a Canadian which I bought used and re-furb’ed. What you see here is 25 years of radio mania. Having said all that, I’m twisting the wife’s arm for a (new) 996. $$$. Catfood…-sigh- You don’t always need the cutting edge, and the right cutting edge still cuts the mustard 15 years on. And thanks to many good radio friends.
The big black honking horizontal antenna in the yard in front of the mast is a multi-band dipole for shortwave (HF). Works great. Another weekend project. About 50 bucks and built largely from scrap. There’s a posting on it in the antennas forum. The mast was a Radio Shack closeout, 40 bucks. Almost killed the wife putting it up, but she’s still walking, LOL. The discone (Diamond!) is about 12 years old. The 800 Yagi was an estate sale. (Jeff Z, your stuff is still receiving!). Most of the coax was free scrounges. The Tri-Bander (Diamond!) I bought new from AES in Milwaukee, full price, ouch $150. But I get killer outbound signal reports on 2-meters, LOL. The Scantenna is the old Radio Shack version, five bucks at model closeout. Didn’t really need it but couldn’t resist at that price. Several scratch built antennas and yagis are lurking about or in storage. Coffee can full of whips and rubber ducks, you know the drill - go to the hamfest, buy antennas, come home…
All my cats are/were orphans from shelters. I have Max’s little sister, too. She’s a very rare light-toned toirtise shell longhair. I’d show her but she’s a total runt. Adorable. Both rescued from a flooded window well by a local public works department. Used to have a Havana Brown my wife rescued from a cat killer slob. You know what they say about cat haters, don’t you? LOL. These are our first D longhairs, they actually don’t shed nearly much as our D shorthairs have. HF listening drives cats nuts. My charity cases…Always ready to help with any wiring project. RF adaptors and small parts scattered all over the house. Earphones eatten. Max has actually un-plugged 110 VAC power strips and pressed the power buttons on same. One bad Tom. His sister bit clean through an FM broadcast band folded dipole I used to have up on the wall. 300 Ohm twinlead is apparently tasty, too. She also pulls down my wall maps. Just part of the constant joy of cat ownership.
The real wiring rats nest is behind the console. The two antenna cables on the right go up through an adjacent closet ceiling to the VHF and UHF ground planes (scrap builds) for the GM-300’s. Works good in storms. The garden hose on the left is Heliax from the discone to a Stridsberg 8-way splitter, feeds most of the radios. I like it here as it gives a quick disconnect for local storms and lets me freely experiment. It’s not a shack if you can’t see some wires and cables! Most of the other wiring or cables you can see are either programming cables or audio leads which I need to keep free. The rest of the room is usually a train-wreck total mess anyway, so I don’t care. And I have a good wife, also a scanner buff. She’s got the only digital in the house - 296xlt. (Prefers handhelds).
Plenty of portables here, most of my collection. Pro-97 and Icom R2 are my regular work a day radios and travel with me. Yaesu FT-90 mounted in the car, my only mobile usually. I’m not really a Motorola guy, but they have their moments.
Motorola speakers all dirt cheap or free. Rescued from garbage, hamfests, friends, public safety, beater taxicabs…
Yeah, shelf sag. Ugh, sucks. The trick is to use little support blocks between the radios inbetween the shelves. Sadly, ran out of room. A good back would help but would create wiring headaches. Buy stiff shelving. This is cheap stuff from menards and home depot. Load up shelves this long with this many heavy radios (the Icoms) and you’ll start seeing sag. And this is with 3 inch wood screws to assemble. Ugh. Hate it. The alternative is wall mounted shelving bracket systems like Rich uses. Great, but much more expensive.
Again, my main listening targets are civil and military aircraft, your shack will differ.
Happy Scanning! - Ted
Some comments and replies…
The Pro-2055 I use frequently in signal stalker mode. I also use it a lot on local area LTR trunked systems, both to determine the repeater/channel numbers which it decodes and to attempt to identify active talkgroup ID’s and their users. Using Win 97 to program it and it’s Pro-97 little brother adds a lot of versatility. These radios in user-search mode also are among the very few which get the re-farmed VHF channel plan correct across the various VHF services, at least as far as I can tell. The 2055 is mod’ed with a NBFM discriminator output jack for use with the CD-1 tone decoder. Signal stalker works well on the 2055 while hooked to the mast discone. I bag base transmitters for miles. I don’t personally experience the overloading others report with this radio.
Both my Scout and the Pro-2004 are built from various pieces, boards, modules and chassis from non-working units which I’ve managed to scrounge, purchase and trade from various people over the years. Both were fun projects and both are about 90 percent good to go. Saved me hundreds of bucks and the pieces enjoy their new life I am certain, LOL.
I’ve always liked the Pro-2004. Lusted after one for 2 years when they came out. Finally bought a new one which was a store demo when they were getting closed out. Got a steal from the manager as it was cosmetically damaged. But I blew up my original while doing a mod many years ago. I really like these radios, especially for aircraft receive use, good AM audio and solid RF front ends. I had looked for a used one but never saw one at a decent price that was in good shape. I like the one I built as one of the broken radios I picked up had a very hard to find after-market LCD display panel with high contrast, quite bright, too. Keypad is a little worn but the radio generally works well.
As it is currently configured it is fairly heavily moded with speed-up, output jacks, etc. I’m using it to detect and receive the DOD/USAF Wideband FM Multiplexed “Northstar” system, aka “Combat Cinders”, etc. on 225-400 UHF. It has both NBFM and WBFM discriminator output jacks. For this system the WBFM discriminator output is fed into the antenna input jack on the Icom R71. The R71 is keypad/tuning mod tricked into tuning down to zero Khz, (normally 100 Khz). When a link goes active I throw the R71 antenna switch over to the 2004’s output and I have the various sub-carrier associated freqs (8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 & 56 Khz in USB and LSB modes) loaded into R71 memory channels. I can then freely scan the sub-carriers looking for commo links. Works well, though the system is somewhat rarely heard here outside of Chicago.
I also use the 2004 to scan to detect activity on the frequency hopping Havequick system on UHF aero. When I start picking up strong hits (sounds like sputtering noises) on the Havequick freqs I’ll quickly make notes on which ones have activity and start loading them one by one into the various radios. This actually works and I’ve been able to copy some local Milair comms this way with about 75 percent intelligibility. Pretty weird hearing those voices jumping around between the various radios syllable by syllable!
“Why do you have so many radios?”
“Why, do you have one you want to sell?”
Seriously though, aside from the generic techno toys factor, any big incident, event or disaster needs more than one radio to monitor effectively. As soon as any single channel starts getting busy you start missing traffic on other related busy frequencies. I work in a comm center and over the years I’ve trained my ears/brain to be able to listen to four or five active conversations at the same time and still “get” about 75 percent of what is being said. That’s an art. Having multiple radios lets me engage in several different monitoring research tasks / searches at the same time. This is also handy during events or incidents. It’s also fun to park each radio on one single local freq and just sit back and listen. You’d be surprised what you often miss. And hey, I live in the Chicago metro area so there’s always something happening.
Money. I’m very blessed to be making a decent coin these days but it wasn’t always so in the past. What you see here is actually one of the cheaper shacks on this section of Radio Reference. Unlike most of my friends, I keep many of the radios I buy. I shop carefully and try to buy on sale or discount. Befriend your local Radio Shack manager! They will sometimes deal on closeout stuff. Go to Hamfests and consider web auction sites. Trade with care. Learn to build and repair electronics. The hard thing for me is hardware / carpentry skills, of which I had none. This console was well under 100 bucks, a great weekend project and I still have most of all ten fingers. Network, join a local monitoring club. Make contacts with local public safety people. Keep your eyes and ears open when local networks are being refurbished. My GM300’s, one 780 and the Visar are on loan from work following their replacement with newer models. My GE cabinet receiver and power supply I literally saved from the scrap heap during a network re-build. Yes, I had help (Richly!) learning to assemble and transport these solid state boat anchors. The two Icoms, the InfoTech M6000, the Kenwood and several others were carefully purchased used. The CD-1, the 2006, the 2040 and the 2045 were closeouts. One radio here I found laying on the ground at an event. The Compaq wasn’t working and a guy gave it to my wife for free, I fixed it. Identify your monitoring tasks and needs. Then look for the gear which best suits those needs. Then shop with care. Sometimes you have to buy new, save your dough. When you get something you like, keep it. Save scrap parts, tools and hardware. When you get something you don’t like, trade it. Or, give it to a newbie for free. My FRG-9600 I bought new, cost me $549.95 at Erickson’s in 1982 and I still have it and recently refurb’ed it. The Sony Vaio was two grand twelve years ago, but I still have it and it’s still working fine. Meets my needs. The Gateway was big bucks which I’m still paying off, but it replaced 3 other computers. My Comcast bill is like slow death. The Yupi MVT-7100 is a Canadian which I bought used and re-furb’ed. What you see here is 25 years of radio mania. Having said all that, I’m twisting the wife’s arm for a (new) 996. $$$. Catfood…-sigh- You don’t always need the cutting edge, and the right cutting edge still cuts the mustard 15 years on. And thanks to many good radio friends.
The big black honking horizontal antenna in the yard in front of the mast is a multi-band dipole for shortwave (HF). Works great. Another weekend project. About 50 bucks and built largely from scrap. There’s a posting on it in the antennas forum. The mast was a Radio Shack closeout, 40 bucks. Almost killed the wife putting it up, but she’s still walking, LOL. The discone (Diamond!) is about 12 years old. The 800 Yagi was an estate sale. (Jeff Z, your stuff is still receiving!). Most of the coax was free scrounges. The Tri-Bander (Diamond!) I bought new from AES in Milwaukee, full price, ouch $150. But I get killer outbound signal reports on 2-meters, LOL. The Scantenna is the old Radio Shack version, five bucks at model closeout. Didn’t really need it but couldn’t resist at that price. Several scratch built antennas and yagis are lurking about or in storage. Coffee can full of whips and rubber ducks, you know the drill - go to the hamfest, buy antennas, come home…
All my cats are/were orphans from shelters. I have Max’s little sister, too. She’s a very rare light-toned toirtise shell longhair. I’d show her but she’s a total runt. Adorable. Both rescued from a flooded window well by a local public works department. Used to have a Havana Brown my wife rescued from a cat killer slob. You know what they say about cat haters, don’t you? LOL. These are our first D longhairs, they actually don’t shed nearly much as our D shorthairs have. HF listening drives cats nuts. My charity cases…Always ready to help with any wiring project. RF adaptors and small parts scattered all over the house. Earphones eatten. Max has actually un-plugged 110 VAC power strips and pressed the power buttons on same. One bad Tom. His sister bit clean through an FM broadcast band folded dipole I used to have up on the wall. 300 Ohm twinlead is apparently tasty, too. She also pulls down my wall maps. Just part of the constant joy of cat ownership.
The real wiring rats nest is behind the console. The two antenna cables on the right go up through an adjacent closet ceiling to the VHF and UHF ground planes (scrap builds) for the GM-300’s. Works good in storms. The garden hose on the left is Heliax from the discone to a Stridsberg 8-way splitter, feeds most of the radios. I like it here as it gives a quick disconnect for local storms and lets me freely experiment. It’s not a shack if you can’t see some wires and cables! Most of the other wiring or cables you can see are either programming cables or audio leads which I need to keep free. The rest of the room is usually a train-wreck total mess anyway, so I don’t care. And I have a good wife, also a scanner buff. She’s got the only digital in the house - 296xlt. (Prefers handhelds).
Plenty of portables here, most of my collection. Pro-97 and Icom R2 are my regular work a day radios and travel with me. Yaesu FT-90 mounted in the car, my only mobile usually. I’m not really a Motorola guy, but they have their moments.
Motorola speakers all dirt cheap or free. Rescued from garbage, hamfests, friends, public safety, beater taxicabs…
Yeah, shelf sag. Ugh, sucks. The trick is to use little support blocks between the radios inbetween the shelves. Sadly, ran out of room. A good back would help but would create wiring headaches. Buy stiff shelving. This is cheap stuff from menards and home depot. Load up shelves this long with this many heavy radios (the Icoms) and you’ll start seeing sag. And this is with 3 inch wood screws to assemble. Ugh. Hate it. The alternative is wall mounted shelving bracket systems like Rich uses. Great, but much more expensive.
Again, my main listening targets are civil and military aircraft, your shack will differ.
Happy Scanning! - Ted
chgomonitor
Silent Key
One more...
Oh and the GE-Super Tuner FM is actually the old Radio Shack / Optimus version. Christmas present from the wife but it's nearly worn out, tuning going bad. I'm thinking about going Hi-Def FM anyway. I like RDS too. I do some AM/FM BCB DX'ing too. Looking at that new Sangean tuner, very sexy. Still researching where I want to be with BCB DX'ing... Maybe an FM Yagi for the mast, roof or attic. Wife wants better FM for the living room home entertainment system and a new big screen TV, too. Hmm...
http://www.rffun.com/catalog/spcialty/0149.html
http://www.rffun.com/catalog/spcialty/0111.html
Maybe an AM BCB longwire strung in the attic?
-Ted
Oh and the GE-Super Tuner FM is actually the old Radio Shack / Optimus version. Christmas present from the wife but it's nearly worn out, tuning going bad. I'm thinking about going Hi-Def FM anyway. I like RDS too. I do some AM/FM BCB DX'ing too. Looking at that new Sangean tuner, very sexy. Still researching where I want to be with BCB DX'ing... Maybe an FM Yagi for the mast, roof or attic. Wife wants better FM for the living room home entertainment system and a new big screen TV, too. Hmm...
http://www.rffun.com/catalog/spcialty/0149.html
http://www.rffun.com/catalog/spcialty/0111.html
Maybe an AM BCB longwire strung in the attic?
-Ted
chgomonitor
Silent Key
Am Bcb
-Another trick is hitting an auto scrap yard and picking up a beater Ford, GM or Delco AM/FM car radio. Great receivers but you have to power them off 12vdc.
-Another trick is hitting an auto scrap yard and picking up a beater Ford, GM or Delco AM/FM car radio. Great receivers but you have to power them off 12vdc.
chgomonitor
Silent Key
Ref: Cats in Shacks
And scritches go out to Fredly's Madison. Ouch! He Bit me!
And scritches go out to Fredly's Madison. Ouch! He Bit me!
platinumrx8
Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2007
- Messages
- 50
im still a bit puzzled as to why someone would have so much equipment.. it would be like having 8,9,10 TV's, turned to various channels and trying to watch them all..
from looking at some of the pics on this forum, it looks as if people got their stuff on display like trophies or something
from looking at some of the pics on this forum, it looks as if people got their stuff on display like trophies or something
- Status
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