N9JIG Racks the Shack

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Soundman

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Sweet man .You never said what antennas you are using .Are thy outside or inside .
Thanks
 

N9JIG

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Might I suggest the free software Synergy (Synergy - Mouse and keyboard sharing software) to share one keyboard and mouse between the two computers?

I tried Synergy but it was kind of problematic for me. The right monitor is shared between the iMac (as the second monitor on it) and the Windows machine using the monitor's dual inputs. I have the digital (DVI) input connected to the iMac and the analog (VGA) to the Windows machine and I just toggle between them as needed.

Since the Windows machine is only needed occasionally this works very well. The keyboard for the Windows machine is usually up on a shelf out of the way.
 

N1SQB

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Yes, they are Carrier Operated lights from a design by N1SQB (http://forums.radioreference.com/un...-carrier-indicator-light-uniden-scanners.html).

They light up when the speaker is active. I will eventually have them on all of my scanners, but it is a lot of work.

Hey Rich!

Thanks for the pictures of your shack! I almost fell off my chair at first glance! WOW! Nice to see the COI lights in action! I may be IM you with some techie type questions! I have been wanting to rack mount all the gear I have which is almost the same type as yours. A few 15Xs, a few XTs, and some CDM commercial stuff. Oh man, how do I explain THIS to the XYL? LOL.....

Manny
 

commscanaus

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Outstanding setup Rich!

You should be awarded RR Master Shack Architect for 2014!

A very professional looking and highly functional way to install and operate a great many radios.

I would be very interested also to see your antenna system and how you have multicoupled all the scanners to them.

Also great to see another IC-R8500 user!
Mine I will keep, simply love that radio.

Regards, Commscanaus
 

03msc

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Incredible setup! Definitely worthy of being in the Setup Hall of Fame if there was one! Thanks for sharing!
 

N9JIG

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Pics of the antennas is difficult at best. I live in an HOA and cannot have antennas on the roof or a tower so I am stuck with attic antennas. I live on relatively high ground for my area, (where hills are measured in inches) so that helps.

In the attic I have the following antennas: 3 of the Radio Shack ScanTenna knockoffs (each feeds a Stridsberg), one of the RS $15 scanner antennas (basically a VHF 1/4 wave with a pair of UHF spikes), an A-S discone, a Diamond discone, 1/4 wave antennas for VHF, UHF and 800, a Diamond 8900 on a home made ground plane, an 800 fiberglass, an DPD AirNav and 3 HF dipoles (10M, 20M and a Slinky).

A couple years ago however we had our attic re-insulated with a couple feet deep of blown-in insulation so it is next to impossible to get in there or get pictures.

All the coaxes go thru a small hole in the ceiling that I placed a plastic downspout flange in and sealed with expanding foam. This help keep the cooler air in the office and out of the attic.

Before they did the insulation job I went up and checked all the antennas for tight coax fits, rerouted and replaced a couple of the coaxes and just made sure they were all OK.

When we move out west in a year or so the homes we are looking at all have cathedral attics where the insulation is on the inside of the roof, not the floor of the attic. This apparently is more efficient in the desert but will make it easier for me to maintain the antennas (another HOA...). We will have an attic stair and a floored attic so I can go up there and do maintenance etc. The builder said they could build in a cable chase for me, probably a 4 inch PVC pipe.

With the cabinets I have I can just disconnect the antennas and a single power cord and lift the whole unit out and move it. When we get into the new house I just need appropriate antennas and an AC outlet.
 

wa8pyr

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For years I have been thinking about racking my shack and I finally got around to doing it.

The shack has the Wife Seal of Approval for lack of wires and clutter. I still need to get on the floor and clean up the wires under the desk and shelves but that will wait for later... I also ran out of black rack screws so had to use silver ones until the resupply arrives.

Rich, you are a sick man, but it looks excellent. :D
 

N9JIG

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Well, I finally found the black rack screws at Fryes and spent a half hour replacing all 60 of the rack screws. Even though i had some black ones, they did not match the new ones so I replaced all of them for aesthetics. (I guess I have a little OCD in me, but even the wife complained about the different screws.)

I also labeled a couple of the radios and cleaned up the messy wires behind the scenes. I actually thought of getting panels to place behind the desk to hide the wires but decided tying them up was more appropriate.

Here are the updated shots:

Lighted view:

Clean.jpg




Night view:

Night.jpg


Right cabinet:

Right.jpg



Center Cabinet:

Center.jpg



Left Cabinet:

Left.jpg
 

wise871

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Rich, have you thought about making a YouTube video of your new setup like the last ones you did in the past.
 

03msc

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Rich, have you thought about making a YouTube video of your new setup like the last ones you did in the past.

Ditto. That'd be great. We'd not only get to see it but also hear it in action which I personally would really like to hear how active it is in there. Consider it if you have time. The pictures are great!
 

firemedic2150

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Rich I have somewhat of a technical question for you, I have the same thing as far as a racked set up with 4 Unidens, 2 996XT and 2 BCT15X as well as two CDM1250's and two amateur dual band mobiles all currently running of a Astron 35. My question is do you turn of the individual devices or just turn off the power supply essentially powering down the cabinet so to speak? I hate having to turn each scanner on and readjust the volume (since there is no real power switch) and I am leery of the shock of turning on the power supply under full load each time. Just curious how you handle it, not meaning to change the thread.
 

KC8ESL

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The usage of a single 35A supply sounds like a great opportunity to build a multiple relay circuit using arduino and staggering the start up times at the press of a button on the front of the console. A typical start-up procedure (for me) would be as follows:

Turn on power supply, allow arduino to initialize
Push OFF-(MOM) button which would trigger the program in the arduino
1 high-draw device with 2 low draw devices
1 second pause
1 high-draw device with 2 low draw devices
1 second pause
1 high-draw device with 2 low draw devices
1 second pause
1 high-draw device with 2 low draw devices
1 second pause
4 low draw devices
etc etc etc.

Just make sure that all the relays and wire you use are rated for the current you'll be passing through them. For the radios that transmit, this will likely be full-power key up. For the radios that RX only, this will likely be the power draw on start-up. Grab a DVM that can hold its maximum value for current (A or otherwise known as I), put it inline on the 12v (+) lead and start each radio up to record the values.

The off command could be all radios in one shot. You could include an instruction set to require a 1 second button press so you don't tap it and make yourself wonder why you went through this trouble

If you want to be really cool, use a relay which has both an N.O. and N.C. state and use the N.C. state through an inverted buffer to control an LED for indication that it is turned on.

Sorry for my randomness here, I've been in design mode lately.
 
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N9JIG

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Rich I have somewhat of a technical question for you, I have the same thing as far as a racked set up with 4 Unidens, 2 996XT and 2 BCT15X as well as two CDM1250's and two amateur dual band mobiles all currently running of a Astron 35. My question is do you turn of the individual devices or just turn off the power supply essentially powering down the cabinet so to speak? I hate having to turn each scanner on and readjust the volume (since there is no real power switch) and I am leery of the shock of turning on the power supply under full load each time. Just curious how you handle it, not meaning to change the thread.


Each of the 3 cabinets have an individual 25 amp power supply. The center and left cabinets are only turned on as needed and I use the power supply switch to control them.

As long as the radios are not transmitting (for the CDM's and dual banders) the current draw should be well within the capacity of the power supply upon power up. Even if some radios tend to draw a little more current upon power up a 35 amp supply should have plenty of capacity for this. Most power supplies can handle a pretty decent short term surge anyway, an Astron 35 is probably rated at 50 amp surges.

In my 20 years or so of multiple radios I have never had an issue powering multiple radios on and off with a single switch. The only thing I could see now would be the new 536HP which requires a write job to the SD card when you turn it off, that is why my 536 is in the "Always On" cabinet.
 
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