N9JIG Racks the Shack

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wise871

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The console can also be found on Amazon. I believe the power supply/faceplate is the most expensive item.
 

N9JIG

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How about a ballpark figure on the cost of 1 cabinet and 6 faceplates?

You would have to ask Marc at Northcomm about the component pricing. Mine was an aggregate deal, I got the whole package (Cabinets, panels, faceplates) as one.

The cabinets I have are 10u and each of the main 2-radio panels are 2u so 5 panels will fit on each rack. I would guess all in that you could expect to pay about a grand for a complete cabinet with 5 panels, 9 faceplates and a power supply.
 

N9JIG

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Really, really nice setup ! What are you using for antenna(s)?

The antennas are detailed in Reply 30 above. Basically the scanners are fed with RS ScanTenna knockoffs and the two-way and HF radios have their own antennas.
 

N9JIG

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The audio is fine actually. While the R8500 and Motos have front firing speakers the scanners do not.

The rear of the cabinets are open and the audio is plenty loud in my small office.

If I have difficulty I might try some external speakers but so far it has not been a concern.
 

N9JIG

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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.

Well, I am not the most attractive guy in the world but here is a quick video I made of the shack. Perhaps later this week I will try and make one a little nicer than this, maybe ask one of my announcer buddies to narrate it...


HD N9JIG Rack Shack - YouTube

Enjoy!
 

wise871

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Great video Rich. Thank you for putting one together. It was very informative and it was great to see it in action. I am so tempted to build at least one rack for my setup. You said you were planning to move soon. I hope it's in an area where you'll be able to utilize all your gear.
 
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N9JIG

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Speakers are no problem

Some have asked about remote speakers for my racked shack. I was fairly sure that they would not be needed in my office due to the open rears of the racks.

A month in now and it turns out I was right. The audio is just fine from the scanners without remote speakers. Mostly this is due to the open rears of the racks but also now I think to the slight separations built into rack mounts.

Relay Racks (as they are often called) have a slight tolerance built in to the vertical measurements. This is to allow equipment to be inserted and removed without binding on adjacent units. I placed a small light in the rear of the cabinets the other day and the little space is more noticeable.

I leave a couple of the radios on all the time in Tone Out mode on a few local fire channels and can hear the calls into the next room at mid volume.

If I ever decide to go with speakers I would likely use those small 2x2 speakers mounted at the rear of the cabinets firing forward. I don't want to waste valuable rack space for speakers, the radios themselves are more important.

So far the system seems to work great. I had considered the power supplies with volt and ammeters but now I am glad I didn't that. This allows me to surface mount radios in front of the power supplies, such as the HP-1x and TMD-700. I still have one space left if I move the head from my IC-7000 to the front of the power supply, I can add another radio into the slot currently used. I actually have a second IC-7000 I removed from the van when I sold it, so I could add it there...
 

russellmaher

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Hi Rich - What an awesome shack you have and to say I'm envious would be an understatement.

The whole setup is neat, clean and well planned and it looks like you've thought of everything.

Not too much can happen in your area that gets past that array of scanners. Is there anything
you don't monitor?

Thanks for making my day.

Russell
 

N9JIG

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Audio Update

The audio is fine actually. While the R8500 and Motos have front firing speakers the scanners do not.

The rear of the cabinets are open and the audio is plenty loud in my small office.

If I have difficulty I might try some external speakers but so far it has not been a concern.

Well, after a couple months i have decided that the internal speakers seem to work just fine for the scanners. With the open rears on the racks there is plenty of "escape room" for audio and I do not need to have the radios overly loud to hear them when I am in the office.

I have a couple of the 15's set up for Fire Tone Out that I like to leave up at night on the local Mutual Aid channel (called IFERN around here) so that when a local area has a major fire or EMS event and calls for help I hear about it. I set the volume just loud enough to hear it from the bedroom across the hall but not so loud as to wake me up when I am asleep.

I have also since relinquished the ATCS receiver to another location that has better reception than I for the intended targets and have ordered another DIN faceplate to allow a spare BCT996XT to be added to the far right side rack.
 

SCPD

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N9JIG you get the best install ever award! Thats sooooooooooooo sweet looking.
Can you do a video one day of the whole setup on? :)
 

Jimru

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Well, I am not the most attractive guy in the world but here is a quick video I made of the shack. Perhaps later this week I will try and make one a little nicer than this, maybe ask one of my announcer buddies to narrate it...


HD N9JIG Rack Shack - YouTube

Enjoy!


Excuse me while I wipe the drool off of my iPad!

What an awesome setup and thanks so much for sharing!
 
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