N9JIG TriBay Completed.

[WatnNY]

Impressive as always, Rich! I don't see all of the 780's anymore, where did they go?

Mike

 

[N9JIG]

There haven't been 780's in my shack in years, never here in Arizona. My last 780 was sold off 10-12 years ago.

I did have a dozen BCT15/BCT15X's, these are stored for now.

 

[WatnNY]

There haven't been 780's in my shack in years, never here in Arizona. My last 780 was sold off 10-12 years ago.

I did have a dozen BCT15/BCT15X's, these are stored for now.

??? I could have sworn your upright cabinet was full of 780's for MilAir monitoring. I must be getting old and seeing things! Thanks for the reply, Rich.

 

[Ubbe]

How did you arrange the speaker audio from the scanners? I can see two speakers that I assume are for the two amateur radios.

/Ubbe

 

[N9JIG]

How did you arrange the speaker audio from the scanners? I can see two speakers that I assume are for the two amateur radios.

/Ubbe

The design of relay racks allow for space between them and the cabinet, plenty of room for the internal speakers to emanate from. The 746 rack came with speakers so I decided to use them on the 2 two-ways. When working HF I usually use headphones but the internal speaker is usually sufficient for casual use.

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Sweet!!!

 

[Listen365]

Congrats, you did it again. The horizontal base with monitor on top is an excellent design. I am in the process of redesigning my shack and this is the best I’ve seen.
Will look into this product. Thank you for sharing.

 

[R2]

Rich, those wheeled carts certainly come in handy.
My former department has two rescue trucks (currently Pierce customs)
One of the guys at the other truck that was colocated with the administrative office got them to buy one for the station
His name was Chuck, the cart became the 'Chuck Wagon'
Eventually each station got their own

 

[jt1000]

I ordered the new Tri-Bay rack about a month ago and it finally arrived today from AudioRax. Being that it is custom made it took a while but it is worth the wait.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it arrived fully assembled, I had assumed it was going to require assembly. Being 5 feet wide the box was taller than my wife since it shipped upended. With no equipment installed it was not particularly heavy but it was a bit of work to remove it from the double box. It was very well protected and arrived undamaged.

I placed it on my wheel cart in the office. Since I already had all the equipment in the office waiting I only needed to collect a few tools and off I went. I soon ran into a minor snag, the threaded holes on the rails did not match the panels. There are two standards, I think I forgot to specify the one I needed and they sent the default one. I already had a tap for the rack screws so I grabbed the drill and drilled and tapped 8 new holes on both outside bays. The 746 panel fit right in.

I mounted the 746 in the center bay. I then mounted the 4 dual-radio panels. From the rear I installed the AC power strip, PowerPole RigRunner, USB hub and Stridsberg multicoupler.

I then ran all the interior wiring in the cabinet. Each of the scanners has an antenna jumper, power lead and serial port of course, there was also power leads for the 746 and 2 two-way radios.

After all that I moved the cabinet to the desk for final setup. The desk itself is on nylon sliders so I slid it out to connect the antenna leads and AC line cord. I placed the computer (Intel H.C. NUC) and monitor as well as the R8500 on top of the cabinet.

After testing the power leads I moved the desk to it’s place and set up the accessories (mics, computer i/o etc. After a good wipe down with a MF cloth I was done.

Since I had already set up all the racks and wiring harnesses last week it took me about 3 hours to do all the work, minus a half hour for dinner. I had not expected to even start it tonight but I already finished since I did not have to assemble the cabinet.

I already have one thing on my to-do list. The power supply that came with the 746’s rack has a loud fan. It seems to be on half the time so I think I will go to an Astron linear supply since there is no fan needed.

So here are the pics:


View attachment 106595
Here is the empty rack on the desk. I tried it to check the fit before I installed all the stuff. The radios and other stuff that is going into the rack is on the bookshelf to the left.





View attachment 106596
I installed the AC power strip on what will be the left rear. This puts the line cord on the correct side to the outlet.



View attachment 106598
Just about ready to flip the cabinet around to install the wiring.


View attachment 106599
From the rear of the right bay. This bay has the multicoupler (top) and RigRunner (bottom).



View attachment 106597
The left bay has the AC power strip, AirNav Radar Box and the power supply for the USB hub.


View attachment 106600
The wiring is just about done, ready to transition to the desk.


View attachment 106601
Here is the completed and operational setup. I am running ProScan for virtual control. Each 996XT is set to a difference screen color, matched by it’s computer partner.


View attachment 106602
A closer view of the completed setup. In addition to the 6 BCD996XT’s is a Kenwood UHF radio for GMRS and a TYT MD8600 for 2m & 440 FM and DMR. The R8500 sits on top of the cabinet.


View attachment 106603
Both radio cabinets in view.



View attachment 106604
The computer desk with the wall monitors used mostly for live-streaming rail and aviation cameras.

I like the CDU decoder you have.I have the same one from 1983. Great equipment you have.Very nice setup you have.

 

[W9WSS]

I've been asking Rich for a few photo's of the antenna farm in the attic. But, as I now recall, it's a physical challenge to get up there, because Rich is a big boy, right? What are you, 6'4" inches, Rich? Maybe you can get Ed to shinny up the ladder to the attic and take a few photo's with his smartphone.

I do remember going up in the attic in your V.H. townhouse in IL; Is it similar to that array? I think the attic chase was in a linen closet, no?

 

[N9JIG]

In the old house the chase was in the linen closet, that always made it a challenge to get in there. This house has it in the mud room so it is easier to get to but with the high ceilings I need to use my 20 foot extension ladder to do so. I looked into an attic stair but the joists are too close together to easily install one long enough to work. I would have to cut the joists and then reinforce the area, that is easily a $5000 project and just isn't worth it.

Some of the areas we are looking at to build have cathedral attics (Insulation is on the underside of the roof rather than the floor of the attic) and an option is a stair set for access. Throw a mini-split AC up there and turn it on an hour before I go up and I can even work comfortably in the desert heat.