btlacer
KI4SJU/ Fire Captain/ EMTFR
What coax do you use from your multicoupler to your scanners? I'm looking for a good jumper coax to use from my multicoupler to my scanners, max 5 foot jumpers.
The (almost) all new for 2022 N9JIG Shack
- Thread starter N9JIG
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Most are 3-foot RG58 jumpers like these: RG58 Jumper Cable, 3', BNC Male to BNC Male | Scanner Master
Due to the short length almost any decently constructed jumper would work. Since I really stick at mounting coax connectors I just buy them commercially.
You HAD to show me that desk rack setup, didn't you...
I have a 62" wide desk...I'm guessing that with the separation between the bays that comes in as just a little wider than that. I really like that a lot. The one thing I don't like about my current setup is the monitors off to the sides of the racks. Being able to set the monitors atop the rack enclosure would alleviate that issue.
Looks great as always, Rich! Will we ever be happy with our shack configs?
Actually the entire cabinet is exactly 60" wide. Each bay is, of course, 19", with four 3/4 inch wood panels. (19X3=57, 3 x .75=3, 57+3=60).
The 3u cabinet is 7.5" tall, including .75" rubber feet so that wood cabinet is 6.75" tall itself. There is no slant but after a couple weeks that has not been an issue at all.
The new monitors I bought have height-adjustable stands and go down to about 1" off the table to the bottom of the chin, so the display glass starts at about 1.75" above the cabinet or 8.5" off the table top. This is a comfortable viewing angle for me. My desktop height minimum is 29.5" off the floor due to the large commercial casters on the desk. (Since the last picture I bought a matching monitor for the Windows machine so now all three are identical)
If I decide to move to a smaller desk the three monitors on top of the cabinet would work with one dead-center and the others angled in. These would put the stands on the outside monitors right at the edge. The displays would overhang a few inches off either end. If I use a 3-monitor mounting arm I could save an inch or so of vertical height.
One thing I am thinking about is to mount the two Mac monitors on the bottom side by side and the Windows (radio control and programming) monitor on top angled down. As I don't use the Windows screen that often it would be fine. The other idea I had is using the Windows screen in Portrait mode. This could eliminate any overhang and bring the bottom of the display almost right above the cabinet level as the bezels are almost nonexistent on the sides. I could even use one of the Mac displays in Portrait mode so there is symmetry with the monitors.
The only issue I would have with a smaller desk is what to do with the mixer. The dang thing is huge! It is an 8u monstrosity. My first thought was using a keyboard tray under the desk. Since all the controls I need to access most of the time are towards the user that would allow me to just pull it out a little bit for a quick volume adjustment.
Things are fluid still. I need to order some custom audio cables to allow me to connect to the mixer. I want right-angle 1/4 TS plugs on the mixer end to 1/8 mono plugs on the radio end. I found a company that custom makes these for a reasonable price but they are on vacation until sometime next week so it will be a bit. I will be experimenting with monitor placement as well as looking at keyboard trays for the mixer. I might be a trailblazer here, I don't know of anyone who has ever mounted a full-sized audio mixer like this to a keyboard tray!
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- Jul 19, 2019
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Have you considered wrapping the box in a layer of silver? I mean it would suck if all that were lost due to an EMP or something. Beautiful, Just beautiful!
Rich, what antenna are you using for your Icom HF rig? Attic mount?
Gold is a much better conductor, as soon as I can source a couple pounds of 24k I will coat the cabinets.
This is the one I ordered, as the bulk of my currently racked radios are 2U, but it appears that the color will pretty much spot on match the current platform I'm using.
Looking forward to the lower profile approach and having the monitors more in front of me. I may leave the two outside monitors wall mounted and just bring them in so they're more in front of me.
(Jeez, an IC-R8600 would look nice in the middle of that wouldn't it... )
THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'LL RECONFIGURE MY RADIO ROOM! You read it here first!
4U x 3 (12U) | AudioRax Triple Bay Desktop Slant Studio Equi
www.audiorax.com
Looking forward to the lower profile approach and having the monitors more in front of me. I may leave the two outside monitors wall mounted and just bring them in so they're more in front of me.
(Jeez, an IC-R8600 would look nice in the middle of that wouldn't it...
)THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'LL RECONFIGURE MY RADIO ROOM! You read it here first!
This is the one I ordered, as the bulk of my currently racked radios are 2U, but it appears that the color will pretty much spot on match the current platform I'm using.
4U x 3 (12U) | AudioRax Triple Bay Desktop Slant Studio Equi
www.audiorax.com
Looking forward to the lower profile approach and having the monitors more in front of me. I may leave the two outside monitors wall mounted and just bring them in so they're more in front of me.
(Jeez, an IC-R8600 would look nice in the middle of that wouldn't it...
THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'LL RECONFIGURE MY RADIO ROOM! You read it here first!
That is the exact cabinet I used in November 2021 N9JIG Shack. I decided it was too high to comfortably use monitors on an every-day basis. For the occasional programming or control use it was fine but for day-to-day work it was too high. Between the 4u and the chin to accommodate the slant it was just too much.
I still have the rack itself in the garage, I might find a use for it down the road.
Be sure to test the monitor rotated to portrait before committing money to the idea. A surprising number of monitors right now are designed in a way that the colors are thrown off when viewed rotated. (I'm sure it has something to do with polarization, but it isn't something ever mentioned on vendor websites.)
How well does the m1 run Windows under Parallels? Any limitations on things like USB connections to scanners, etc?
I have been using it in portrait for a week or so and so far so good. I think however I will revert to landscape this coming week since the top parts are too high to comfortably use. If it were sitting directly on the desk it would be fine but with the bottom of the display 8 inches off the desktop makes the top of the display 32 inches up, too high for me.
I ordered new cables for the mixer with right angle plugs, they should arrive Monday or Tuesday, I am going to move the mixer to the desktop to the left and that will clear up space on top of the rack so I can fit the monitor there better in landscape mode.
So far so good. I have an Intel MBP I kept for radio programming in the car but so far I have not had any issues with the M1 once I configured the USB devices with Windows 11.
tvengr
Well Known Member
Looks good Rich! One great thing about the audio mixer is that you will be able to use the equalizers to tailor the frequency response of each scanner for the best sound.
I ordered and received new audio cables from COLUBER CABLE | Audio Wires & Cable Accessories Store. They make custom made-to-order cables for the music industry and were the only place I could find the specific cables I wanted. These were 1/4 inch TS with a right angle to 1/8 inch TS (Mono) at specific lengths. The cable itself is 5/8 inch thick and the plugs are sturdy and well soldered. I am extremely happy with them!
This allowed me to move the mixer to the desktop under the main monitors and route the cables neatly. With straight cables they looked hideous.
Once I figured out the mixer I am happy with its operation. I set the volume control on the radio so that each provides a similar level into the mixer using the strongest NOAA station (in Prescott) to provide steady audio. I then adjust the channel sliders on the mixer to adjust the volume into the monitor speakers. The speakers themselves have an easy to use volume control for overall volume. For headphone use it is more convenient to plug them into the monitor speaker's headphone jack as I can more easily adjust the overall volume more readily.
With the mixer placed between the keyboard and the displays it is at the same time out of the way and easy to operate. Should I decide to place the displays on top of the cabinet like I originally considered I can but for now I like them the way they are. The mixer itself sits on a laptop stand, this makes it easier to see and access the controls by angling it up a bit. With the straight cables that would not have worked as they would have interfered with the displays.
I might replace the inexpensive Logitech speakers with another set of the Bose that I use for the Mac. They really sound nice and are more compact. They are a little pricey however. For now the Logitechs work fine.
Looks great, Rich! Bob Heil designed some speakers (and a component to drive them, though they can be used by themselves) specifically for ham radio receive audio so you might check them out if you haven't, since you're talking speakers: HPS-5 | Heil Amateur Radio
Drawback is the volume control is on the rear but that's because of the other component but you could also use the mixer main out fader.
Drawback is the volume control is on the rear but that's because of the other component but you could also use the mixer main out fader.
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- Jul 12, 2020
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thank you!
No highs, no lows...... must be Bose.
(that's a snarky saying from my recording studio days; actually some Bose stuff these days really isn't too bad)
Nice looking setup though! If you get really gung-ho, you could go with actual powered monitors. These are pretty good and decent price:
You and I had this discussion awhile back; I found a clock that's much better and quite accurate:
Connects to your wifi and gets the time from the NTP servers; saves the wifi setting so if the power goes out, the clock sets itself when the power is restored. Works like a charm.
I found these to replace the clocks in our EOC. The original CCCs (Cheap Chinese Clocks) we got from Amazon came equipped with remote controls; problem was, every time we went to change channels or volume or whatever on the big wall TVs in the EOC, the clocks would go wonky. So I bought these to replace them and they work great. The old CCCs went into our offices where they don't get bothered by TV remotes.
I liked these so much I bought two for the home shack (one for local time, one for zulu time). Need to keep in mind that these do not have battery backup (apparently the CCC manufacturers decided it was no longer necessary since the NTP settings are non-volatile), but I got around that by plugging them into the shack UPS, from which they draw next to no power.
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Which implies that you can set the time zone in the clock and that setting is not limited to the common U.S. time zones. Correct?
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