Shack pix thread

[N8YX]

NICE! But two digital trunk trackers? In Akron?

Yep. Soon to be four, plus a couple BCT-15Xs thrown in for good measure.

There are seven (count 'em) 800MHz 'PS' trunked systems in the NEOH area, plus a number of commercial/business systems that operate in both the 400 and 800MHz regions.

And therein lies the rub: With so many talk groups to monitor on a given system, you cannot follow the conversations effectively. Compound this with the fact that Akron's traffic is pretty much non-stop and you begin to realize you need two scanners at a minimum.

Well...we had that at one time. My Pro-2050 and 2052s would handle the non-APCO trunk systems, while the Pro-2096 took care of the digital duties. Then (Flo)Surprise!(/Flo) the town I live in recently announced that it will soon be switching out fleet radios and jumping on the thing known as "Summit County 800 Regional Radio" - which is an APCO25-capable deployment.

Trying to follow this little ol' department sandwiched in between the likes of Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and the rest of the metro area - not to mention the southern Summit County area - on just one (and even two) scanners is a bit tough, and the relative inflexibility of the Pro-2096 in this regard (plus the fact my friend N8XTF was bugging me for a "scanner upgrade") led to the purchase of the 996s at Dayton...and the donation of the Pro-2096 to her.

You can set the talk group priority channel on the 996s to switch over to your "favorite" upon detection of a transmission but the polling method leaves a lot to be desired.

Ergo...four 996s to be deployed. First (bottom one in pic) covers Akron and their cooperative inter-department talk groups along with the Ohio MARCS system, while the top unit is set for the Type II SmartNet system that my town currently utilizes. It also covers the southern Summit County system.

Plans are to set the third '996 up for coverage of the northern section of Summit County, Medina and Wayne and the fourth up for extreme southern Summit, Stark and possibly Holmes. Portage will be added to #1.

The two 15Xs will be used for such things as non-APCO trunk monitoring, FRS/MURS/GMRS, marine, utility and similar monitoring duties. The bank of R-7000s in the picture usually find themselves pressed into single-frequency amateur and CB-band monitoring duties so the non-trunking scanners are free to run in 'Search' mode.

[kf0rt]

Yikes! So, it's safe to say that it's not only your desire to be able to listen to anything, but to listen to it all at the same time?

Around here, just about everything is trunked -- every 'burb has it's own, Denver too. I think DIA even runs facilities on a trunked system. One statewide APCO system. Here in the NW burbs, Arvada and Westminster share a trunked system (just different talk groups) on Eldorado Mountain. I think the hams were up there first.

[ki4itv]

So far, of these pics, only Carl's shack has that lived in hamshack appearance.
I'm starting to think it's probably wrong to clean up the shack before taking pictures, especially when very few would shower themselves before jumping in a group photo.

[N8YX]

One other little factoid about that photo:

With the exception of the two 996s, one of the DSP-559s and the AT-100 which all worked "out of the box", everything else in the lineup has required repair or restoration upon hitting the doorstep...and I managed to save a metric shit-ton of money by doing this instead of buying so-called "collector condition" pieces. As long as the front panels are in fine shape I can fix the rest.

ETA:

Yikes! So, it's safe to say that it's not only your desire to be able to listen to anything, but to listen to it all at the same time?

Well...I keep telling 'em that I've got enough receivers to cover the 313 action without breaking a sweat. :rofl:

[kf0rt]

That's what makes it cool, Fred.

Good luck finding a cheap 996, though.

[N8YX]

So far, of these pics, only Carl's shack has that lived in hamshack appearance.
I'm starting to think it's probably wrong to clean up the shack before taking pictures, especially when very few would shower themselves before jumping in a group photo.

Mine's in our living room and I have to keep it somewhat clean. Would you folks like me to take another featuring all the beer bottles from last night which now adorn it?

[N8YX]

That's what makes it cool, Fred.

Good luck finding a cheap 996, though.

$419 and no shipping fee at Dayton - this via AES. They'll cut similar deals for volume purchases at their Wickliffe showroom, and I may get the other two plus the 15Xs there.

[kf0rt]

That's a good deal. Universal has 'em for $449 - think I paid $499 for mine.

[N8YX]

That's a good deal. Universal has 'em for $449 - think I paid $499 for mine.

Universal would have gotten my money for two (or more) right there and then...as would a couple other high-profile vendors...but you have to bring inventory with you to sell it. If I wanted mail-order I could just point/click/done on their sites. Besides, how much room do two '996 boxes take up any way? The vendors who had them did sell all they brought, incidentally.

[k1oik]

shack (3).JPG
You can't help but be impressed by my shack