Index

2E0CCR

My Shack

My shack is a reasonably compact shack housing a desktop computer coupled up to a 32" Smart TV utlised as a monitor for use with the various datamodes such as SSTV for which i use MMSSTV. The 2 Main Radios within the Shack are a Yaesu FT-M400XDE and a Kenwood TM-D710e fed via a 2 way antenna switch and an AVAIR SWR Meter into the Moonraker SQBM-200c MK2 Dual Band Colinear and powered by the Nevada PSW-30 Switched Mode Power Supply. Both Radios are linked to the computer for programming purposes and in addition the Kenwood is connected to the data interface box built by Alan M0AQC and the Yaesu is linked directly to the computer to enable it to be used as a Personal Digital Node on the Yaesu Wires-X Network. In normal shack operation the Yaesu is used for Wires-X Operation and the Kenwood for FM operation however the inline antenna switch allows me to swap over as and when needed. Both radios are connected to an Adonis AM-308 Microphone via a homebrew switch box.

For other general radio receiving activity i use a Uniden UBC370clt Scanner which is connected to a Broadsword Antennas Slim Jim which provides good results for AirBand / PMR etc I also have a Uniden UBC125xlt Scanner which is primarily used whilst visiting local airfields but is also used around the house on occasions. This is usually used with a Watson W-881 Receiving Antenna or the Broadsword Civil Airband Handheld Receiving Antenna. I also have a number of Yaesu Handheld Transceiver including the VX-7r, VX-8GE & the FT70D. These are used mainly with the Nagoya NA-771 Dualband Antennas or the Original Yaesu Antennas

The most recent improvement within the Shack has been to improve the Audio within the shack. I was until recently using unpowered external speakers with seperate speakers for each radio. This was done as due to the nature of the radios in use and the fact that they are primarily mobile radios the speakers built into the radios were unable to be clearly heard due to how they were mounted. I also wanted to be able to feed audio through headphones without having to reach around behind the radio to swap leads over plus i also wanted to be able to listen to several radios. To achieve this i considered the option of building a homebrew switch unit however a friend of mine suggested using an audio mixer. This got me thinking and researching my options and after some research i opted for the Behringer Xenxy 802 8 Input 2 Bus Mixer which has proven to be an extremely good choice. All audio within the shack is now fed through the mixer both from the radios and also the computer with the exception of audio from the Data Interface which is fed directly to the computer on a seperate soundcard exclusively for data purposes. The mixers outgoing audio is fed to a pair of Edifier R1000T4 Powered Speakers which provide superb audio. Additionally a pair of BHI HP-1 Headphones are used with the mixer.

Shack Radio Equipment List

Yaesu FT-M400XDE Dual Band Transceiver

Adonis AM-308 Desk Top Microphone

Nevada PSW-30 Switched Mode Power Supply

Moonraker SQBM-200c MK2 Dual band FibreGlass Colinear Antenna

Uniden UBC125XLT Scanning Receiver

Uniden UBC370CLT Scanning Receiver

BHI HP-1 Headphones

Avair AV-40 Cross Needle Power/SWR Meter

Yaesu VX-7r Triband Handheld Transceiver

Yaesu VX-8ge Dualband Handheld Transceiver with GPS

Yaesu FT-70de Dualband Digital Transceiver