Batboard

Now that I have my radios all set-up the way that I like..... I am moving.

Unfortunately I did not really plan on moving when I put everything together, so it is a wiring nightmare that weighs about 650 pounds that cannot be moved in one piece. After taking everything apart and moving it, I will likely be building a custom "operator position" for my new residence, which will consist of 3-4 19" angled rack panels that will be 10.5" tall on top of a desk superstructure.

Part of the current equipment that I will need to mount includes 4 W7 Astro Spectras. In my new configuration, all the radio "guts" will be mounted in a standard 19" enclosed server cabinet, and only the control head cables will run to the new desk.

I have been kicking around the idea of using RCH3000 desksets mounted on the rack panels for the Astro Spectras, but having never used or actually seen one, I have some questions about them.

1) From top to bottom, how tall is the RCH3000? I want to put two of them side by side on a 19"x10.5" panel. Are there any holes on the sides or bottom of the unit designed for doing this?

2) Providing I have my VHF Astro Spectras reflashed as W9 consolette radios, what all equipment will I need to interface the RCH3000 to the radio?

3) How many characters can the channel aliases be on the RCH3000? Is it 14 characters or am I still limited to the 11 from the normal W9 head?

4) I assume that the RCH3000's have internal speakers and microphones like a speakerphone.. are they good quality or should I plan for having external speakers and desk mics?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

EDIT:

To add on to this, is it possible to interface the Astro Spectras to both an RCH3000 and to a Zetron 4010R console? I assume that if it is even possible, by doing it I would lose the front panel speaker and mic in the RCH3000, which would be routed to the console, but I would also like to be able to maintain the ability to change channels, edit scan lists, enable/disable encryption, and still be able to use the handsets on the RCH3000.

bump.. anyone?

I'll try to answer some of your questions.

The RCH 3000 is about the size of a telephone deskset. If you want I can take dimensions and pics and send. Two of them should fit into the area you mentioned and they have 2 holes in the base for wall mounting that should meet your needs.

I've connected RCH 3000s to accessory port 2 on the model 7 and 9 of the consolettes using a db25 on the radio side and a cat 5 on the remote side. I can provide wiring diagrams.

The characters available, as well as the controls, mimic the control head of the radio. The remote display will only show what the radio display would show. The buttons however depend on how you've programed the control head buttons. The RCH manual shows the crossover between the radio control head and the remote buttons.

The speakers are pretty good and the mic, on the handset and the internal mic, are adjustable to overcome background noise or lower the sensitivity to block out the background noise.

I would bet you could only use the RCH or the Zetron. The RCH works on data signals from the radio where the zetron, as are most consoles, work on a tone. You would aslo need a tone remote board in the radio to work with a tone console.

Let me know what you might need as far as wiring and setup but give me some time to reply as I am a one deep shop taking care of all the equipment on an Air Base.

One other option for the remotes is to purchase an adapter. Don't have the part number handy but it fits the db25 and has a connection for a cat 5 connector. The cat 5 is wired in a mirrored configuration, have to check this also, from the adapter to the remote.

Has anyone tried to interface a RCH3000 directly to a trunk mount Spectra / Astro Spectra?
I have a couple of these that were pulled working, but I don't have a consolette to connect them to.

Any info would be great.

Haven't tried that but I would bet it won't work. The consolette has an audio or tone remote board that provides the interface between the radio and the remote.

misawatech wrote:I'll try to answer some of your questions.

The RCH 3000 is about the size of a telephone deskset. If you want I can take dimensions and pics and send. Two of them should fit into the area you mentioned and they have 2 holes in the base for wall mounting that should meet your needs.

I've connected RCH 3000s to accessory port 2 on the model 7 and 9 of the consolettes using a db25 on the radio side and a cat 5 on the remote side. I can provide wiring diagrams.

The characters available, as well as the controls, mimic the control head of the radio. The remote display will only show what the radio display would show. The buttons however depend on how you've programed the control head buttons. The RCH manual shows the crossover between the radio control head and the remote buttons.

The speakers are pretty good and the mic, on the handset and the internal mic, are adjustable to overcome background noise or lower the sensitivity to block out the background noise.

I would bet you could only use the RCH or the Zetron. The RCH works on data signals from the radio where the zetron, as are most consoles, work on a tone. You would aslo need a tone remote board in the radio to work with a tone console.

Let me know what you might need as far as wiring and setup but give me some time to reply as I am a one deep shop taking care of all the equipment on an Air Base.

One other option for the remotes is to purchase an adapter. Don't have the part number handy but it fits the db25 and has a connection for a cat 5 connector. The cat 5 is wired in a mirrored configuration, have to check this also, from the adapter to the remote.

I'm looking for the wiring diagram to build a cable from the RCH3000 to accessory port 2 of the consolette. Can anyone help?