What about using a chalk reel. I have the whole home brew bug right know. I was cleaning up my shed and came across one that has a broken door, so it won't hold chalk. And after reading your thread the light bulb went off. Don't know if would work or not, I think I can put about 50' of wire in it if not more, it holds 100' of string.

73 Joe

Welcome to the forum Paladin !! Thank you for your service.

73 Joe

Welcome to the forum Andy !!!

I am removing about 1" of length from the radio. The biggest reason is the case has a crack. I am going to instal and hard wire the speaker that comes with the BK. On the top of the radio it has 3 toggle switches, I am going to use these, one will be a on/off, one speaker or phones, and the last will be the trans/rec. I will remount the green LED in the PRI spot for a trans/rec light. It will be on when I am in the transmit mode. The volume knob will mount in the antenna hole. The key and phone connectors will be in SQ and VOL spot. I am going to fill in the channel knob area and place the red LED there. I will use this as a battery indicator.

On the side of the radio where the PTT botton was I will instal the BNC and DC power connector. I will instal a new gasket kit, to keep everything dry. This may seem a little extream or over kill for a RockMite. But its something different.

73 Joe

The original enclosure will be a modified Bendix King radio case. I have 4 up and running BK's with clam shells and rechargable batteries. 3 are EPH models and 1 is a LPH series. I have 1 that is FUBAR and have it around for spare parts. I am going to take the case and modify it to house the RockMite. The main reason for this is to use the battery packs from the BK. I will still instal the stock DC connector. But this way the battery pack will have a easy way to connect to the radio, and the RockMite will share the same packs as the BK's to cut down on gear needed to pack for .

Hello Geek

You will have plenty to listen to on 3-30Mhz. Gather the frequencies used by your local clubs for emergency comms. That way when dial it in, you know about where the information is coming from. I dont know if you have one but a good scanner with external antenna would be good. You can program in your local channels and NOAA but also the Interoperability channels that DHS has chosen. You can download and print the frequency list. The download is at the bottom of the page.

http://www.dhs.gov/national-interoperability-field-operations-guide

73 Joe

I also ordered the connector kit.

This is what you get in the Rock-Mite 40M kit. Comes with basic instructions, you will need to go to small wonder labs and download a suplament.

.-.. --- .-..

Recieved a nice little envelope today.  :) Will post pics of the build as I go. Right now I have a crazy idea for a case and battery supply, I am working on that to see if it will work or not.

Welcome to the forum. The first rounds on you.  :D

Welcome Chris. This is a great forum !!! We are like minded people, My background is pretty close to yours. The KX1 looks like a great kit, it is one that is on my list, but aways down the list.

73 Joe

They offer the option to have them Rhino Lined, that takes care of the splatter, but adds 4 weeks to ship time. Or you can take the raw plates to a local bed liner shop and have them sprayed.

This might be to the extreme of some of your preps but I wanted to share. I had the chance to take a look at these plates compared to the SAPI plates, these are lighter and about the same size. I don't have a actual weight I was holding a carrier in one hand that had SAPI plates and one with these in it and it was noticeably lighter. Ballistic wise they are the same. Know for the nice part for the raw steal ones are $134.00 with out carrier, The SAPI plates run around $400.00.

Alot of the guys I know on the Sheriffs department are switching to these instead of the SAPI because of the price and more important the weight. They have carriers for these also you mat actually spend more on the carrier than the plates. Right know there is about a 3 week lead time on orders placed. I plan on ordering a set next month when the funds are available.

http://thetargetman.com/?product=ar500-armor-1-formed-and-1-flat-10x12-plate-set

73 Joe

Just received an email from Small Wonder Labs. The Rockmite is on its way. :) Can't wait to get started.