1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

An/Grc-9

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by metarinka, 5 Nov 2003.

  1. metarinka

    metarinka What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Feb 2003
    Posts:
    1,844
    Likes Received:
    3
    Hello all, this is my 1st project log so bear wid me! This project is currently just the model number, but I'm probably gonna name the box Angry nine as the model kinda already says that anyway lets start this!
    I was inspired by mashie's anenome when I first found bit-tech, I liked the antique radio look, but I wanted more then just 2 buttons, so i started looking for military radios I've been searching intermintently for the past few months and finally I happened upon this unit and I had the $$ You might think this is a copy or repeat of zap's lan ammo case. I thought of building this case before zap's project was started. I respect his electrical knowledge and Will probably wire up a lot of my connectors similarly. My goal is a total stealth, so from the front when you see this you wouldn't suspect a computer was in it. With that said lets take a look.

    The System: cost ~700$
    mobo: Epox 8kra2+
    Cpu: AMD 3000Xp 400 fsb
    Ram: corsair xms, ddr pc 3200
    video card: Ge-force 4-ti4600
    Hdd: 2 western Digital raptors sata, in Raid 0
    sound card: Sound Blaster 5.1 Audigy X-gamer
    psu: Vantec trupower 430W
    various other un important parts....
    I built this system just a short while ago, I had the vid card from my old gaming rig, along with the cd drives mouse monitor etc, Overall ive been very happy with the performance of the raptors and the processor [​IMG] As you can see, its currently runing on top of the mobo box, with the case fan propped on a towel on top of my scanner, I dont have a temporary case, so this has been working.

    Your probably not interested in fairly standard gaming machine, heres the start of the case...
    [​IMG]
    INtroducing *drum roll* the An/grc-9 a WWII era transciever, used by allies from the later 40's until its retirment in the 50's It was either mounted in a jeep or carried by backpack, and needed a seperate power supply the Dy-88
    [​IMG]
    here it is with the protective cover removed (this is a picture from another site, my front pic came out bad) Isn't in beautiful, I saw the modding potential in this particular model and when a "not quite" working unit on ebay I snatched it up for about the price of high end comp case. Starting at the top left you can see, 2 twist down clamps, from my understanding used to connect a whip antenna for recieving and sending, this operates like modern twist down audio connectors, and I'll probably use them as a test bed to test LEd's etc, next is a huge rotary switch, with about 4 connectors for each posistion, it can be used to switch anything, It will probaby be the hub of my lighting though, next is a center indicator This is a variable voltage bulb thats normally used for signal strength purposes, I'm gonna use it for hdd act, lan act, cd act, etc. next another rotary switch, not sure what to do with it. In the middle is a chart with freq, tunning info, suspiciously its about the size of a 4X20 lcd of vfd :D Below 3 more rotary switches, and slotted screws to tune the oscillators (no clue what to do, might use them as fan bus)
    [​IMG]
    here in this closeup we can see a lil more detail on the top portion, Theres a 9 pin Male power connector, a 4 pin battery connector (hey isn't that how many pins a standar molex has... this will come into use further into the project) 2 1/4 inch female jacks labeled "Key" and "Mike" (hmm, I wonder what i could use these for, I'll hook my old ps2 keyboard, and my old microphone here) a a lil screwed on chart that lets you label the crystal information (its 50 mm) I might mount a 40 mm fan behind it and stealth it. Theres a freq control knob that could be used as a potted resistor, a momentary switch called "dial light" could be used for lighting or reset button, And a small "window" that has a a analog freq tuning wheel behind it, its slowly cycles through the frequencies, I'm probably gonna make this a "window" or put the 7 seg display my mobo has behind it, Wow this is turning out to be a big project...

    [​IMG]
    the bottom, which houses the reciever, you can see another twist down connector for a recieving antenna, another momentary switch dial light, a very small window for seeing the frequency, Another momentary switch which cycles through differnet recieving modes, 2 jacks labled phones (one will be for headphones, the other prolly connect my usb mouse or rj45) Finally the bottom row with another rotary switch, the tuning wheel. And some tunning knobs which my be left unused or put to use to turn various things on/off.
    this is a big project but It will probably be worked on a few hrs each week, I'm going to show this unit to my grandfather who was in WWII before I gut this piece of history.

    Question's comments are definately welcomed, or suggestions for what to do with the mass of rotary swtiches
     
    Last edited: 9 May 2004
  2. metarinka

    metarinka What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Feb 2003
    Posts:
    1,844
    Likes Received:
    3
    I'll upload some more pics of the start of the mounting process tommorrow, Until Then you any comments or impressions of the project are more then welcome
     
  3. G-gnome

    G-gnome Peter Dickison

    Joined:
    8 May 2003
    Posts:
    795
    Likes Received:
    3
    Nice radio dude!

    I removed the duplicate thread from the project logs.

    Hope to see some work on the case posted in the next day or so. Don't forget - it's not a project log by bit-tech definitions until you have done some actual modding work (see the 'Read BEFORE posting' sticky). :) If not then we'll have to move it to modding until the project is properly underway. As an example, you'll often find folks (myself included) who'll have been working on a project for weeks/months before posting up their work-log.


    Look forward to seeing what you come up with. Nice idea and loads of potential! :thumb: :)
     
  4. metarinka

    metarinka What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Feb 2003
    Posts:
    1,844
    Likes Received:
    3
    sorry about that g-gnome, I already started working on but to make sure my pic's don't deplete I was just posting in stages. I'll add some pics of work tommorrow
     
  5. iStormy

    iStormy What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    5 Nov 2003
    Posts:
    20
    Likes Received:
    0
    That's a fabulous radio.
     
  6. Colonel Sanders

    Colonel Sanders Minimodder

    Joined:
    25 Jun 2002
    Posts:
    1,210
    Likes Received:
    4
    Re: An/Grc-9 WWII radio gone wild!

    You could have a back-pack PC for LAN parties. :)

    L J
     
  7. metarinka

    metarinka What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Feb 2003
    Posts:
    1,844
    Likes Received:
    3
    woah never thought of that, thanx logan! I'll try to find one of the original canvas bags
     
  8. ynema

    ynema What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    27 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    153
    Likes Received:
    0
    Well if you make it look good that's be an original mod but be careful it'd be a pity to wreck the thing.
    Looking forward to see what you do with it.
     
  9. Plasma

    Plasma What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    7 Nov 2002
    Posts:
    144
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm really excited to see how this turns out. Kinda got a love for military gear when Zap worked out his LAN pc.

    Good luck!
     
  10. metarinka

    metarinka What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Feb 2003
    Posts:
    1,844
    Likes Received:
    3
    Mounting the mobo::
    I started the mounting process a few days ago, I'm gonna finish I should have the mobo and psu mounted tommorrow [​IMG] This case isn't particularily big, I got the measurments before I bought it, I knew i wasn't going to have a lot of room, but I didn't think it was this small... thats a 12" ruler, the top compart ment is about 11"x10x5, the bottom being 4"x10"x5" This thing only gives me 5 inches of depth, the top of my graphics card comes in at about 4.5, a standard atx mobo is about 12x9.5 so I have a half inch to work with the connectors, I'm probably gonna end up soldering alot as not even right angle connectors fit. [​IMG] Heres the inards of the radio, you can see the old tubes, and the large rotary switch on the top right, as you can see its packed full, all of that has to be dismantled and most likely sold on ebay.

    [​IMG]
    sorry for the blurry pic, I already knew this was going to happen, the 2 compartments are segmented by a plate of 1/4'th inch steel, Some creative dremeling should take care of it.
    [​IMG]
    Originally I planned to have the psu mounted in that orientation in the lower compartment, but its about a quarter inch too high. thats just a test psu and the one I plan on using is shorter, but the mobo is longer then I realized and i'm going to have to orient it normally above all the pci slots (I only use one) anyways psu and mobo mounting should be done by the weekend.

    wait! where are the drives gonna go? what about cooling...
    soon........
     
  11. Colonel Sanders

    Colonel Sanders Minimodder

    Joined:
    25 Jun 2002
    Posts:
    1,210
    Likes Received:
    4
    I think the best solution will be a microATX MB and a 1U PSU, more expenisve, but in the end it will be worth it. Could even use a laptop HDD or two, and a slim-line DVD-ROM or CD burner.

    L J
     
  12. Cowinacape

    Cowinacape What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    26 May 2003
    Posts:
    206
    Likes Received:
    0
    That radio is an awesome find! I can't wait to see some updates of how you transform this into a case.

    Looking at this "portable" radio, I can't imagine having to carry it in the field all day, looks like it would of been a real back breaker after a while.
     
  13. STellY

    STellY What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    24 Aug 2003
    Posts:
    290
    Likes Received:
    0
    radio def. is an awesome find man... looks like an interesting project...

    now i disagree about the microATX motherboard.... i would want to keep normal ATX into this... better performance, (though i know you arent recommending an ITX board, just saying)

    now what i would do, is go on ebay and find a 1U PSU or something.... it will give you a lot more room...

    then i would see if you like any of the slim laptop drives, i would buy one of those as well...

    and the HDD you could go either way... i would try my best to go normal 3.5" cuz its much faster of course...

    looks good... if you pull off this project well it could be VERY nice...
     
  14. MaxWiz

    MaxWiz What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    1 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    57
    Likes Received:
    1
    I'm loving this already!

    I know you've got the hardware, so this is probably an empty suggestion, but hey...

    How about a top of the range flex-atx mobo (eg Shuttle SN45G a 7"x9" nForce2 400 ultra mobo & a 200W 1U psu for $280). Could offset some of the $280! by selling off the shuttle case and your old mobo & psu?

    I bet you could get everything in the top and have room to squeeze w/c in the bottom :blah:

    I think your gunna struggle getting full atx in there, but maybe you already know that ;)

    Max
     
  15. A13n0rma1

    A13n0rma1 Wannabe

    Joined:
    17 Jul 2003
    Posts:
    830
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm gonna have to put my vote up for MicroATX... look at ZapWizards Ammo Case PC, that had mATX inside.

    A lot of the more recent mATX mobos have kept performance up with their full-sized brothers, at the sacrifice of such things as ATA raid.. which won't fit in there anyway.. :D
     
  16. mrplow

    mrplow obey the fist!!

    Joined:
    5 Sep 2001
    Posts:
    2,615
    Likes Received:
    47
    That poor beautiful radio, how can you rip that to pieces?!


    :jawdrop:
     
  17. Colonel Sanders

    Colonel Sanders Minimodder

    Joined:
    25 Jun 2002
    Posts:
    1,210
    Likes Received:
    4
    Didn't know full-size boards had any preformance advantages, besides haveing more PCI slots. But with decent sound(even 6-ch), USB, RAID, and LAN all on the MB now, I personally don't see much reason to use a full board where space is limited.

    I will agree that some of the very little boards, like what are in the shuttle mini-pc cases might lag in preformance, but so long as you have the same chips space shouldn't matter(except for cooling :rolleyes: )

    L J
     
  18. Shadowspawn

    Shadowspawn Another hated American.

    Joined:
    1 Jul 2002
    Posts:
    1,867
    Likes Received:
    0
    An item like this will give you the much needed few inches.
     
  19. metarinka

    metarinka What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Feb 2003
    Posts:
    1,844
    Likes Received:
    3
    yah I considered flexatx and Micro atx boards. I even asked for suggestions on the motherboards.org forums, Not wanting to sacrifice performance for a smaller board ( the board will fit, i'll just have to solder some of the connections perpendicular to their respective boards) I decided a normal Atx was the best solution, also currently the only hard drives for the machine are 2 western digital sata raptors and most flex or micro boards dont even have sata let alone sata RAID. I was a little criptic in my last post but I've thought out the layout pretty hard, and I haven't hit any major snags yet, the psu mounting issue being a minor one. Soon my fellow bit-techers the mounting problems should dissapear....
     
  20. DRxAndy

    DRxAndy What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    6 Mar 2003
    Posts:
    337
    Likes Received:
    0
    awesome start!
    the radio is really cool, and the idea of the backpack makes it even better!
    good luck, i'll be keeping my eye out for updates :D
     

Share This Page