Opinions of home made e-caller anyone?

B

BruceB

New member
How does the home made e-caller detailed on this site compare to the production e-callers in sound quality and usability? I have the knowledge and ability and the money to build a nice caller but I am having a very hard time convincing myself that a production one is worth what they are asking.
Bruce
 
My opinion. BUILD YOUR OWN. Mine will do everything and more than the $400 to $500 dollar production callers will do. AND the remote is DEPENDABLE !! NO waving the transmitter around in the air like a madman trying to get the caller to respond to what I want it to do. I will admit, I've got about $240 invested in mine (and alot of time), but I'm very happy with it. NOT so happy with a production caller I paid over $400 for. But I got caught up in all the hype and had to try it. You know how that goes.
 
The ecaller I built only compairs to one like it that's in production, and that's the Fox Pro Sno-Cro. Biggest difference is mind uses CDs and theirs is digital. I've got $130 in mine compaired to somewhere around $600 for theirs, and mine has served me well. Looking to have my digital light weight unit built very soon, and have around $250 in the hole thing, v/s a compairable FX3 at $500. And nicities like being able to fix things yourself is a huge plus.

Nick T
 
One I build doesn't have plans. Just hooked up a car CD player and jacked the outputs so I could run up to 3 20Watt horns at one time, and powered the whole thing with a lawnmower battery. It's housed in one of those green ammo cans that ya get at Walmart. Really very simple to put together. I'm a crow hunter so volume is everything, and this pup's got it.

Nick T
 
Built 2 remote control units so far, have about $150 in each, maybe 4 or 5 hours each to put them together. Would put them up against any of those $400-$500 units. Get about 100yds out of them, thats plenty far for me. Like the flexibility of the MP3 / CD player too.

Click here to see what the insides look like.

370451.JPG
 
Quote:
My opinion. BUILD YOUR OWN. Mine will do everything and more than the $400 to $500 dollar production callers will do. AND the remote is DEPENDABLE !! NO waving the transmitter around in the air



What do you use for a remote if you don't mind my asking.
 
Dropthehammer where did you get all your materials from?
and you say you have $150 in each,,,you made 2 of these?
and does the $150 include the remote too?
And how far from the Ohio border are you?
Thank You
Ohiobob
 
I've been using my homemade caller for quite a few years now. I upgraded it over the years with a new speaker and a new mp3 player. I've still got a horn speaker and housing for it also, so it's available if I want to use it. I put the speaker/receiver into a housing to keep them out of the elements. It works well and I'm very pleased with it. The new factory calls are very nice though.
Here's my speaker/receiver unit. The strap is for hanging/carrying and the antenna is in the rear and is extended. I normally have a cover over the speaker to protect it, but it was removed for the picture. MI VHNTR


Caller.jpg
 
I built one exactly like yours and arkanaselk hunter. I'm having trouble with hissing using the radioshack amp. Any suggestions how to get rid of this? Hissing is absent when speaker pluged directly into reciever unit.

Thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Are you using the Radio Shack Amplifier? If so did you put the isolation transformer inline with the battery power to the amp? Red to batt +, Yellow to amp +, Black to batt -. white to amp -. AEH said he had some feedback problems without this transformer. I just took his word for it & installed it from the get-go. The only hissing sound I had a problem with was coming out of my crappy Rio600 MP3 player. I plugged a higher quality Sandisk Sansa e130 MP3 player into it, and also tried a portable CD player and it is silence between calls.
 
Quote:
Dropthehammer where did you get all your materials from?


Cost of Goods for homebrew e-caller:

[*]Energizer Outfitter flashlight (discontinued, ebay) $16.99
[*]Audio Isolation Transformer - Radio Shack #273-1374 $3.99
[*]Red LED w/ integrated resistor - Radio Shack #276-270 $1.99
[*]Pocket Speaker/Amplifier - Radio Shack #277-1008 - $12.99 - Alternative : Vellman VK4001 7W Mono Amplifier Kit ($9.99)
[*]4 AA Battery holder (to repackage audio amp in) - Radio Shack #270-409 $1.89 (Not needed for Vellman 7W AMP - use a Carlon Electrical Box instead.)
[*] Nady 151 VRLT Wireless Mic - at Buy.com - $79.99 - or - Nady 351 VRLT - $109.99 + 9.95 shipping
[*] 9.6V 1600mAH RC Battery pack & Charger - Radio Shack #230-0432 $24.99 - or better yet...
[*] 9.6V RC battery connector - Radio Shack #230-0445 - $2.99
[*] Speco SPC-5P 5" 12W PA Horn - Lashen Electronics - $8.42
[/list]

Total: ~$154.24 (not including shipping and taxes) (This was the cost of the first one built with the Nady 151 VRLT. Second cost a little less with the used 351 and Vellman amp.)

Quote:
and you say you have $150 in each,,,you made 2 of these?


I have made 2 to date. First one was for my dad, 2nd for me. I have another flashlight, speaker, amp but no Nady yet to build one for a buddy as well.

Quote:
and does the $150 include the remote too?


$150 includes the remote assuming it is the Nady 151 VRLT wireless mic set which I purchased for $80. The Nady 351 VRLT I picked up used on this site for $70.

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And how far from the Ohio border are you?



About 30-40 minutes.
 
My caller is also hissing (static). I've identified the source of this hissing, and its from the receiver part of my wireless mic. I'm using a radio shack wireless mic, not a NADY.

Can a isolation transformer help me? Where whould I mount it? I'm using two 6vdc lantern batteries wired in series to get the 12v I need to run the mic. Whould the isolation transformer go between the lantern batteries and the mic's receiver? ----That would mean the batteries can be a source of the static, correct?----- Please help
 
Partagas, I used a 4" to 3" adapter to hold the speaker, a 5 " piece of 3" ABS pipe for the body of the housing and a 3" cleanout cover for the endcap. The adapter is glued to the section of pipe and the endcap slips on/off. I put silicone sealer on the glued joint to ensure a waterproof seal. The wires run from the speaker and are plugged into an Azden wireless receiver, which is in the back of the pipe section.The speaker is a cone type speaker from:
http://www.parts-express.com The part number is 264-812. They run around $17 or so. I use a Rio Forge mp3 player (256 mb) for a sound source, a 6 foot Radio Shack stereo to stereo cable is plugged into an Azden wireless transmitter. I do not use an amplifier in this setup, since it's plenty loud for calling here. It's light, easy to use and hangs nicely in a tree or bush. MI VHNTR
 
Dropthehammer
You have 2 rechargable batteries. one runs the amp and one runs the reciever. Is that how you have that. I have noticed my reciever runs out of juice pretty quick with just the 9 volt.
 
The two rechargeable batteries are wired in parallel, the rcvr and amp both run off the same power rail. I usually just run with one power pack but have the second connector there to give the option of the second pack / double life. Just make sure the two batteries are equally charged when doing this.
 
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