I have been using LOR and D-Light controllers for the past 3 years. This year I decided to go the DIY route due to the cost of controllers and extension cords (oh and I also love building things). I built a Helix controller, one 32 channel SSR daughter card, one standard daughter card and 16 SSREZs for this year. I also switched from the Mobile Black Box FM transmitter to the Vastelec FM02 transmitter and built a dipole antenna from the wiki.
With all of the great people on this forum and the vast amount of information available, the assembly of the boards was very easy. It was a busy fall since I didn’t start any of this until September, but it was well worth it. I was able to double my channel count and add a mega tree to my display. Now that I am using DIY hardware I will be able to double my channel count again for 2011.
I would like to say thanks to Greg Bartlett for all of his hard work on the Helix. The Helix ran my display all season with no issues. I really love the stand alone ability of the Helix since my display is not at my house. I just plugged in the microSD card and the show ran flawlessly. Greg’s support is also excellent. He answered all of my questions fast and he also gave me a capacitor that was back ordered, so I could finish my Helix and get started testing it.
The Vastelec FM02 and dipole worked great. I got about two tenths of a mile out of it. It also sounds better than my Mobile Black Box transmitter.
I plan to build at least one more Helix and will do 2 displays for 2011.
Thanks again to everybody here on DIYC. This site is awesome!!!!
With all of the great people on this forum and the vast amount of information available, the assembly of the boards was very easy. It was a busy fall since I didn’t start any of this until September, but it was well worth it. I was able to double my channel count and add a mega tree to my display. Now that I am using DIY hardware I will be able to double my channel count again for 2011.
I would like to say thanks to Greg Bartlett for all of his hard work on the Helix. The Helix ran my display all season with no issues. I really love the stand alone ability of the Helix since my display is not at my house. I just plugged in the microSD card and the show ran flawlessly. Greg’s support is also excellent. He answered all of my questions fast and he also gave me a capacitor that was back ordered, so I could finish my Helix and get started testing it.
The Vastelec FM02 and dipole worked great. I got about two tenths of a mile out of it. It also sounds better than my Mobile Black Box transmitter.
I plan to build at least one more Helix and will do 2 displays for 2011.
Thanks again to everybody here on DIYC. This site is awesome!!!!
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