Topic: Need help building a meter for a UA-5

[Swampy]

Hey. So I got the kit that Nick has on his website (www.nickspicks.com) But I still need help on a few things... First off, could I just buy a cable like this: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F007%5F002%5F003%5F006&product%5Fid=42%2D3501 And hack off one end, strip the cables and solder thoes to the contacts? I see nick has somthing soldered to the ground, would I have to get wires I can ground? Also, if Im using an Altoids can to put this all in, to mount it, would I have to elivate it so the circut board isnt touching the bottom? THANKS FOR ANY HELP!

[Swampy]

Anyone know where Nick is? I sent him an email last week...

[radioboy1977]

didn't his wife just have a baby or something?

also, if the cable you posted would work, don't waste the 13 bucks on it.  i've got several lying around you're more than welcome to have.

[caymanreview]

didn't his wife just have a baby or something?

he just sold his rig right?

[Swampy]

didn't his wife just have a baby or something?

also, if the cable you posted would work, don't waste the 13 bucks on it.  i've got several lying around you're more than welcome to have.

Ahhh.

I have a TON of cables to hack, I just went to rs.com and found one really quick. THANKS though!

[Sterling]

Its really pretty easy. I'm all thumbs and mine works like a charm. Let me know if ya need any help.
Sterling

[bluegrass_brad]

The project boxes at radio shack are really cheap (like $5 cheap) and they have one that is the perfect size for this.  You would be better off using one of those instead of the altoids tin.

[rowjimmytour]

I tried this kit and got all the stuff from Rat Shack and it turned out any thing but smooth. I swallowed the time and cash I spent and bought myself a SVU-1. Much better!!! especially if you are using a NJB3.
Oh by the way I am above average on soldering and home makin'. I pulled off makin' XLR's cables w/ right angle plugs(toughest so far), made my UA-5 ratshack cable for R/C power, and made a SLA cable to run my NJB3. Good Luck!!!
Peace

[Swampy]

Hey all. so I built my meter tonight, and as far as I can tell it works great! It was a pain in the ass trying to solder the wires to thoes vertical poles, and their pretty sloppy, so Im praying they'll stay put... Anyhoo, the BIG question, how to you calibrate the meter to the UA-5? (I know about tuning the little pots on the meter) The UA5's peak meters are -3 right? Is that what the second red light on the meter are? Is there a scientific way to do this? Maybe play white nose through it or somthing??? HELP! THANKS!

[Swampy]

beauler?

[dnsacks]

I think you've got it -- hook up the rig and set the first of the 2 red lights to come on when the red light on the ua5 comes on --- THis should get you roughly dialed in -- if you had another device that showed better levels (i.e. could hook the rig up to a computer for testing or temporarily add a dat deck to the chain for its levels) you could try to better synch everything up using their levels.  I'd feel more comfortable setting this up if I could see EXACTLY when digital overs (instead of -3db) kicks.  If not, I'd set it so the bottom red light comes on whenever the ua5's led "flickers" and the top red light comes on whenever the ua5's led does more than flicker.

[hhf32]

Alex...what are you running the meter from the JB3 or the ua5? I tried going out of the JB3 and could only get 2 lights on the meter. When I ran it from the UA5 rca's I got good levels.

[Swampy]

UA-5... Its pretty worthless meter IMO. Its not a whole lot different than just using the -3 light on the UA-5. It almost seems like 0, -3, -4, -5, -6 I guess its better than nothing though...

[bagtagsell]

I thought I calibarted my meter once, but then I taped. "Clap clap, Distort, peaking, unlistinable noise, clap clap."  Whole time meter said I was gold. 

[dklein]

I thought I calibarted my meter once, but then I taped. "Clap clap, Distort, peaking, unlistinable noise, clap clap."  Whole time meter said I was gold. 

There are some catches to driving the meter from the analog out of a digi-mod UA-5...or an analog patch for that matter!

The monitor button (on/off), volume and output level will affect your meter levels.  Once you calibrate you can't change these.  I'd suggest calibrating at full output levels so you don't have to remember where the knob was and so that any errors will leave you under 0 dB instead of clipping.

The monitor button MUST be off if you're patching analog or taking the analog signal for recording on a digi-mod UA-5.  Otherwise you actually end up monitoring the signal thru 2 different paths with different delay and it sounds like crap (try it).  The digi-mod jumps the signal over and the d>a used in monitoring gets a double dose if the monitor button is on (you'll find it monitors with or without that button on a digi-mod).

The only reason I recommend calibrating with monitor on is because that's how the UA-5 powers up by default and you don't want to have to remember to turn it off.