Hi Guys. Well, the demise of my "Loudmouth" caller left me with two options; spend in excess of $500. for a factory caller or make my own. I decided to make my own to suit my personal hunting needs and wants. The entire thing ended up costing me less than $250. and the sound is totally killer.I wanted remote control capability, excellent (20 to 2000 Hz) sound reproduction, ease of use, field chargable, multiple speaker capability, good range, easy to load sounds and performance reliability. After testing the unit today, I am thrilled with its performance. The sound is crisp, clear and full bodied. The volume potential is worlds better than I had imagined it would be. I chose a metal ammo can so that the sound would be better reproduced and it does the job. The inside of the box houses a high quality 35 Watt stereo speaker that is enclosed in its own area of the box for good speaker performance. The large external horn was desired for open desert calling where maximum sound is needed. The other section of the box houses the 20 Watt amplifier, 12-volt battery (1.2 AH), charging circuit, on-off switch, speaker selector switch (internal or external horn), wiring, etc.Here is a photo of the front of the call box and the external speaker that can be plugged into the main box, if desired.
The next photo shows the rear of the box with the receiver attached (magnets on rear of receiver) to the call box, antenna up. Also shown are the transmitter and MP3 player that changes the tunes and controls the volume. Since the receiver has magnets glued to the rear of it, it can be attached anywhere on the box.
The third picture shows all of the gear laid out. Also, all of the gear you see (with the exception of the horn speaker) stows neatly in the call box for travel. I also made a charge cord from an old cell phone car charger that stows in the box too. From right to left on the box are the following: System "on" LED, On-Off switch, charging port, wire feed plug to receiver, female external speaker receptacle and speaker select switch (internal or external).
The transmitter and receiver are a NADY 351 system, used by video photographers for remote microphones. They offer full fidelity and 300-meter range. I built a small 20-Watt amplifier that operates on 12 to 18 volts DC and the amp has only three legs; 12-volt power in, audio in, audio out. All you do is take the MP3 player and plug it into the transmitter (powered by a 9-volt battery) and plug the receiver (powered by a 9-volt battery) into the audio in port of the small amplifier. The audio "out" circuit from the amplifier is fed to your speaker or speaker switch. That small amp kicks butt and really pumps out the sound. I can't wait to try this little beauty out in the field. By the way....Weasel, your Loudmouth caller (parts kit) is on the way.
