Today I added a Behringer MiniMon mixer to my shack. First off, for the price, it is a great addition to my station. The minion, which I picked up for 40 dollars allows me to mix four audio sources into my headphone to allow me to monitor my IC-7000 and the PCR-1000 at the same time. My idea was I could feed the receiver into one ear and the transceiver into the other. It works! If I need both ears for either one, I can easily turn off a source and I'm in business.

I looked into some more expensive rack mounted mixers such as the Rane SM-26 but I could find a complete one for under 100 dollars and I was getting impatient. I think new, they go for 200 to 400 dollars and I wasn't willing to drop that much money into this project.

There are a couple of drawbacks I have noticed with this mixer:

1. The lack of a grounding terminal. I haven't noticed any additional noise in signals received so it is not a big concern at this time. I will see how it handles when transmitting and that will push the grounding issue if it comes into play.

2. No way to adjust the signal strength from the sources on the monitor front panel. I knew this when I bought it and considering that 90% of the time I operate my transceiver and receiver via computer interface, all my volume controls are just a couple of mouse clicks away.

With the option to continue using this mixer as my shack grows, I look forward to using this device for years to come. It meets the needs and then some for the time being.

Coming projects... I plan on putting a VHF/UHF antenna in the attic for the shack. I have yet to use these bands on the IC-7000 and would enjoy to have the same capability I have with my HT when on the move. I'm think about putting in a tri-band whip like I have in the truck in the attic, but a directional is an option too.

until next time 73s,
KB3OQY