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For the past couple of years, dual monitors have been used on the main
computer. Dual monitors are very useful when you want to display lots of data
for a RTTY contest. The latest configuration uses two Dell 2001FP 20" flat
panel LCD monitors. The monitors come with a stand that allows the adjustment
of the height of the monitor. The photo on the left shows a stock
monitor. Click on the image for a more detailed view.
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For my application, the monitors had to be mounted inside the existing radio
console so the first thing was to shorten the height of the stands by 3 inches.
The shorting of the stands turned out to be quite a mechanical project. The
modified stands were painted a flat black color to de-emphasize their original
silver color and blend in with the station. Like most of my projects there were
plenty of left over parts.
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The native resolution of the new monitors was 1600 by 1200 and the existing
video card supported that resolution. However the existing video card used the
older style analog VGA connectors and driving the monitors at full resolution
using VGA caused a slight deterioration in the quality of the video. The
monitors also supported the newer DVI connectors so, upgrading the video
adapter card to a Matrox Millennium P750 that supported dual DVI connectors got
the video back to a very high quality. A close-up view of the dual monitors is
shown on the left. Don't worry about the extra blue spaces on the right monitor
screen; there are plans in the works to fill that up.
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The dual monitors and radios ready to go. CQ contest...
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A wide-angle view of the AB5K station. The monitors support four video inputs
of: Analog RGB(VGA), Digital DVI-D TMDS, S-Video, Composite Video. The Digital
DVI-D TMDS is used for the dual monitors but the Analog RGB(VGA) is used and
connected to two other computers in the shack. The switching between video
connectors is done on the front of the monitor.
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