Homebuilt electronic caller

Brad Taylor (NC)

Brad Taylor (NC)

Well-known member
Built one last year but really didn't like the final product. Tidied things up this year and used pretty much the same guts. Except switched to a smaller sealed lead acid battery vs. a lawnmower battery. Also went from banana plugs on the speakers to a simpler more effective setup with regular outlet plugs and a weatherproof receptacle. I've got a 6' mini stereo jack that plugs into the ipod. Ohhh, I can't wait for resident goose season!

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The guts: 8ah 12v battery and a 400 watt Walmart special amp.
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2 100watt outdoor loudspeakers via radioshack and 100' of lamp cord on each.
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Simply plug them in and you're good to go.
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It will deafen you if you stand in front of them. That being said, I've got less than $150 in the whole setup. Granted I had a few things on hand and the box is a modified Dewalt drill box. Obviously I already owned the Ipod.

Brad
 
You can use electronics for resident Canadas? Didn't know they allowed that anyplace.
Looks like a well set up system. Might be a little heavy to carry around for coyotes out here. :)

Tim
 
You can use electronics for resident Canadas? Didn't know they allowed that anyplace.
Looks like a well set up system. Might be a little heavy to carry around for coyotes out here. :)

Tim
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Yep during our resident season, you can use e-callers, unplugged shotguns and shoot 30 minutes past sunset. Limit is 15 per day :)

Brad
 
Wow, sweet set-up. I guess the resident goose hunt is another good reason for my relocating to NC (at least for the winter months). When is the resident goose season there?
 
Wow, sweet set-up. I guess the resident goose hunt is another good reason for my relocating to NC (at least for the winter months). When is the resident goose season there?
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Thanks Bill. Pretty much the month of September and it only applies to the the area of the state west of HWY 17.

Brad
 
NJ has the same regs for Sept 1st through the 30th. We have way too many around here. Kids can't go to the park without stepping in some goose droopings.
 
You can use electronics for resident Canadas? Didn't know they allowed that anyplace.
Looks like a well set up system. Might be a little heavy to carry around for coyotes out here. :)

Tim
Click to expand...

What? Oh sure, i leave and they open things up......when did they do that?

Yep during our resident season, you can use e-callers, unplugged shotguns and shoot 30 minutes past sunset. Limit is 15 per day :)

Brad
Click to expand...
 
Hi Brad,

This looks like a very functional and inexpensive set-up. We can use e-callers here in Canada for Snows. I'd be interested in the details of how you went about making it, parts required etc.... and where you got the files for your Ipod.

Tks, Dean.
 
You can use electronics for resident Canadas? Didn't know they allowed that anyplace.
Looks like a well set up system. Might be a little heavy to carry around for coyotes out here. :)

Tim
Click to expand...

What? Oh sure, i leave and they open things up......when did they do that?

Yep during our resident season, you can use e-callers, unplugged shotguns and shoot 30 minutes past sunset. Limit is 15 per day :)

Brad
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


I think 3 years ago was the first time.

Brad
 
Hi Brad,

This looks like a very functional and inexpensive set-up. We can use e-callers here in Canada for Snows. I'd be interested in the details of how you went about making it, parts required etc.... and where you got the files for your Ipod.

Tks, Dean.
Click to expand...


Dean it is pretty inexpensive, even if you had to buy all the parts outright. I had quite a few of them laying around here. I've got to run some errands, but I'll post some details when I get back.

Brad
 
Hi Brad,

This looks like a very functional and inexpensive set-up. We can use e-callers here in Canada for Snows. I'd be interested in the details of how you went about making it, parts required etc.... and where you got the files for your Ipod.

Tks, Dean.
Click to expand...


Dean.

You will need a an amp, I used a fairly inexpensive 400 watt 2 channel amp.
A rechargeable battery. I would suggest if you are going to use it for snows where it will be running for several hours in the morning using a true deep cycle battery, as the amp is going to pull some power running 2 100w speakers.
A switch for the amp and wire to run everything.
A 120v household recepticle for the speakers.
Enough lamp cord or speaker wire for the distance you'd like to run your speakers into the spread. I used a 100' for each.
2 plugs (assuming 2 speakers) for plugging into the recepticle.
An mp3 player
RCA jacks to mini headset male plug adaptor (Radio Shack has these). This will plug into the RCA jacks on the amp and go to the ipod. I got one with a 6' cord.

After that, its just a matter of finding a box that will fit everything. If you go with a deep cycle, you could simply have some clamps coming out of the side of the box to clip the battery to.

I'm going to have to see how long the little 8ah sealed lead acid battery I have will last this year. In past years, I used a lawnmower battery which worked fine. Granted it probably didn't run for more than 30 minutes the whole morning. I figure I'll just carry an extra small battery this year for the first time or two until I know how long the battery life is.

As for the mp3's there are a wealth of them out there, just google snow geese sounds. If you find a short clip you like you can use Audacity (a free audio mixing program) to repeat it over and over again as to draw out the length. You can also use it to mix in other sounds. For instance with my goose mix there are all kinds of sounds. Feeding murmers in the background and a variety of other calls mixed in.

Brad
 
Good looking caller. I made a couple last year for hunting snows. They worked great and have been refined for this year. I went with an 18 amp hour battery. It might be overkill, but I didn't want to lose power when it counts. We ran 4 speakers per unit and used 50' of heavy duty pro grade speaker wire with 1/4" plugs. The plugs are easy to use and held up very well. They are also easy to intall in any plastic box. For this year I added on board chargers for the units, they are easy to install and make charging very easy. (no more opening up the unit, simply leave it on the shelf in the trailer and plug it in). Here's a parts list (with approximate costs).

Plastic ammo can/box $20-25
300 watt 4 channel amp $45-60
18 amp hour AGM battery $40-60
on board charger $35
4 quality speakers online $125
pro grade speaker wire w 1/4" plugs $60
inline fuse & switch $6-10
4 -1/4" jacks for speakers $8-10
1/8" jack for ipod $4
"N" size external power jack $4
3' power cord with "N" plug $6
Misc wire $6

Good Hunting,

Jason
 
I've been using a Milwaukee job site radio with a wire to my Android in the blind. One fully charged lithium-ion battery lasts all morning. I always take a spare, but haven't needed it. I'm sure it's not as loud as 2 or 3 100 watt speaker, but it's loud enough that I don't want to stand in front of it. Most of the place I'm hunting, I can hear the geese on their roosting waters from my blind in the field.
 
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