At our range we use a battery powered portable loudspeaker "bullhorn" for range commands etc. We dont seem to be able to get one that will last. Over the last 5-6 years we have bought 3 of them, 2 from Radio Shack and one from Amazon, all Chinese pieces of junk, they last a year and half or so and go belly up. At 75-100 bucks a pop, it is getting tiresome.

Does anyone here have personal experience with these things and know what we should buy or be looking at?

Thanks

jnyork wrote:At our range we use a battery powered portable loudspeaker "bullhorn" for range commands etc. We dont seem to be able to get one that will last. Over the last 5-6 years we have bought 3 of them, 2 from Radio Shack and one from Amazon, all Chinese pieces of junk, they last a year and half or so and go belly up. At 75-100 bucks a pop, it is getting tiresome.

Does anyone here have personal experience with these things and know what we should buy or be looking at?

Thanks

Not much luck with the portables either. What we did was run power to the range and mounted outdoor speakers, covered the opening with panty hose in the rafters to keep the birds and critters out and got the Radio Shack amp and mike set up and was done with it. If you have power you could also make it portable and not leave it at the range if your range is prone to vandalism.

Hey Jerry, I have been using one of these for HP for the last seven years. Mine is the THUN-100 (now discontinued) but uses 6 C batteries. Probably is a Chinese made one but still works great. It was about 60 bucks when I bought it. The siren feature is nice for rousting up the nappers between matches. It is also Bant proof if you know what I mean. The THUN-120 is the same size as mine but uses 8 AA batteries.
http://www.thunderpowermegaphones.com/

I think the best loudspeaker for the money is a model named "Tom Bant".

Or is that a loud speaker versus a loudspeaker?

Seriously, if you want someone to call a match and have everyone hear it, just have ol' Tom show up!

McAlice and that damn siren, I thought Bonner was going to hide that dang thing last year!

I was having fun with that siren that weekend. The senior couple were rocking their trailer while I called up the first relay. Oneil was always falling asleep waiting for his turn to shoot, just like at all the matches we go to together. That live in young sweet thing has got to go. We can't have Oneil falling asleep on the line holding his rifle. Might have an AD or skip shot.

I've had good luck with the Fender Passport 150 and a wireless microphone, it takes a bit more effort to setup than using a bull horn but i believe it's worth the effort. Fender makes an inverter that allows direct connection to a car battery to power the unit. The wireless microphone lays in my shooting tray beside my gun. We used to use a bull horn, a pain I don't miss.

Bob Mc Alice wrote:Hey Jerry, I have been using one of these for HP for the last seven years. Mine is the THUN-100 (now discontinued) but uses 6 C batteries. Probably is a Chinese made one but still works great. It was about 60 bucks when I bought it. The siren feature is nice for rousting up the nappers between matches. It is also Bant proof if you know what I mean. The THUN-120 is the same size as mine but uses 8 AA batteries.
http://www.thunderpowermegaphones.com/

Thanks, Bob, the THUN is what we have now, crapped out less than 2 years old. We are looking into some wireless setups with 3 or 4 speakers, our firing line is quite long, not even T. Bant can run it by voice alone!