West Mountain Radio
| West Mountain Radio | |
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary of Custom Computer Services, Inc. (CCS) |
| Headquarters | Waukesha, Wisconsin |
| Earlier home | Norwalk, Connecticut |
| Ownership | Optim Engineering until 2010; CCS since 2010 |
| Amateur radio | |
| Known for | RIGblaster sound-card interfaces; RIGrunner DC power panels |
| Interfaces | RIGblaster DXpro, Advantage, Blue, Plug & Play, Nomic |
| Power products | RIGrunner, Super PWRgate, Epic PWRgate, PWRcheck+, DC-to-GO battery boxes |
| Other products | CBA computerized battery analyzer; ClearSpeech noise-reduction speakers |
| Today | |
| Status | Active |
| Website | westmountainradio.com |
West Mountain Radio is an American maker of amateur radio accessories, best known for its RIGblaster line of digital mode interfaces and its RIGrunner DC power distribution panels. Originally based in Norwalk, Connecticut, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Custom Computer Services, Inc. (CCS) since 2010 and operates from Waukesha, Wisconsin. Its products cover connecting radios to computers, distributing and backing up 12-volt DC power, testing batteries and reducing noise in receive audio. The company was active as of 2026.
History
The company's first widely known product was the RIGblaster, a box that connects a radio's microphone and speaker lines to a computer's sound card, so that software can send and receive digital modes such as PSK31, RTTY and packet. It also lets the computer key the transmitter. QST, the ARRL journal, reviewed the RIGblaster in October 2000. A RIGblaster Plus was introduced at the 2001 Dayton Hamvention, and CQ magazine reviewed both models in January 2002, when the company was located in Norwalk.
By 2002 West Mountain Radio also sold the RIGrunner, a panel of individually fused outlets with Anderson Powerpole connectors that lets one 12-volt supply feed several radios and accessories; see Power supplies. That year it added the smaller RIGrunner 4005 and 4008, with five and eight outlets. Its newsletters of the period were signed by a small staff of hams, and in 2002 it described itself as an Optimaudio, Inc. company. It was later owned by Optim Engineering. In 2006 the company became the principal sponsor of plaques for the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest.
In November 2010 West Mountain Radio announced that it had become a wholly owned subsidiary of CCS, with its address in Waukesha, and that existing warranties would be honored.
Amateur radio products
- RIGblaster interfaces. As of 2026 the range included the DXpro, which can serve two radios; the Advantage, with a built-in USB sound card and rig control; the Blue, which connects to the computer over Bluetooth; the Plug & Play, which uses the computer's own sound card and works only with particular radio models; and the Nomic, a basic sound-card interface whose name comes from "no mic," because it takes the place of the radio's microphone. Every model except the Nomic also handles CAT (computer aided transceiver) control of frequency and mode, and the DXpro, Advantage and Plug & Play can key CW directly.
- RIGrunner power panels such as the 4005, 4007U, 4008 and 4012, which distribute 13.8 volts DC through Powerpole outlets.
- Backup power. The Super PWRgate PG40S and the Epic PWRgate are uninterruptible power systems for 12-volt stations. They pass up to 40 amps from a power supply, switch to a battery without interruption if the supply fails and keep the battery charged. The Epic PWRgate also works with lithium batteries and accepts solar input. Such systems are used where a station must keep running through a power failure, as in emergency communications.
- Other DC products: the PWRcheck+ monitor, which measures voltage and current and logs them to a computer over USB; the PWRguard Plus, which cuts power if the voltage rises above 15 volts; the ISOpwr+ isolator for an auxiliary battery in a vehicle, used in mobile installations; the N8XJK Super Booster, which raises a sagging battery voltage to a usable level for transmitting; and DC-to-GO battery boxes with a RIGrunner and, in some versions, a PWRgate built in.
- Battery analyzers. The CBA, now in version V, is a computerized analyzer for testing batteries of nearly any type and size.
- Audio. The CLRspkr and COMspkr speakers use the company's ClearSpeech adaptive algorithm to reduce hum, hiss, ignition and power-line noise in receive audio; see Noise blanker and noise reduction.
- Accessories, including Powerpole cables and crimping tools, an RFI suppression kit (see Radio frequency interference) and a controller for screwdriver-style mobile antennas.