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Elijah1
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Posted: 6/26/2012 6:27:30 PM
[Last Edit: 6/26/2012 6:41:51 PM by Elijah1]

THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Well the wife and I have been talking for the last few weeks. Ever since I bought my FT-2000d and then the Alpha, I am encroaching ever much more on the kids play room.
Back story is that my "play room" and the kids play room are one and the same. I have one wall where my ham stuff and is operated from and the kids use the rest with as little interference as possible from either party .

We re-did the kitchen and breakfast nook (I hate that term) and made it where we can comfortable put the dining room table in it and now guess who gets to enclose the dining room and make it his own. You guessed it... ME!!!

So basically I get a 14' x 13' room after I enclose it. I have very few wife related constraints. All work will be done by me and some buddies and I need some ideas. A big plus is that the dining room is already on its own dedicated 20 amp circuit, I can make it 30a if necessary.

The things I can think of off hand is
1. Carpet
I put down solid wood floors downstairs and while I like it, I don't want a bunch of echoes in a fairly small area.

2. Sound proofing the room
I can listen to the bands as loud as I want as late as I want

3. 220v lines
I will want to run my Alpha 76a and maybe have a huge 70a astron power supply that will run on 220 as well. They seem to go fairly cheep at hamfests.


Please let me know what else ARFcom thinks I need for my new RF man-cave.
SCWolverine
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Posted: 6/26/2012 7:00:17 PM
[Last Edit: 6/26/2012 7:03:14 PM by SCWolverine]


That is his

about the same size as you mentioned.

This is mine

In Memory of my buddy Captain Josh Byers-Fox 6, 2/3 ACR, KIA 7-23-03.

"When I was drafted, I was married and had two kids, and I went." Dr. Ron Paul
Elijah1
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Posted: 6/26/2012 7:01:48 PM
[Last Edit: 6/26/2012 7:11:46 PM by Elijah1]
Now that is a serious setup!!! Nice alpha 77! I am one envious man. Great work.

Either setup is great.
Gamma762
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Posted: 6/26/2012 7:22:54 PM
[Last Edit: 6/26/2012 7:26:24 PM by Gamma762]
Originally Posted By Elijah1:
Well the wife and I have been talking for the last few weeks. Ever since I bought my FT-2000d and then the Alpha, I am encroaching ever much more on the kids play room.
Back story is that my "play room" and the kids play room are one and the same. I have one wall where my ham stuff and is operated from and the kids use the rest with as little interference as possible from either party .

We re-did the kitchen and breakfast nook (I hate that term) and made it where we can comfortable put the dining room table in it and now guess who gets to enclose the dining room and make it his own. You guessed it... ME!!!

So basically I get a 14' x 13' room after I enclose it. I have very few wife related constraints. All work will be done by me and some buddies and I need some ideas. A big plus is that the dining room is already on its own dedicated 20 amp circuit, I can make it 30a if necessary.

The things I can think of off hand is
1. Carpet
I put down solid wood floors downstairs and while I like it, I don't want a bunch of echoes in a fairly small area.

I wouldn't do carpet. Carpet generates static, and if you work on stuff in there and drop a screw or something on the floor you'll curse the carpet. If you do go with carpet, something very low pile. Acoustic ceiling tile will help a lot, you can also get some acoustic/sound absorbing paneling for the walls or make your own from 2x4' drop ceiling tiles and fabric covering.

2. Sound proofing the room
I can listen to the bands as loud as I want as late as I want

If you're putting up walls, the easy trick is to alternating offset 2x4s and make a 6" thick wall, that way there is no solid connection between the two wall surfaces.

3. 220v lines
I will want to run my Alpha 76a and maybe have a huge 70a astron power supply that will run on 220 as well. They seem to go fairly cheep at hamfests.

A big linear power supply like a 70A Astron is a big power hog and generates a lot of heat 24/7 as well. Switching units are a lot more efficient for anything that's going to stay on all the time. Plus that's a lot of heavy gauge wire to run around the shack if you're running a lot of high amp devices on one supply.


Please let me know what else ARFcom thinks I need for my new RF man-cave.

Build yourself a good entrance grounding panel and run ALL of your wiring to that panel before going into the room. AC power, internet, coax especially. Everything gets surge suppressed and grounded at that one point. It needs a good low impedance earth ground right at the panel, and then that panel needs to be bonded (outside the house preferably) to the other grounds for your AC power, phone/internet/cable, cold water etc.

Put some thought into room setup and keep in mind the need to access the back of the desks and equipment. One of the best shack setups I've ever seen put a false wall of grid panels behind the desk, with a 3' space behind the false wall for all the wiring and such. Made it easy to access all the wiring and the back of all the equipment while hiding all the mess.
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SCWolverine
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Posted: 6/26/2012 7:43:19 PM
Originally Posted By Gamma762:


Put some thought into room setup and keep in mind the need to access the back of the desks and equipment. One of the best shack setups I've ever seen put a false wall of grid panels behind the desk, with a 3' space behind the false wall for all the wiring and such. Made it easy to access all the wiring and the back of all the equipment while hiding all the mess.


first pic posted....closet runs behind 'radio wall' for access to all connectors and such. it's as cool as it looks!

In Memory of my buddy Captain Josh Byers-Fox 6, 2/3 ACR, KIA 7-23-03.

"When I was drafted, I was married and had two kids, and I went." Dr. Ron Paul
F350PSD
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Posted: 6/26/2012 8:25:34 PM
I'd skip the carpet for the reasons mentioned, plus you might get a nice "hall" sound in your transmitted audio.

I worked a station that had some great audio. Asked him what he had, thinking big audio chain. He basically said that he had tile floors in his room.

He had just enough "echo" to sound fantastic.
Elijah1
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Posted: 6/27/2012 12:13:59 PM
As far as the carpet for static build up. I won't be working on stuff in the shack. I have a great work area in the garage that serves as the build/repair center.
Jazzemt
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Posted: 6/28/2012 10:42:37 PM
Corner desk. Then all controls and computers can be within reach of hands on both sides of you. I am building custom cabinets and using standard counter-top. I plan on having a gap behind the counter-top to run wires back into a channel. Also one of the cabinets near the power supply will have a slide out shelf to mount the mobile radios and then run the remote heads and mics to where I want on the desk. Also look at running dual monitor or more so you can log on one screen and qrz or surf on another. I am planning on having a 40" tv mounted above the operating position for viewing or using as another monitor. Tilted down so the operator can see without much strain. You will never have enough outlets 120 or 240. Just face it you will find a way to fill every one. And if you are running wire look at adding some sort of backup for the 120 side and batteries for the 12v side.
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