Posted: 8/5/2007 12:09:55 PM EDT
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Right now I have my equipment in the unfinished side of my basement. Easy to run coax to, get a ground, makes my wife happy, etc. I want to move it to my office which I also share with my two sons. Three computer, two printers, DSL, 2 hubs, you get the picture. To make room for my ham equipment I need to put in a hutch style shelving unit on top of the table I use for a desk. Anyone have any designs or pics of these you use? I'm looking for ideas. I want to stack the two printers (one for paper, one for photo), network equipment, speakers, power supply and my soon to be hf rig vertical. So let's see some pics of your ham shack setups. |
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I might recommend you run your computers & associated gear on an isolated circuit, direct from your breaker panel. AND run your ham and associated gear on a separate isolated line from the breaker panel. Make sure the breakers are NOT on the same buss in the panel. (opposite sides.. not in line vertically) This can cut down on a lot of potential noise on HF. Also keep the computer wiring, ethernet cables, etc. away from feedines, power lines etc to your rigs. Computers are famous for bad shielding so the more separation & isolation you can get the less noise & hash your apt to have.. Best luck..FN |
Ummm, maybe I better keep it where it is. Where I was planning on taking it is LOADED down with all the stuff you mentioned above, and they all run off the same circuit . |
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OK, I'll be first... Here's my modest (Hey, I just got my Tech ticket last month), yet functional shack. My Icom V8000, power supply, GMRS radios (yeah, I got a license), weather alert/S.A.M.E. radio and Bearcat Uniden BCT396T Digital Trunktracker IV scanner:  My antennas: an Arrow GP144/440 with a 'Scantenna' on a 25' mast. 
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Kinda depends on what you want to use your setup for? General rag chew, contesting, etc... The most important thing you can do is make sure you build it in such a way that you can get to the back of your radios pretty easy and move wires if necessary and make it easy to upgrade in the future. My SO2R desk... 
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Many of the interface cables utilize isolation transformers or optoisolators for this purpose. In a pinch you can actually use an audio coupling. It adds a step or two when you go from tx to rx etc but it keeps the rigs and the puter electrically isolated. I get a LOT of monitor noise around 14.240 +/-. It's due to either physical proximity or power line coupling cause there's no other direct coupling between em. If I shut down both monitors the noise goes away. I've thought about fabricating the "command post" out of sheet aluminum just for the shielding & common ground for everything but it would be an expensive venture & probably look like crap.  BissouriBob.. Try it as you intended and see it it loads ya with noise.. chase down the offending source.. shuffle stuff around. You'll find a 'compromise' you can live with. If you're like me then you'll be rewiring stuff on a weekly basis anyway.. that's just part of the hobby.  73 FN |
Yeah...sorry, probably should have listed. I also have a bunch of new gear...that pic is about a year old now. I'm an avid RTTY contester so my station is primarily setup for such. Home brewed the hutch based on other designs and measurements specific to my gear. IC-756pro3 x2 MK2R+ (This runs everything between my rigs and my pc with 1 usb cable...top shelf) Dunestar 600 BPF x2 (hidden and autoswitched from band data on MK2R+) Daiwa CN-801 x2 Array Solutions Six Pack (allows me to instantly switch either radio to 1 of 6 antennas with a lockout feature if same antenna selected to both radios...blue box on left) G-1000 DXA rotor....Old Rotor control shown. FT-8800 Great VHF/UHF rig I would recommend to anyone. FT-1500M for APRS Kantronics KPC-3+ (APRS) ALS-811H Astron VS-50M (not pictured) IC-7000 Backup rig (not pictured) but can setup and ready to go in about 5min if I lose a main rig during contest. PC is a simple cube i used for left over parts....I use two monitors on 1 pc...the pc is dedicated to ham radio and don't use it for anything else. I have a file server setup so I backup my log during contesting. |
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Here is a quick reference for other ops who have built SO2R shacks... www.k8nd.com/Radio/SO2R/K8ND_SO2R.htm SO2R is short for single op, 2 radio |
Ummm. Wow. Computer hardware I can compete, but not radios. Give me time! Decided to leave shack where it is, add/build myself a quiet computer to run with it. Hook my TS-480SAT (on order) to my office desktop via emulation software. Best of both worlds. I can sit in my shack and operate or my office or on the road. |