Proper Ham Shack?

[ka4koe]

KA4KOE Mad Scientist Labs.....I guess this is what a proper ham shack looks like. Its not really dirty, just cluttered. You can see three projects in the queue....Gabs (my theremin) on the LH, R388 receiver, and Johnson Valiant on RH operating desk standing on end. I guess I've got to get busy. Notice neato Tek 465 scope (blue angled box), adjacent to Gabriella. The John Deere thingy in the near foreground is my shooting bag, and the trophy on the bookcase is for winning grand prize at the first congressional district science fair in 1981.

[WA3VJB]

Put a small fridge under your workbench for the beer and you'd be all set.

[steve_qix]

Looks too organized to me    Seriously, looks good.  I wouldn't be able to keep things that neat or organized.  This is the shack on a very good day.  Usually, it is much worse!

[ka4koe]

I had intended to get a small fridge for adult refreshments; it got lost in the mix somewhere when we finished the bonus room. I don't see yours, btw.

[WA3VJB]

I had intended to get a small fridge for adult refreshments; it got lost in the mix somewhere when we finished the bonus room. I don't see yours, btw.

Oh yeah man, I've got a "dorm" fridge in the outer room of the Radio Lodge, right underneath the "classic" (old) 486 computer I use to program "classic" (old) Motorola MT1000 and HT600. One concession to modern convenience is the flatscreen that replaced the CRT monitor.

Will post a picture this weekend when I'm out there tapping a suitable beverage.

[VA3AEX]

Steve, love the old buzzard variac(?), meter above it (line voltage?) and the knife switches on the left of the picture.  Missing is the Tesla coils and huge clip leads into a patient lying on a gurney!

[K1JJ]

I like that well-designed, comfy chair you have.   So important.


And, some thoughts about... COMFORT.

It amazes me of some shack pictures showing hard wood chairs that look like they came out of jury duty service.   Sore-ass syndrome.  Only monks and prisoners need apply.

Second, we need a place to rest our elbows, arms and hands.  When adjusting knobs, casually tuning a receiver, etc.,  a table with no ledge because of a big audio console or equipment pushed to the edge is no fun on the back...


T

[w1vtp]

Nice comfy shack!  I need to replace my chair.  Got an old oak chair complete with squeaks in the former shack.  It needs to be transplanted out here

Al

[W2INR]

Look what happened here!!

[W3RSW]

Mood lighting, linears, flat screens, and Color TV, what's this world coming too?

No trash, only Cash?

Very nice and where ya been all this time?

-From the land of only questions.

[W2INR]

Hi Rick

I have been pursuing my music full time and drifted away for a while.

All flat monitors, No tv's.

The shack is dual purpose, radio and audio recording for the little studio I have set up in the old INR control room. trust you are doing well?

G

[W3RSW]

Fine, thank you, all things considered.
Sounds like your doing well in the music field.

The Color TV reference was a sort of exclamation of amazement left over from the days of the Beverly Hillbillies.  Yeah, but I miss your wall of HB transmitters.
Just so you know, Your soft rock post of yore is one of the things that helped modernize my basement in the SDR realm.  Probably got a lot of us thinking.

..And I know that desk isn't always so sparkling immaculate.  

[WA3VJB]

Look what happened here!!

Like Lazarus rising from the bed!

Hope to talk with you soon.

[WA3VJB]

Nice comfy shack!  I need to replace my chair.  Got an old oak chair complete with squeaks in the former shack.  It needs to be transplanted out here

Al

What happened to your retirement chair, Al ?

[K1JJ]

Look what happened here!!

Wow.  Vely nice job, G.

T

[ka4koe]

another musician..?

Not a lot of demand for thereminists, unfortunately.

[flintstone mop]

Steve, QIX
what happened to all of the clip leads.........it will never be the same

[steve_qix]

Steve, QIX
what happened to all of the clip leads.........it will never be the same

Oh, they're there.  There are a lot of clip leads comprising the circuit that's directly in front of the computer screen.  And clip leads can be seen hanging on a hook that's on the right side of the receiver rack holding the BC-1004   

There are plenty of clip leads BEHIND the racks as well 

They just seem to be a fact of life!

[ke7trp]

KA4KOE Mad Scientist Labs.....I guess this is what a proper ham shack looks like. Its not really dirty, just cluttered. You can see three projects in the queue....Gabs (my theremin) on the LH, R388 receiver, and Johnson Valiant on RH operating desk standing on end. I guess I've got to get busy. Notice neato Tek 465 scope (blue angled box), adjacent to Gabriella. The John Deere thingy in the near foreground is my shooting bag, and the trophy on the bookcase is for winning grand prize at the first congressional district science fair in 1981.

Looks like you are having fun there! Lots of projects.   Here is my little station from last year.  Now I have three steel case desks.  The last one holds a ranger, Thunderbolt amp and HRO50T.  The valiant runs with an NC183D.
Thats my Golden retreiver Toby pictured.

[ka4koe]

I'd love to get one of those battleship desks. Main issue is the utter impossibility of moving it upstairs to the High Level Ham Shack and Mad Scientist Lab. Retrievers are wonderful dogs, btw. My brother's, Emma Dog, is about the smartest animal I've crossed paths with, and very, very sweet.

Philip
KA4KOE

[KA3EKH]

Any time I can put up pictures of the shack I will try to get away with it. You can see the Big RCA for 160 in the back row along with lots of other stuff, although some may notice that the antique computer stuff is taking more and more floor space.
The Big RCA was a fun project and has been complete for over a year now so it’s about time for it to go and be replaced by something new. The question is will it be a radio or computer project???

[K6JEK]

Any time I can put up pictures of the shack I will try to get away with it. You can see the Big RCA for 160 in the back row along with lots of other stuff, although some may notice that the antique computer stuff is taking more and more floor space.
The Big RCA was a fun project and has been complete for over a year now so it’s about time for it to go and be replaced by something new. The question is will it be a radio or computer project???

Is that a PDP-8 I see in there?

[KB2WIG]

R,

Get yerself a pdp-11 and place her on the side. Or hang it under a DecWriter. You'll save space fer shure.

P,

Get rid of the teraflue thing and groove to the pdp8.

http://www.pdp8.net/sound/sound.shtml

Unfortunately, I got rid of my tapes.


klc

[steve_qix]

Any time I can put up pictures of the shack I will try to get away with it. You can see the Big RCA for 160 in the back row along with lots of other stuff, although some may notice that the antique computer stuff is taking more and more floor space.
The Big RCA was a fun project and has been complete for over a year now so it’s about time for it to go and be replaced by something new. The question is will it be a radio or computer project???

Oh my!  I worked in Digital's "Central Engineering" group for many years.  Seeing the old RL0(1 or 2) discs, RX02s, and what looks like either an 11/23s or 11/03 in the right hand cabinet sure brings back a lot of memories.  Wow - haven't seen anything like that in many years.

[KA3EKH]

Back when I was in high school in the late seventies we had a terminal that connected us to University of Delaware data center and think that was running a PDP-8 or 11 with Basic. I wasted many hours of my youth playing around with that system, that and being at home playing with all those old BC-348, ARC-5 and other assorted radios, imagine I was a weird kid. Anyway now find that I like the challenge of working on things I don’t understand so about four or five years ago started on this Digital Equipment Group kick and now have built up a 11/23 Qbus system with floppy and hard drive then the 11/34 Unibus system with dual RL-01 hard drives and am still looking for new peripherals to use with the systems all the time. The Holy Grail of the DEC collecting world are the old PDP-8 and PDP-11 systems with the lights and switches on the front of the system and they been a little out of my price range so far. So this is where I am at today, want to start a new project but nothing is lined up at this time. Did do the broadcast transmitter converted for 160 and have had that finished for over a year now and both the PDP-11 systems in the picture are all up and running and have been looking and thinking of what the next big project may be. Unfortunately on air operation is just not a big thrill for me and after saying QTH and weather tend to run out of things to say. Tentative new projects include big WW2 Navy transmitter to go with my Navy HRO RAS receiver, already did the TCS and TBW but now want something big or maybe move on to another pointless antique computer project. My web site has lots of pictures of some of the things going on around the QTH at : WWW.KA3EKH.NET