Potentials for new ham shack

[w1vtp]

A wonderful project!  I am thinking of doing the same in my garage where I have room for an operating position.

I recently reviewed the National Electrical Code and prepared a presentation on grounding for my local ham club the Rappahannock Amateur Radio Association.  I will make this a separate posting.  Everything can be improved, so I welcome comments on the presentation.

I REGRET THAT I CANNOT POST THIS PRESENTATION BECAUSE THE FILES ARE TOO LARGE TO BE POSTED. If anyone wants copies of these presentation please contact me at fhh11@columbia.edu 

73, Floyd

Floyd and others

There are file splitter programs available, free.  The one I use comes from Total Commander (Click here for info:  http://ghisler.com/) which is a very versatile file management program.  It's based on the old Norton Commander that featured two panes.  That aside, any of these file splitter programs need to have the same splitter / joiner utility at both ends.  A slick capability to have in one's arsenal computer-wise.  There are other file splitter programs but I cannot speak from experience how well they work.

Al

[k7mdo]

OK, the shack takes "root" in the barn!  A couple of pictures attached, result of about 4 days work with the weekend off for a ham fair in Rickreall Oregon.

I picked up an interesting current meter (digital display) with two shunts, one is 10 ampere and other is 100 ampere.  The circuitry appears to be homebrew but well made.  Not yet sure of calibration... but when I put a "D" cell across the 10 ampere shunt it read somewhere north of 35 amps and descending.... seems a little optimistic for that battery to me.

Next few days will be running AC wires in the walls.  I have a 20 ampere circuit available for the normal line voltage and a 60 ampere circuit available for the 220.  I predrilled the uprights so the wire runs will be a little easier to do....

Then comes the interior drywall, then insulation, etc.

Tom

[W3GMS]

Looks great! 

Joe-GMS

[k7mdo]

Someone earlier alluded to possibly splitting their 220 line into two 110 lines (nominal).  I.e. grabbing one leg each side to ground.... it is an interesting thought to me as I look at the wiring of the new shack....  I have a seldom used 220 run that is very close to the new construction and each leg has a 60 ampere breaker.  Does anyone have an objection to pulling the 220 into the wall of the shack, then splitting off all of my 110 wall sockets from there.... what is going to be the downside?  Hmmmm, could it be that I might accidentally plug two hot 110's together... kind of out of phase.... maybe a boat anchor has a "leak" to the chassis and

This is probably a bad idea, but thought I would ask anyway.

Tom

[KB2WIG]

T,

Splitting 220. Bring it to a small 'load center and treat it as an electrical entrance. But don't bond the neutral to the box.'You could(should) ask a 'Lectrician.... I've been out of it for awhile ( I crawled around under porches and in the mud for a licensed lectrition), so I don't know watts up now.  I think there are a few restrictions on doing it per the code. But its not a bad idea.

But I will make a suggestion. IF your running new copper to the electrical entrance, and decide not to have a separate box, run 10/2 with ground for your 20A ckts. A bit less voltage drop. If you really, really wanted to go crazy, run EMT. You'll give everyone goose bumps.  As far as never using "220", you say that now, but ya never know....


klc

You need a guzunder

[N2DTS]

Shortly after moving into my house, work remodeled a site over Philadelphia and filled the dumpster up with romex, BX, conduit, quad box outlets and so on.

At the time, my house had everything on a fuse panel, three 15 amp fuses for ALL the outlets, 220 for stove, drier and water heater.
Oil heat and the old well pump still worked for the garden.

I went to home depot and got a 100 amp breaker box, pulled the meter and swapped out the fuse panel, then put the seal back on the meter like it was still intact.
After a few months, the electric company put a new seal on it, nothing said.

I split many of the outlets up on their own breakers, and ran #10 from each phase to a mess o quad outlets in the shack and work bench area.
I use the nice pre bent conduit and armored wire to do the job almost free.

Well after the fact (15 to 20 years) we had other work done and the entire entrance was redone to meet code (200 amp, not over the roof) and nothing was ever said.
Got central air and a gas furnace now, gas drier, but a double electric wall oven so that is why it needed the 200 amp service.

I had big rigs when I did the work, but nothing that needed 220, so just ran two 110 volt 20 amp lines, one does the RF stuff, the other the modulators.

I would do it right, remove the 220 and replace it with a sub panel.
220 is just one leg of each 110 phase and neutral.
Your circuit breaker box offsets one phase after the other so if you wire two runs on breakers next to each other you have one on each phase and 220 between them, which is how the entire house is wired.

[N8CMQ]

I would have a dedicated 220 line for BIG STUFF, and THREE 120 lines for small stuff.

One of the 120 lines would be for the lighting ONLY! The other 120 lines for the operating
position, and the other for special uses like clocks and computers.

I have been in rooms with only one circuit for everything, and it sucks when the fuse opened.

[W2NBC]

Your "barn shack" is looking just great!  

Always nice to have a clean slate to run AC, a good ground, and control lines with everything open and accessible.
 
Regarding AC and future projects, I have just run yet another 240 volt service in the upstairs shack for my homebrew transmitter soon to be unveiled. It's #6 copper 6/3 with ground, (black line in pic) and was actually pretty easy to work with.

  It's not a bad idea to have more than minimum requirements for current draw/voltage drop/ wire size. Maybe consider running one stout 240 volt service to the barn shack for projects in the future. Remember that AM is continuous duty and things like filament voltages, and drive are happy with a stiff, minimum voltage drop power source starting with your AC line!

Good luck with your fine barn shack!

Jeff W2NBC

[k7mdo]

Certainly the progress, in appearance, slowed when I got to the wiring. But, it is done. I have one 220 VAC 30 ampere circuit and three separate 20 ampere 120 VAC circuits and finally two overhead light circuits.  I am ready for insulation and then drywall.  Got the door set (first time ever for me) but it was easy.  Got the ground rod driven and it will only be about 6 feet from the radios in the room.  I also have an underground outside water system within a couple of feet of the ground rod so some experimentation will be possible by switching between the ground rod or the water pipes or combining them..... might be interesting. 

Initially I will be end feeding a 216' long wire, which has worked well for me along with an Icom AH-4 for 10-80 meters (not on 160).... up to now I have had 1/4 wave "counterpoise" wires for each band draped around the outside of the house. This may be problematic now as the new shack will accommodate the AH-4 "indoors" and so the 1/4 waves have an option to hang around the interior rafters of the metal building or lead through an insulator to the outdoors and then draped around the gutters, etc.  I wonder which might be the best approach?  This may be an issue with the metal siding?

Tom


 

[KB5MD]

Boy, I wish my barn was that clean!  It's going to be nice.

[KB2WIG]

T,

Submitted fer yer approval,

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cozy-Products-36-in-x-16-in-x-0-25-in-Super-Foot-Warmer-Heated-Rubber-Floor-Mat-FWB/202933441


klc

[k7mdo]

Insulation in (all except for a duct area for antenna and ground leads) and got the exterior sided today.  Can't yet find a drywall person that is "out of work".... seems we are having a building boom in our area.

This will end the progress for 2015 as the XYL has us booked for December in Palm Desert.... still, I bet I can find some type of ham activity there!

By the way, 10 by 12 feet is starting to look smaller all the time... I will have to limit the restoration side to one project at a time and store future projects outside on shelving or some such... I think I can manage to keep my resistor and capacitor stockpile inside.... and my hardware... soldering tools... well you can see how it will end up without careful planning.

73,  Tom 

[N2DTS]

Some nice big shelves to the left of the door would be handy!

[k7mdo]

OK!  I am "in the shack" finally... the wife took me to Palm Desert for all of December but on return I got a little time to finish the inside of the room and am now 90% moved in.  I really only have a 2 meter antenna up for now but have the twenty meter dipole "under construction".... all antennas have to move from the house 'end feed' to the barn 'end feed'.... and the weather is not cooperating. I have a Johnson Ranger on the rotator for service.... it is the first project beyond moving in....  also bought some new clip leads today and built a rack for them, tired of untangling them.

Library moves out from the house next. 

In the pictures you will see containers with components on two racks outside of the shack.  They can be accessed or moved into the shack as parts are needed (big stuff)

Heavy transformers yet to move.... 

Fun stuff.... even found a modulation transformer that was missing for years while going through the transfer. 

I think I will treat myself to a new oscilloscope... one of the little digitals..... finally get rid of the failing Tek 465....

73, Tom

[W4EWH]

If your going to frame it out, put some fiberglass in the walls and ceiling.  ... If its being built on a slab, I use a concrete sealer followed by felt paper and then cut foam insulating panels to size and put them between the floor joist.  What you will have is a very comfortable operating space when done.  You can figure out your heat and cooling source.  Here are a few pictures from my latest room working museum radio room downstairs.  This is room 1 of 3.        

I'm going to upgrade the shack at my new QTH this year, so please answer some questions for me. Thanks!

• Is PT wood needed?
• Are you using "Split 20" circuits for the outlets?
• What, if anything, are you putting in for ventilation and/or heat?
• How do you seal the foam panels to prevent air leaks at the edges?
• What kind of insulation will you use in the walls? The ceiling? What "R" values?

I appreciate any advice you can give: I'm going to be doing the work myself, so I want to have a good plan.

Bill, W4EWH

[KB2WIG]

T,

Looks nice.

Is that a lazy susan?

You need a comfy chair. I picked up a few used office chairs for under $200. Best thing I've done since I was a jn. Some one said that I was going to nap in them. The wife is so negative at times.... .. But a stuffed chair would be nice.

klc

[k7mdo]

Here are the particulars:

Yes, pressure treated wood at the interface with any concrete.  In fact there should be a plastic foam or sheeting between the PT wood and floor.

Insulation is R13 in the walls and R30 in the ceiling. But, remember, I am in Oregon and cold is not such a big problem.

Electric outlets are distributed around the room and have three separate 20 amp circuits.  Also I added a 30 ampere 220 circuit, just in case.

I was going to have someone else drywall the interior but the bid was $2400 which exceeded my "mental" budget so I lined the interior myself with 7/16 plywood.... 3 day job but I felt better and the plywood makes screwing things to the wall much easier.

Tom

[k7mdo]

Yes, a lazy Susan.... I generally don't refer to it as such since the wife's name is Susan!!

Tom

[W3GMS]

Congrats Tom! 

Your final product of the room you built looks great.  I am sure you will have many enjoyable hours operating from it. 

Now get on the air and enjoy it.

73,
Joe-W3GMS

[K4RT]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing the photos.

[flintstone mop]

GOD bless yous guys that have good health and energy and some shekels to build the ultimate shacks.

It's too late for me to have a shack that is above ground so, I can see what's going on outside. I have always been a cellar dweller and feeling like a mushroom. An out shack nicely designed with heating and A/C and some windows would have been the best for our situation here at MOP radio. It would have created more usable living space in the house for the family, instead of me dominating the entire basement area.

Good thread
Nice plans

Fred

[KB2WIG]

F,

You could buy a cheepie video cam and point it outside. Then you place a monitor on the wall, put some curtains on it and there you go. Get one with a mic, and listen to the birdies chirp, and the crickets cric.

It seems that you are doing well.


klc

Over here, one of the cats is always sitting in the basement window, messing with the curtains. Chipmunk displacement.