You should thank your luck starts for your wife's assistance in sending you
to the basement. Some excellent ideas have already been put forward.
I did the same thing some 20 years ago, and designed a house around the
hamshack.
Still live here, BUT
Be sure you have adequate 220 input to the CB panel. Mine is 400 amp, and from
there, I take a 150 amp line off to the workshop wall ( which is the other side
of the hamshack. Make this feed as short as possible. Have things like the
lights, ect. powered from the house supply.
If you use an underground method of getting the coax, ect out of the hamshack,
BE SURE the pipe is at least 6" diameter. AND, if trees or layout of the
property are such that you might want to use some at the other end of the house
from the hamshack, have another 6" pipe put it. DO HAVE A DOUBLE LENGTH OF
COATED STEEL CABLE ( 1/8" is fine ) INSTALLED IN ALL PIPES BEFORE THEY ARE
COVERED...unless you can train a gerble to run through the pipe with your
coax. DO NOT LET THOSE SUCKERS USE A 90 DEGREE ELBOW ANYWHERE IN THE PIPES!!!
Start down with a 45 degree slant and come up with the same. ( 30 degrees is
even better.
My shack is 14x12. It's definitely too small. My workshop is 14x22. It is also
too small. Something like 14x18 for the shack and 20x20 for the workshop sounds
good.
Have a outside entrance from the basement. If you are going to have a security
system, have it prewired and in small conduit!!!!!!! I still set off the fire
alarm when I use 160. BTW, on the common wall between my garage and the interior
of the house, I put in 2 seperate "spider webs" on the entire wall. ( one is a
spare ) If anyone ever tries to enter this place home from the garage, and you
could do it with your fist practically, they're dead meat! BTW again, I
installed
a master switch to the garage door opener motor which disables the motor. ( just
break the HOT side of the line and mount a switch plate on the INSIDE of the
entrance door. I did this AFTER the house was built...too many stray signals
kept opening the garage door. Incidentally, I had 2 "phone boxes" mounted on the
outside of the house.One on each end. The real one is the one furtherest from
the
phone line pole. ( Of course, it's buried also ) In the dummy, ( which has a
phone line coming out of the ground just like the real one) directly on the
inside wall is a small box connected with the dummy line in series with the
security system. ( be sure the underground end of the dummy is shorted and well
protected from moisture, ect.If anyone ever cuts the dummy line, ( which is in
plain sight ( the real one is disguised ) well, there goes the loud noise and
a call to the local gestapo. The real line also has a small box right at the
entrance, but on the inside basement wall, which has a small relay held closed
by the phone line voltage. If the real line is cut, obviously the system can't
call, but the loud noise starts immediately.
If at all possible, have an entrance to the basement similar to a garage door
entrance, make it into a clear area. Make the door one of those sliding metal
types. You'd be surprised how often you want to bring LARGE stuff inside. Make
SURE you can drive through this door.
Have all phone lines placed in small conduit, all connected, and all grounded
to a good outside ground.
Do have multiple ground rods in the entire basement, all tied together, and
brought to a common point. It also is not a bad idea to spread "galvanized
hog" wire over the entire basement floor before it is poured, and of course,
connect all the ground wires to it by soldering, and then connect all of that
to your outside ground.
USE UNDERGROUND WIRING FROM THE POWER SOURCE TO YOUR HOUSE!!!! Make sure the
transformer box is grounded at all 4 corners.
Don't you wish you could buy a house already built?
GL,,,
Ed
-------------------------------------
Name: Edward W. Sleight
E-mail: k4sb@avana.net
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Date: 4/15/97
Time: 7:30:50 PM
This message was sent by Chameleon
-------------------------------------
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