I've been doing SO2R since 1981 and have tried almost every imaginable
layout. Several technology milestones have affected this:
- In 1981 I was using Drake C-Lines, which complicated the station layout
because there were two boxes (RX/TX) rather than one. Some thought was
wasted on putting the transmitter away from the receiver, but this taught
lesson #1: the rig layout needs to be somewhat "normal" so that the basic
functionality of the rig (i.e., access to the rig features to make QSOs) is
not impaired. Eventually this arrangement grew to three C-Lines and
dedicated amplifiers on certain bands to minimize the required
band-changing. The advent of solid state transceivers arriving in the K8CC
shack (in my case, IC-765s) provided opportunities to reduce the square
footage of gear footprint on the desk.
- The advent of computer logging (1988 in my case) just as the K8CC C-Line
era was ending threw another monkey wrench into the plan. Lesson (or
perhaps, question) #2 became: WHERE DO YOU PUT THE MONITOR? This somewhat
drives where you put the radios and other accessories and controls, which
furthermore drives the location of the keyboard with respect to the radio
front panel controls.
There seems to be three basic configurations:
1) Radio #1 to the left, radio #2 to the right, monitor and keyboard in the
middle.
2) Radio #1 and #2 next to each other in the middle, monitor above radios,
keyboard in front of radios.
3) One radio stacked on top of another, with the keyboard and monitor to
one side.
I really would like to do #1 or #3, but either of these approaches tends to
force you to operate the radio with one hand as K3BU pointed out. Maybe
that's OK for some locales where the bands are in your favor and you can
just run, run, run and put QSOs in the computer. However, out here in the
midwest a lot of receiver fiddling is necessary and two hands makes it that
much easier. So #2 is the setup for me.
There are a couple of details which might improve #2. A custom desktop
where the radios slope down reduces the distance the monitor is above the
desk. Another thing I'd like to try is to cut out the table top and recess
the keyboard down into the desktop to improve access while reaching across
to "two hand" tune the radios. Some commercially made computer desks do this.
FWIW...
73,
Dave/K8CC
--
CQ-Contest on WWW: http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com
|