[CQ-Contest] Other layout considerations

[n5nj at att.net]

I'm not one to dispute what my old friend Pat says, but, 
being in the computer biz has told me that the monitor 
should be more towards eye-level than on the table.  
Keeping your neck bent for 48 hours is no fun.  

In the Sprint you may need to look at your radio for the 
entire contest, but I find that I look at the monitor 
more in most of the contests.

I am experimenting with my station layout and I think 
that having the two radios side by side with the monitor 
above them may be OK as some have suggested, but I'm 
finding that having the radios to either side of the 
monitor may be the best with all of them elevated off of 
the desk.  This way, turning slightly from one side to 
the other let's you focus on the radio you're using.  
Oh, and the monitor should be as far back on the table 
as you have room for and you can still focus on it - not 
right in front of your face.

See you all in Dayton.

NJ

--
N5NJ / V26O
Plano, TX USA
ex KR2J, V26RN, W6V, WA2OVE			
> 
> I have my PC monitor at desk level.  However, it is offset slightly to
> the
> right.  Radio #1 is offset slightly to the left.  Radio #2 is
> immediately
> above radio #1.  The keyboard is "centered" in the gap between
> radios and the monitor.  They are all directly in my field of view.
> 
> I, too, am right handed, which means that I tune left handed.
> (My right hand is always a few inches from the paddle).
> My radios are aligned such that when my left hand is extended
> naturally from my body, it falls right on my main tuning knob
> of radio #1.  Which is just to the left of my keyboard.
> 
> Here's a few other things you didn't talk about.
> 
> Tilt the back of the bottom radio down, so that the face is tilted
> up towards you.  You will be able to see the radio face with
> no distortion, no glare.  This is what you look at for 48 hours.
> Much less fatiguing.
> 
> Think about dropping your keyboard below table level.
> 
> I've got a small cutout from my table top that fits my keyboard.
> It recesses the keyboard down about 4 or 5 inches.
> I've also got a piece of hard formica that I can put on top of the
> cutout to give me a smooth tabletop, coving the keyboard
> shelf, if preferred.
> 
> I have found that for phone contests, when I can have both hands
> resting on the keyboard and type with both hands, the lowered
> keyboard is great.  Its a better typing height.  For CW, I am
> undecided.
> Its a good typing height, but it is tiring when you have to lift
> your
> right hand back up to table height to send with the paddle.
> So sometimes I put the formica piece in and use the keyboard at
> table
> height.
> 
>    - Pat
>      N9RV
> 
> 
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