[CQ-Contest] SO2R radio positioning

[K3BU at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/25/01 1:37:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
n4zr at contesting.com writes:

>  However, I have been very happy with my paddle and linear 
>  to the left and my radio to the right (I'm left-handed), and so I'm
>  contemplating maybe stacking both radios on the right.  In such a setup,
>  the primary radio would be on the bottom, and the second-band radio would
>  be on the top.
>  

No good!
If you want to use two radios simultaneously you need two hands to operate 
radios (side by side) and physically have left and right situation for mental 
separation (especially when you get tired). Having them "stacked" confuses 
the picture, unless you use one radio strictly for CQing. I often S&P with 
two rigs, speeds up operation when things get slow. 
I am right-handed, keep my CQing radio (amps and all the gadgets belonging to 
it) on right hand side and my "S&P" radio and gadgets on the left side. 
Switching is done with home brewed switching system aimed at SO2R on the same 
band which requires further efforts to minimize the signals within the same 
band (another whole different ball game, diversity, phasing, filtering).
Basically we want to pair up our sensors/actuators( (ears, eyes/hands, feet) 
with physical equipment layout for the least confusion. (How many times we 
transmitted on "wrong" VFO in the heat of the pileup? And that's just on one 
radio :-)

GL  Yuri, K3BU


--
CQ-Contest on WWW:        http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests:  cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com