[CQ-Contest] Chairs

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

You may want to consider the chair arrangement I use.  It was born out  of 
cheapness - chairs that were being thrown away at work - but for me has  
worked out great.
 
I have a swivel chair with no arms. I have mounted the keyboard on a pull  
out tray under the desk, which places it just an inch or so above my lap. 
 
With no arms on the chair, I can drop my arms and shoulders in a very  
relaxed manner, not fighting to have my elbows resting on a armrest or desktop.  
Therefore my neck and shoulders are fully relaxed, my hands and forearms 
are  raised just a few inches to rest on the front of the keyboard tray. There 
is  lots of leaning back angle available, so I can recline back to a 45  
degree angle if is wish.
 
I have enough free cable on the various lines to the radio so that I  can 
pull it forward to place the front panel at the front edge of the desk,  just 
a few inches above and in front of the keyboard. I have the main paddle (to 
 a separate keyer) just to the right of the radio, and also a tiny magnetic 
 base paddle (K9LU Bulldog) attached to a large flat washer that is glued 
to the  upper right corner of the keyboard (used with the computer software 
based  keyer).
 
I can also slide the radio back the normal 18 inches or so from the front  
edge of the desk, and operate in the more traditional forearms-on-desk mode. 
As  pointed out by others, variety in your seating position is a good thing.
 
You might try avoiding the armrests on the chair, and putting your keyboard 
 on your lap,  to see how things go with relaxed shoulders.
 
 
73  -  Jim   K8MR