[CQ-Contest] Do you have A/C in your shack?

[ktfrog007 at aol.com]

I find humidity reduction to be as important as temperature reduction.  The small 5000 BTU ACs I use in my house and shack do a better job on the humidity than the temp.  And I'm usually quite comfortable once things have stabilized..

73,
Ken, AB1J


-----Original Message-----
From: ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca <ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca>
To: cq-contest at contesting.com <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wed, Jul 28, 2021 1:44 pm
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Do you have A/C in your shack?

I find most of your stories and details quite fascinating. I love these reports.
Being from the near-north, I have never really given A/C much thought in the
radio shack until IARU recently.  I think I just hit the perfect storm in IARU.

 I did some online calcs and came up with the equivalent of a (humidex)
temperature number somewhere around 114*F/45*C if it was 74% humidity in the
shack. (equiv of 50*C/122*F outside)...so it was probably worse when I opened
the window, hi)...I guess I know my limits for heat/humidity when sitting in
front of 2 big heaters + radios, etc.

Last night I installed my mini A/C (5000btu) and found it cooled my shack a
whopping 4*C/(what is that about 15-18*F or more?) in a single hour.

This with no radio equipment running though!

I am looking forward to trying it out for real in the next contest.

Keep the information flowing.  I find this topic way more interesting than
arguing about relatively boring stuff.

Cheers

Mike VE9AA


Keep in mind when reading the following, I am from the Maritimes and have lived
all my life in VO2, VO1, VE1 and VE9....so I don't do the high temps well ;-)

During the recent IARU contest I think this was the first time I  *ever*  really
stopped operating due to heat/humidity.  I laid my head down "for a few minutes"
and woke up 5.5hrs later. Oof !

My el-cheapo thermometer on the desk next to my keyboard said it was 31.5*C
(88.8*F)...I don't recall what the humidity was in the house,(probably a bit
lower than outside)  but outside was up to 94% at 11pm according to Environment
Canada.

I QRT'd not long after midnight, shattered from the "heat".

So....has anyone installed A/C in their shack? How did you like it? Run it every
contest? Only in the summer?

Y'day I bought a teeny-tiny window A/C unit ~5000btu (on sale at that) and will
hopefully once installed, will try it out next contest,  assuming no QRM/RFI.
Living way out in the country. I like a quiet RX.

I think in my mid-late 50's, I am finally getting soft.

In the winter, I just turn my shack heat off and sometimes even open a window.
In the summer, I often operate LP or QRP....
In the IARU, with HP SO2R it was pretty warm and my shack is very very small.

What has been your experience with heat/humidity while operating? (doesn't have
to have been in YOUR shack)

Tnx !

--
Mike VE9AA
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