A Ham operator’s “shack” is his radio room, his man (or woman) cave, and also probably his main money pit. The shack can range from a radio and tuner atop the washing machine to full-blown studio rooms filled with gear and wires.
I’ve never really had a room filled with gear. In fact, I enjoy operating spartan. I did, however have the pleasure of operating out of a ham radio club at Cleveland State university. The club’s “shack” was quite well done, and was in the top floor of the dorm I lived in.
Station WB8ADF at CSU
Here’s my rather humble shack when I lived in Sacramento:
K6MEC station in Sacramento, CA
Sometimes the “Shack” was the dining room table:
Here I am operating station WB8ADF atop Cleveland State Univeristy’s Fenn Tower c.1985. Next to it is me operating in 2011.
Since I enjoy portable operations, a lot of my “shacks” are hauled up to hilltops. Here’s a typical setup I use (this was on Bald Mountain in the Bay Area):
Mountain-Topping from Bald Mountain in the Bay Area, CA
Here’s the first HF radio I owned: the venerable Yaesu FT-757GX. Underneath is the matching antenna tuner and power supply. It covers all the HF bands and is capable of 100 watts output.
Yaesu FT-767, tuner and power supply
Gear
I’ve had and used the following radio gear over the years:
Radios
- Elecraft KX3
- Yaesu FT-767
- Yaesu FT-101EE
- Yaesu FT-817ND
- Ettus Research USRP
- Kenwood TH-G71
- Alinco DJ-S11T
- Baofeng UV-5R (x2)
Antennae
- G5RV Jr
- Hamstick dipole
- Homemade dipoles
- PerthPlus Outbacker
Accessories
- FT-767AT tuner
- MFJ-969 tuner
- LDG Electronics Z100 tuner
- SignaLink USB sound interface
- Youkits FG-01 antenna analyzer
- AEA PK-232 multimode data controller
- Paccomm PicoPacket
- Pignology Piglet
- Diamond SX20C SWR meter