My wife and I love to rearrange stuff and my shack is no exception. This time however I think I hit on the way it shall remain for a long while, or at least until we change our minds again.
I am going to go on a little tangent here first.
I love Elfa!
If you are unfamiliar with Elfa then get yourself over to The Container Store and check it out! It is the most awesome stuff this side of the Pecos. In my old home we had the older style "Hang off the joist" enamel white stuff but in this house we switched over to the free-standing system.
Elfa is an extremely flexible shelf/desk concept that allows one to rearrange things easily. You can add stuff on or remove stuff at a whim. I chose the Platinum/Encore series, the metalwork is all matching platinum silver and the woodwork is all ebony from the Encore line.
The stuff ain't cheap but it lasts forever and you can always add onto it fown the road.
We already had a 4 foot desk for the wife and I took that and added another 2 4-foot sections that fit against the rear wall of my office just perfectly. That wall is 12' 4" so a 12-foot system fit perfectly. The pieces all interlock and when finished you have a sturdy, good-looking system that can be configured almost any way you want.
First, here is a picture of the system before the radios and computers were put in.I put in the 746 to measure where I wanted to put the secondary desktop.
There are actually 2 desktops present. The bottom one is deeper. I placed the drawer assemblies to hid the wall cutouts where the coaxes come in and also where the bulk of the wiring is. On Friday afternoon we pulled the old desk out (it took up too much room and I didn't like it but my buddy's wife loves it now that it is in her office) and pulled out the rest of the furniture to make it easier to work. We then went to the Container Store and bought the extra desktops, shelves, brackets, verticals, braces etc. and brought it home.
Saturday we assembled the desk as you see it and put it in place. I then placed all my various equipment where I thought I might want it and arranged things a few different ways. Eventually I found the way I thought I liked best and took a couple pictures. Then I removed the upper desktops.
Next I started putting the wiring in place. I Velcroed 2 Stridsberg multicouplers on the bottom desktop behind where the scanners are as well as a PowerPole strip. I then put in the wiring for the desktop scanners, including antennas, power and computer connections.
I then put in the radios that are on the lower desktop, connected them all and replaced the upper desktops. Next I started wiring in the computers, the HomePatrols and accessories. Then I actually put in the computers and monitors as well as a USB hub.
After all that I rolled in the "Uniden Rack". (see https://forums.radioreference.com/pictures-your-shack-mobile-setup/356182-n9jig-rack-details.html) On the far left in the below pictures you will see that. Basically it is the same rack that I used in my prior shacks, it contains 12 Uniden desktop scanners (7 BCT15, 4 BCT15X and a BCD996XT) as well as a power supply, 2 multicouplers and a pair of 13-port USB hubs. The only thing I needed to do for this was to roll it into place (it sits on casters), plug in the power connector, connect the 2 antenna coaxes to the multicouplers and plug the USB cable into the computer. The rack fit nicely under the desk!
After I got all this stuff together I put in the extra shelves and brought back my wife's little desk, my Lazy Boy and other stuff in the office.
Above you will see the overall layout. My main computer station (iMac 5K 27inch with 2 32-inch monitors) is at the right. On the left is the Rack and the handhelds. In the center is the PC and other radios (listed below). The PC is an Intel NUC mounted to the VESA mount of the lower monitor (another 32 inch one) and the 27 inch above it is a second monitor on it. The PC runs the AirNav Radar Box on the top screen and a dozen or so instances of ProScan on the main monitor along with a few instances of Pro96Com, various ARC products and the like.
The chair is a Herman Miller Aeron. We had these in our 9-1-1 center before I retired and I loved them so I bought one after going thru a couple of cheap office chairs. It is worth the money.
Radios include:
Icom IC746Pro
Icom R8500
RadioShack PRO2004
GRE PSR600 (3)
Whistler TRX-2
Uniden BCD536HP
Uniden BCD996P2
Motorola CDM1250
Kenwood TMD-700
Uniden HP1 and HP2
Astron 25A power supply
Handhelds are numerous, but include things like a BCD436HP, TRX-1, BCD325P2, Unication G5, and others.
The wife likes it because it leaves the rest of the room wide open and she can see no wires. As every married man knows: "Happy wife, happy life".
I am going to go on a little tangent here first.
I love Elfa!
If you are unfamiliar with Elfa then get yourself over to The Container Store and check it out! It is the most awesome stuff this side of the Pecos. In my old home we had the older style "Hang off the joist" enamel white stuff but in this house we switched over to the free-standing system.
Elfa is an extremely flexible shelf/desk concept that allows one to rearrange things easily. You can add stuff on or remove stuff at a whim. I chose the Platinum/Encore series, the metalwork is all matching platinum silver and the woodwork is all ebony from the Encore line.
The stuff ain't cheap but it lasts forever and you can always add onto it fown the road.
We already had a 4 foot desk for the wife and I took that and added another 2 4-foot sections that fit against the rear wall of my office just perfectly. That wall is 12' 4" so a 12-foot system fit perfectly. The pieces all interlock and when finished you have a sturdy, good-looking system that can be configured almost any way you want.
First, here is a picture of the system before the radios and computers were put in.I put in the 746 to measure where I wanted to put the secondary desktop.
There are actually 2 desktops present. The bottom one is deeper. I placed the drawer assemblies to hid the wall cutouts where the coaxes come in and also where the bulk of the wiring is. On Friday afternoon we pulled the old desk out (it took up too much room and I didn't like it but my buddy's wife loves it now that it is in her office) and pulled out the rest of the furniture to make it easier to work. We then went to the Container Store and bought the extra desktops, shelves, brackets, verticals, braces etc. and brought it home.
Saturday we assembled the desk as you see it and put it in place. I then placed all my various equipment where I thought I might want it and arranged things a few different ways. Eventually I found the way I thought I liked best and took a couple pictures. Then I removed the upper desktops.
Next I started putting the wiring in place. I Velcroed 2 Stridsberg multicouplers on the bottom desktop behind where the scanners are as well as a PowerPole strip. I then put in the wiring for the desktop scanners, including antennas, power and computer connections.
I then put in the radios that are on the lower desktop, connected them all and replaced the upper desktops. Next I started wiring in the computers, the HomePatrols and accessories. Then I actually put in the computers and monitors as well as a USB hub.
After all that I rolled in the "Uniden Rack". (see https://forums.radioreference.com/pictures-your-shack-mobile-setup/356182-n9jig-rack-details.html) On the far left in the below pictures you will see that. Basically it is the same rack that I used in my prior shacks, it contains 12 Uniden desktop scanners (7 BCT15, 4 BCT15X and a BCD996XT) as well as a power supply, 2 multicouplers and a pair of 13-port USB hubs. The only thing I needed to do for this was to roll it into place (it sits on casters), plug in the power connector, connect the 2 antenna coaxes to the multicouplers and plug the USB cable into the computer. The rack fit nicely under the desk!
After I got all this stuff together I put in the extra shelves and brought back my wife's little desk, my Lazy Boy and other stuff in the office.
Above you will see the overall layout. My main computer station (iMac 5K 27inch with 2 32-inch monitors) is at the right. On the left is the Rack and the handhelds. In the center is the PC and other radios (listed below). The PC is an Intel NUC mounted to the VESA mount of the lower monitor (another 32 inch one) and the 27 inch above it is a second monitor on it. The PC runs the AirNav Radar Box on the top screen and a dozen or so instances of ProScan on the main monitor along with a few instances of Pro96Com, various ARC products and the like.
The chair is a Herman Miller Aeron. We had these in our 9-1-1 center before I retired and I loved them so I bought one after going thru a couple of cheap office chairs. It is worth the money.
Radios include:
Icom IC746Pro
Icom R8500
RadioShack PRO2004
GRE PSR600 (3)
Whistler TRX-2
Uniden BCD536HP
Uniden BCD996P2
Motorola CDM1250
Kenwood TMD-700
Uniden HP1 and HP2
Astron 25A power supply
Handhelds are numerous, but include things like a BCD436HP, TRX-1, BCD325P2, Unication G5, and others.
The wife likes it because it leaves the rest of the room wide open and she can see no wires. As every married man knows: "Happy wife, happy life".