I always wondered WHY it took so long for this to catch on with most scanner folks? The "Dispatch Center" method of set up is the best use of space. It puts it all right there for you in an ergonomic layout that makes sense. You have elevated monitors/televisions for ease of viewing/out of the way of radios/scanners. You have the radios in an easy to see/hear/access shelving. Your keyboards/laptop surfaces are also not in the way of access. If you have "ham" and/or GMRS FRS gear, you also have the space for mics that don't look "hamsexy"... A few hams actually were doing this long ago, but it actually only recently is a "thing" in the scannist/scannologist family. Well done!
I had considered this a few times in the past and it usually came down to height. We had the same issue when our dispatch centers were transitioning to computers being the main focus of a dispatch console and later the consoles themselves were computers. The CentraCom II and other consoles then usually had a 10u or so slanted panel for the console and most users had computers off to the side if they had computers at all.
Fast forward to around the mid 1990's when we got our first computer console (DOS of course!) and the slanted riser was lowered to 2u or 3u, large enough for a couple speakers, volume controls and a PTT switch. With the relatively low height a computer monitor set atop this was just the right height to be properly seen.
With all that, scanners and other radios mounted in rack panels tend to take more space than when placed directly on the desktop. Unless specific furniture allows it, any slant to make for easier viewing will then cause the radios to sit even higher off the desk, making the monitor viewing difficult and uncomfortable. In the below pic of a radio desk of a prior build of mine you can see the several inches of elevation the slant causes:
The computers used on this desk were used only for radio programming for the most part and as a backup to my main computer desk elsewhere in the room. While attractive and functional for using the radios it was really pretty impractical for extended computer use.
I have come up with a solution to this issue that incorporates the same 4u/3-bay slant-front cabinet and basic radio layout with my current fleet. I plan on building a platform to hold the cabinet at the proper height, basically dropping it down about 4 inches, so that the bottom of the radios are just about 29 inches off the floor. I will then take the existing desk framework and remove the existing 60x30 desktop and have a 60x16 or 60x18 made and installed on the frame. This will butt up to the front of the radio cabinet and allow the monitors to be mounted just above them as they are here.
This will put the monitors right at the proper height for normal viewing without neck strain, provide a desktop of the proper depth to comfortably access the radio controls and allow me to use the easily obtained 4u or 2 2u panels, most of which I already have.
I had considered getting a 3u flat-faced cabinet with no slant. While that would allow me to use my monitors with the regular stands getting panels to fit the amount of radios I want to use would demand all custom made ones. While I could mount the DIN radios with a single hole in the panel with 2 radios stacked together using a 4u cabinet is much more practical, especially with the way I tend to change things around often.
My current plan (always subject to change) is for this fall to have the stand and desktop made and install the same radios I have in the original post, in pretty much the same manner. The left bay would have 4 536's, the center would have my IC-705 (or perhaps a IC-7300) as well as my R8600 and the right bay with the 996's, SDS200 and my GMRS radio. The panel for the 8600 and 705/7300 would have to be custom made but I think NovexCom, ARS or someones should be able to do that pretty easily. The Icoms are 9 inches wide so it might be tight but I think it will work. If I cannot get the proper panels they can go into the slot and perhaps a 1u blank can be used to hide the rest of the hole.
Of course I am always open to suggestions from the crowd. If there is a better idea I am always open to hearing it!