Ron reminded me of some of the advertising seen in the
1950-60's. And I understand that many have to persuade spouses to
get to have a station somewhat closer than the "barn"! Actually saw
a well known eme ham's station installed in his barn.
The only time I got away with having my ham station in the living
room was when I was 22 and still a bachelor. I had a very small
cottage on one of the many lakes in Michigan which consisted of
kitchen, bedroom, bath, and big living room. I had a ham shack
instead of a "living room"!
Apartments are the worst situation to be in as a ham, in my
opinion. I have had a ham shack in a tent for three years before
building a log cabin. I ran it on a diehard battery because I had no
utilities (in the bush of Alaska). I had a Ward's gas generator and
battery charger. But the 80m s-meter sat on the peg at zero noise
without the influence of civilization - boy could I hear.
But most of my ham shacks have been spare bedrooms (as is the current
one). That is fortunate as one can close the door when visitors
arrive. My wife does not bother entering the "shack" and all
cleaning is up to me! My wife has said if our "ship ever came in"
and money was not an issue, she would build me a shack added onto the
garage to get me out of the house. Running from the workshop in the
garage to the hamshack is inconvenient. Tools are always at the
wrong location.
I envy the hams that have beautiful shacks...really impressive! But
it will likely never exist for my station...yep I'm a tinkerer
(translation engineer and technician) at heart. I like the designing
and building and testing almost more than operating. Operating is
the final test for some project, then on to the next project. The
bedroom closet is filled with boxes of parts for at least a decade of
future projects. So my old metal National Radio speaker fits right
in! k3 drives it beautifully.
My shack is about function vs style (exceptions are the Elecraft
radios, of course). I could use twice as much room, though.
73, Ed - KL7UW
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:53:35 -0700
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Speaker, Season finale
Message-ID: <007901ce4096$eb39aa20$c1acfe60$@biz>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Us OTs who occasionally peruse the old QSTs know that in the 1960's Collins
was really trying to produce equipment that the XYL would not object to
having on a desktop in the living room. "Hamshacks" were moving from the
basement, garage or outdoor shed into the living room.
As home sizes have diminished steadily over the decades, and the size of the
equipment has diminished, having a rig that was acceptable in the living
room has become how many Hams have stayed on the air.
Personally, my rigs are almost never fully assembled. When I'm on the air,
it's usually with something that looks like someone exploded a dozen pieces
of equipment on the bench top. Fortunately my XYL does not mind and now that
solid state is common, I'm no longer reaching through a maze of wires
containing hundreds or thousands of volts to throw a switch. (Yes, I was
raised with the story of how Ross Hull was electrocuted in 1938, exactly 7
months and 12 days after I was born probably instilling a level of care that
has probably been responsible for me surviving, although I have been knocked
on my...er...'backside'... a number of times in years long past.)
I can fully understand the desire of some Hams to have a complete,
integrated station that looks clean, neat and which works perfectly. Not all
Hams are madcap tinkerers and home brewers, Hi!
73, Ron AC7AC
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