Amateur Radio Station N1IK

Location

My shack is located in the finished basement of my house in a room that is 20' deep and 15' wide.

Power

The shack is supplied by three 120V 20A GFI-protected outlets behind the operating position, as well as a two 240V 20A outlets for amplifiers.

Emergency Power

The house is equipped with a 10KW emergency power generation system that runs on LP. This system is fully automatic. It is capable of running everything that really matters in the house to keep everyone comfortable and the pipes from freezing. It also powers the primary station power outlet so that in the event of a power outage the station can be run barefoot. The station computer is further protected by a mid-sized UPS system that will keep it running until the emergency power is available.

Single Point Ground

A PolyPhaser Copper Single Point Ground Panel (CU-SPGP) is used to provide the single-point ground in the shack.

The CU-SPGP makes it simple to provide a low impedance path to ground for all the equipment in the shack. The CU-SPGP is connected to two 8' ground rods driven into the ground right outside the shack by a 3" copper strap. All connections are mechanical (no soldering).

Shack Power Supply

The power supply in the shack is an Astron RS-35A, which supplies 20A of 13.8V DC for the primary radio and accessories.

Shack Power Distribution

The power distribution system in the shack is a West Mountain Radio RIGrunner 4012S. Everything in the shack that doesn't have its own power supply uses Anderson Powerpole connectors, and connects to the RIGrunner. People rave about Powerpole connectors, and I like them, but they are not the easiest things to work with. Overall, though, I think they are the best solution on the market today.

Primary HF Radio

The primary HF radio in the shack is an Yaesu FT-1000MP MARK-V Field.

Awesome knobs. Runs all day long, and I'm getting really good at making the weak ones readable with all of its features.

Secondary HF Radio

The secondary HF radio in the shack is an ICOM IC-756PROII.

Primary Amplifier

The primary amplifier is an Alpha 87A. It is just about the best amplifier made. I picked it up used through a friend of a friend who was selling the equipment from the estate of a SK. This part of the story is sad, but I know that the SK would be happy to to know that the Alpha went to someone who will give it a good home and make lots of QSO's with it.

Secondary Amplifier

The secondary amplifier is an Icom IC-PW1. Very sweet ride. Totally automatic, built-in high-power antenna tuner. Instant on. Doesn't get much better than this.

Rig Control

Rig control, CW keying, and so forth is provided by a pair of West Mountain Radio RIGblaster pros.