Moving the Shack

 

Moving the ‘Shack’

My radio equipment was in my study, but when I gave up work, I moved out of that room, which reverted to being a spare bedroom. My radio equipment therefore had to move as well, which I did not relish. I have about eight antennas, all in the loft, and each one had its own feeder. These, together with a rotator cable and a couple of power cables made a flexible but very untidy arrangement. In my defence I have to say this rats’ nest was mostly hidden behind curtains but it had to go!

The Cable Arrangement in the Old 'Shack'

The easiest way to move would have been to simply transfer this cable bundle to its new location. However I wanted to take the opportunity to make the arrangement much tidier and more professional. I investigated coax switches but decided these were too expensive and introduce losses which, as a QRP operator, I could ill afford. I only use two or three antennas most of the time so I decided to build two identical patch panels, one in the loft and one at my operating position, with ‘N’ and ‘BNC’ connectors (PL-259s are banned in my shack!). 

The Downstairs Patch Panel Box  

The Design

I decided to run one RG-8 cable, for VHF/UHF and three RG-58 cables for other bands and non-critical VHF activities.

Frequency	RG-8	RG-58
Loss/100m 14 MHz	2.3 dB	5.3 dB
Loss/100m 145 MHz	6.0 dB	19.2 dB
Loss/100m 433 MHz	10.4 dB	39.5 dB

  Table - Approximate Cable Losses

 ‘N’ and BNC connectors have negligible loss at 400 MHz whereas the loss of PL-259 connectors rises rapidly above about 200 MHz  My longest cable run was less than 10m, from equipment to antenna, so the RG-58 cable losses are acceptable at VHF except for contests etc. when the RG-8 comes into play.

The Installation

Installing the cables was very straight forward as I planned an almost vertical drop from the loft junction box to the operating position. I measured the cable lengths then added a bit. I terminated the four cables in the loft patch panel before installing it. I then screwed this to a handy loft timber and carefully drilled a hole in the ceiling plasterboard directly above the operating position. I then fed the four coax cables and the rotator cable down to the operating position and enclosed them in plastic trunking. I trimmed the cables to length before terminating them in the downstairs patch panel and screwing this to the wall.

I decided not to fit connectors to the rotator cable as this already has a screw terminal on the control unit and the rotator assembly. I did not trim this cable so I will have flexibility if it needs to be moved. The surplus cable is coiled in the loft.

I then made up a set of patch cables (RG-8 or RG-58) to go from the upstairs patch panel to the antennas. There is less than 1m from the downstairs patch panel to the operating position and I already had several 1m BNC-BNC cables so no work was needed here. Incidentally I like BNC connectors because of they connect quickly and securely. As I only run QRP, their power handling is not an issue as it might be at higher powers. 

The New 'Shack' Operating Position

Operating

The downstairs patch panel is very convenient when I need to change antennas as I leave the most commonly-used ones connected up top. I do have to climb up when I need to change the ones in the loft but this is not a massive inconvenience as I have a sturdy loft ladder. I do need to remember to write down the upstairs configuration and pin this on my notice board whenever I change anything up there; my memory is not what it was!

As a result of this move, my entire station including a small storage unit for hand-helds, cables , microphones SDR radios etc. now occupies less than ½ sq m, which has pleased the XYL, and I have not lost any operating capability. The cables arrangement is now much more professional looking and I am pleased I have achieved all the design objectives.