We found out that Christy was pregnant in December of 2007 so we had to move the shack to make room for the new baby.. The old shack was in a spare room in the house. 

In the back yard we had a 10 x 16 storage building that was really just a shell that was full of junk. We bought an 8 x 16 building in January '08 , built shelves in it and moved everything out of the storage building into the new building.

The old storage building like i said was just a shell. We had to run electricity to it underground and while we were at it we also ran plenty of TV cable, Cat 5 for internet and lots of spare cables as well for future use. We installed a breaker box capable of handling 100 amps. 

We then insulated the whole thing walls and ceiling. We fixed some holes in the floor and installed two layers of 3/8" ply wood over the old 3/4" flooring. We framed Christy in a recording booth complete with a pocket door.The wiring was done with plenty of 110 volt outlets , lighting and Four 220 volt outlets. Boxes and wiring were installed for the computer network, phone lines, cable TV and more. The sheetrock went up and  a new 50 inch solid door was installed. We painted trimmed and installed a Laminate floor. For Lighting in the main room we took a section of rohn tower and installed stage lighting in it. We built Christy a desk top to work on and  started to get ready to move stuff in..

We didnt know what we were going to use for a main desk.. We thought we may build something. Broadcast furniture is extremly expensive and we were way over budget. We looked at a used office furniture store downtown and in the very back of the store covered in rat stuff and dirt we found it.... It was a used network desk complete with two keyboard drawers. It is made out of 2 inch steel tubing with one inch thick shelves. It weighs a ton!! We got it inside and added a shelf and started moving gear. I repainted my old 6 foot steel rack, installed the amps, installed the radios in the new desk and then went to work on grounding.  We ran a two inch copper strap bus bar behind the desk to a 12 inch copper square central grounding point which is bolted through the wall to another 12 inch copper plate which is the fed to several 8 foot ground rods outside the shack. All coaxes and feedline shields are bonded to the the strap.  We installed another tower Mainly to give a support to run all of the over head feedlines to but since we had another tower up i put another dual band vertical on top. later we put in  super quiet exaust fan and a split unit ac and heat pump for quiet climate control.

We got Christy a new soundcraft mixer and a few more pieces of equipment and got her booth all finished out complete with an on air light !!!

As of right now it is all still a work in progress but is all mostly functional, we ran out of money and time. We had to get to work on the remodel inside the house which included two bedrooms and a small coat closet conversion to  a small indoor ham shack..

Now enter the new studio........

THE MAIN HF STATION, IT ALL STARTS AT THE MICROPHONE, SENNHEISER MD-421 MIC ON A  SHORT BOOM WITH HAND AND FOOT PUSH TO TALK. W2IHY 8 BAND AUDIO EQUALIZER WITH THE W2IHY EQ PLUS WITH LOTS OF FERRITE BEADS AND HEIL WIRE RUNNING INTO THE KENWOOD TS-870..THE 870 THE BEST HF RIG THAT I HAVE HAD. I HAVE OWNED A ICOM PRO III, A FLEX RADIO SDR 1000,  A TEASU FT-2000 AND MORE. THIS RIG BLOWS ALL OF THEM AWAY IN SIMPLICITY, AUDIO REPORTS AND MORE!!! AND I AM REALLY GLAD I GOT IT..IT DOES 160 METERS THROUGH 10 METERS..OUT OF THE 870 AND INTO EITHER A HEATHKIT SB-1000 OR A HEATHKIT SB220 AMPLIFIER THROUGH THE NEW PALSTAR AT1500DT TUNER AND THEN OUT THROUGH LMR 400 COAX UP TO THE BRAND NEW 58 FOOT ROHN 25G TOWER TO A FAN DIPOLE ANTENNA FOR 160 METERS(LOADED WITH COILS), 80 METERS(FULL LENGTH) AND 40 METERS FULL LENGTH OR THE AWESOME TENNADYNE T-12 WHICH COVERS ALL BANDS FROM 14 TO 30 MHZ!! i MOSTLY RUN SSB IN RAGCHEW MODE BUT DABBLE INTO SOME CONTESTING, DX CHASING, AND OCCASION DIGITAL. NOT BAD FOR A SMALL CITY LOT!!!

I HAVE TWO DELL P-4 COMPUTERS IN THE STUDIO THAT I USE FOR DIGITAL, ECHOLINK, LOGGING SURFING OR WHATEVER. I RUN TWO MONITORS ON EACH COMPUTER SO I DONT MISS A THING. I USE HAM RADIO DELUXE FOR RIG CONTROL AND N3FJP'S AC LOG FOR LOGGING. I USE RASCAL INTERFACES BY BUXCOM FOR DIGI MODES. 

FOR 6 METER FM I HAVE AN ALINCO 10 WATT 6 METER RIG WITH A DIAMOND COLINEAR VERTICAL AT 20 FEET.WHEN THE BAND IS OPEN EASILY WORK ARIZONA AND CALI. ALSO I HAVE AN ALINCO 10 METER FM RIG THAT IS ALWAYS SCANNING THE REPEATER FRQS AND SIMPLEX..IT PUTS OUT AROUND 10 WATTS INTO A DIPOLE AT 25 FEET .IF NEEDED I HAVE A SWEEP TUBE AMPLIFIER THAT WILL AMPLIFY THE SIGNAL UP TO ABOUT 300 WATTS !!

FOR VHF AND UHF I USE A KENWOOD TS-790 ALL MODE WITH A MIRAGE 160W AMPLIFIER (IF NEEDED) I USE A HEIL GOLDLINE WITH A #5 CART FOR A MIC ON A SHORT BOOM WITH A FOOT SWITCH TO KEY THE TRANSMITTER.  ANTENNAS FOR VHF INCLUDE A CUSHCRAFT 13 B2 HORIZONTAL OR A TRAM DUAL BAND AT 50 FEET..ANTENNAS ON UHF INCLUDE A CUSHCRAFT 19 ELEMENT BEAM AT 55 FEET MOUNTED ON THE WEST TOWER..

FOR 440 FM AND 2 METER LINKING ON ECHO LINK I USE A ICOM IC 207H INTO A DUAL BAND WORKMAN ANTENNA AT 20 FEET

POWER SUPPLIES INCLUDE RS35A ASTRON , RS20A ASTRON, AND A DIAWA SS 330 SWITCHER SEVERAL SAMLEX SWITCHES

AS OF RIGHT NOW ALL AUDIO COMING OUT OF ANY RIG OR COMPUTER IS FED THROUGH A BEHRINGER MIXER INTO A PIONEER STEREO AMPLIFIER AND OUT TO A REALLY COOL PAIR OF BOSE SPEAKERS..

SO FAR I HAVE 4 TOWERS UP ON MY CITY LOT.

THE NORTH TOWER IS 58 FOOT ABOVE GROUND WITH 10 FT OF HEAVY STAINLESS STEEL MAST PIPE ON TOP..IT STARTED WITH A HOLE IN THE GROUND 4'X4'X4' AND 45 BAGS OF CONCRETE, THE TOWER IS ALL BRAND NEW ROHN, WITH A FLAT TOP PLATE WITH A THRUST BEARING INSTALLED. ALL TOWER HARDWARE IS ROHN (HOUSE BRACKET, GUY BRACKET, THRUST BEARING , FLAT TOP PLATE, THE TOWER IS GUYED WITH NON CONDUCTIVE PHILLEYSTRAN 2100 TO CUSTOM WELDED ANCHOR POSTS BURRIED DEEP IN THE GROUND WITH LOTS OF CONCRETE. I CAN SAY NO EXPENSE WAS SPARED ON THIS TOWER..LOTS OF GROUNDING AND A CUSTOM COPPER GROUND CAGE IS ALSO INSTALLED OUTSIDE OF THE CONCRETE (IN CASE I WANT TO SHUNT FEED IT). ON TOP IS THE TENNADYNE T-12..THIS ANTENNA IS AWESOME, FIRST CONTACT WAS ON 20 METERS INTO GERMANY WITH 100 WATTS..IT IS A PILE UP BREAKER. NO MOVING PARTS, NO BERRYLIUM TAPE OR FIBERGLASS, ITS ALMOST 100 LBS OF ALUMINUM !! ROTATED BY AN OLD TAILTWISTER WITH A NEW FORD BLUE PAINT JOB. IF YOU EVER HAVE THE CHANCE GET A T-12! ALSO ON THIS TOWER I HAND THE 160-80-40 METER FAN DIPOLE.

THE WEST TOWER IS ABOUT 50 FEET OF ROHN AND HAS A CUSHCRAFT 13B2 FOR VHF AND A CUSHCRAFT 19ELEMENT FOR UHF. THE ANTENNAS ARE ROTATED BY A HAM IV ROTATOR.

THE EAST TOWER IS ABOUT 50 FEET OF ROHN AND HAS A 2M RINGO RANGER ON TOP FOR THE STATION IN THE HOUSE. 

IN BETWEEN ALL THE TOWERS AND A TREE IN THE FRONT YARD IS A DROOPY 80 METER LOOP.

NEXT TO THE NEW STUDIO IS THE SHORT TOWER. IT IS ABOUT 20 FEET WITH A DUAL BAND ANTENNA ON IT. IT IS ALSO SUPPORTING THE WAD OF FEEDLINES FROM ALL THE OTHER ANTENNAS COMING INTO THE STUDIO.

I STILL HAVE ROOM FOR AT LEAST ONE MORE TOWER AND ITS ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW! IT WILL BE UP SOON. DO ALL THESE ANTENNAS ON A SMALL CITY LOT INTERFERE WITH EACH OTHER? YES THEY DO. IT HAS BEEN A RF NIGHTMARE. FOR A WHILE I HAD RF FEEDBACK COMING BACK DOWN THE FEEDLINES OF THE UNUSED ANTENNAS, THAT IS WHERE LOTS OF 1:1 BALUNS (RF ISOLATORS) COME IN. THE FERRITE BEADS HELP ALOT TOO

IN THE STUDIO WE ALSO HAVE A PLACE FOR CHRISTY TO GO AND DO HER THING.. SHE RECORDS JINGLES, MUSIC, COMMERCIALS AND LOTS OF OTHER STUFF. DURING THE CONSTUCTION PROCESS WE WALLED OFF A 5 FOOT BY 5.5 FOOT AREA OF THE ROOM, DOUBLE INSULATED IT ,  INSTALLED A DOUBLE PANE SOUND PROOF INSULATED 36 INCH WINDOW AND A POCKET DOOR . WE RAN LOTS OF ELECTRICITY  AND NETWORK COMPUTER WIRING. IN HER CORNER SHE HAS A SMALL EQUIPMENT RACK WITH AUDIO PROCESSING AND DUAL COMMERCIAL CD PLAYERS. SHE HAS A NEW DELL COMPUTER WITH SPLIT SCREEN MONITORS, SOUND CRAFT MIXER, EDIROL STUDIO MONITORS. SHE ALSO HAS A STUDIO CONDENSOR MIC SHOCK MOUNTED ON A COMMERCIAL BOOM.. THE AUDIO IS BETTER THAN ALOT OF BROADCAST RADIO STATIONS..  

WHILE WE WERE DOING ALL OF THIS WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE A BACK UP STATION IN THE HOUSE. WE CONVERTED A COAT CLOSET IN THE HOUSE TO A SMALL HAMSHACK/ COMPUTER ROOM. IN THE NEW ROOM WE HAVE A YAESU FT 890 FOR HF AND KENWOOD TS 711A FOR VHF. THE ANTENNA FOR HF FOR THE RIG IN THE HOUSE IS AN 80 METER LOOP FED WITH 450 OHM LADDRE LINE THAT RUNS DOWN AND INTO THE ATTIC TO A 4:1 BALUN WITH ABOUT 25 FEET OF COAX RUNNING BETWEEN FLOORS TO THE STATION. FOR THE VHF STATION IN THE HOUSE I USE A RIGO RANGER AT 50 FEET ON THE EAST TOWER!!

OUR WHOLE HOUSE IT SEEMS IS COMPUTER NETWORKED WITH 3 COMPUTERS IN THE HOUSE AND 3 IN THE BACKYARD STUDIO, THEY ALL CAN ON GET ON THE NET AND YOU CAN PRINT TO ANY PRINTER OR SHARE FILES WITH ANY COMPUTER. THE WHOLE PROCESS OF MOVING THE SHACK HAS TAKEN 8 MONTHS AND IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS..

I WANT TO THANK A LOT OF FOLKS FOR THEIR HELP ALONG THE WAY, GOD, CHRISTY, SAM AND RUBY JACKSON, JACK POTEET AKA BEARTRACKS, RUSTY R., JAMES B BEAM, THE CROWN ROYAAL DISTILLERY, STAN ENLOE K5HXI SK, JIM LITTLE K5BAI, PAUL GREEN KC5OOS, MURPH WV4R, BILLY N5YSQ, RED WW5RED, WAYNE WATTS KB5VEZ, RANDY N5DDS, CHARLES AB5AB SK, JOHN N5GCL, TERRY SITZ KE5GKC, PHRED KM5SB, MIKE KM5SA, HENRY K5BUG, MIKE C FROM PLANO, THE EHAM ELMERS, TOWER TALK, WAYNE SCOTT N4RAP, BILL K5ZZP, BART, DANNY KM5VK, GARY KI5SI, JIMMY KC5VXC, WAYNE WATTS WA5TTS, LES KE5RSC, THE CORONA BREWING COMPANY, EBAY®, VARIOUS CEDIT CARD COMPANIES AND ALL THE FOLKS THAT BOUGHT USED HAM GEAR FROM ME TO FUND ALL OF THIS INSANITY

BACK TO MAIN PAGE