I've had visitors and webcam folks ask: "What are you reaching under the table top to do?". This was always funny to me for some reason, so I decided to make a post and explain it, as well as my AC/DC power system. First, here's a basic pic of Studio A, my primary operating position. The 8' long main table was built for me back around 1993 by a good friend.
I have various radio gear scattered on 3 tiers of table and shelving. Almost all of it runs on low voltage DC. I have a large, deep cycle battery system in the garage (just on the other side of the RH wall in the photo). Those are charged by a pair of high current DC supplies, and diode switched to provide instant battery backup in case the AC mains are lost. I live in a rural area, and have a whole house generator to keep things powered, and opted to go this route to keep the bulk of the load off of the generator should I be on emergency power. The shack will run a few days like this, with no AC assistance from the generator, if needed. The shack computers are powered through some fairly large battery backup (UPS) systems to keep them online while the AC supply is cutting over from AC mains to the generator.
On the top shelf, just to the right of the lamp, you'll notice a 5 position rotary coax switch mounted to the forward facing edge. This is how I select various HF rigs and a cable that runs out to Studio B, to the various antennas that are brought into the shack. It's an easy reach from my rolling chair :-)
In the pics above, you'll see the AC surge suppressors / power strips I use to power the various AC widgets and computer backups. I have those mounted along the inner rear edge of the table. Notice the copper pipe running lengthwise along the rear underside of the table? That is attached to a 6' copper ground rod, driven into the ground directly under that table. Radios, coax, and other items are all ground through that.
From the DC supply system in the garage, I bring in a short run of 2/0 automotive battery cable, to a DC power distribution terminal block pair located in the center web of the underside of the table. From there, I connect all of the various DC radios and other devices through fuse blocks. This makes the addition of radios and such pretty easy. Again, you can see the ground bar running along the bottom of the table.
Now, on to "what I'm reaching for under the table". Along the front inner edge of the table, I have 3 antenna switches mounted. I easily reach under the front edge of the table, and select the HF yagi, dipoles, slopers, VHF yagi, 6m yagi, Cantenna dummy load, etc. That keeps my shelving and desk top free of antenna switches and a bunch of bulky cables that's always trying to pull them off the table.
This is pretty basic stuff, and I'm sure there's much better ways to do it, but it's how I do it. Hope that helps someone with their shack layout!
Dave WB4IUY
