Last week we toured the antenna field – today we go inside the shack. This station has gradually evolved into a fully remote-capable multi-2 HF contest and DX station designed around flexibility, redundancy and experimentation.
In this video I walk through the overall philosophy of the build and show how the entire system works together, including:
* TS-990 operating positions
* Multi-2 contest infrastructure
* Remote mains switching using Shelly relays
* Antenna Genius coax switching
* Rotator Genius control
* Automatic band-pass filtering
* ACOM 2000 remote startup
* ACOM Director
* RUSTDESK RDP
* RF isolation between stations
* Coax entry and field routing
* Shack networking
* Remote desktop operation
* Audio routing and monitoring
* Behringer XR18 integration
* Power distribution
* Logging Software (N1MM and QSO Director)
* Monitoring cameras
* Future station expansion
The goal was never to build a “perfect” shack – only a practical one that keeps evolving as new ideas appear. One of the most interesting parts of this project has been solving all the little engineering problems that appear when you place multiple HF stations close together:
* RF getting into equipment
* antenna lockouts
* relay sequencing
* remote safety
* grounding
* filtering
* interference management
* station redundancy
It’s still a work in progress, but hopefully this gives you some ideas for your own shack – whether you’re building a small home station or a fully remote HF setup.
Main Equipment Featured:
– Kenwood TS-990
– ACOM 2000A
– ACOM Director
– Antenna Genius
– Rotator Genius
– Behringer XR18
– Shelly relays
– N1MM
– QSO Director (coming soon)
73,
Callum M0MCX
DX Commander