what is your shack monitor real estate? For many of us, our hobbies and computers are intertwined, there are many programs out there that can enrich our radio experience. As we indulge in programs I find the monitor real estate becomes a bit crowed. Sure you can put things in the taskbar until needed again and I did this but then the taskbar became a bit crowded.
As I became more involved in contesting I found I needed more programs running as well needed to see them up close and personal on not taskbar jumping. Also many modern transceivers today have a monitor-out option, which is nice and allows a larger view of the waterfall. But that is another monitor that is needed just for this option. Now a basic setup is two monitors. In my case, I have one monitor for the Icom 7610, 2 monitors for my PC and one monitor for Ham Clock running on a Pi 3. Some may think that two monitors for your PC is a bit excessive and there are some very large monitors one can easily fit everything into. I find these monitors to be pricey and I found 2 Samsung 24-inch monitors for 1/2 the price of a very large PC monitor.
The part of the hobby I really enjoy is contesting and 2 monitors allow me to comfortably have Win4icom radio control program running, N1MM+ logger, VFO A and B waterfalls working ( as I operate SO2V) and finally an open window of Firefox as well. My second monitor looks after N1MM+ VFO B logging window and VFO B waterfall along with the open Firefox window. This monitor is on my right, I also have my external VFO B RC-28 knob on my right as well. This way everything to do with VFO B is on my right. Therefore when I look to the right it's all about VFOB. I use Firefox to monitor live contest scoring, reverse beacon network and during slow times look up contesters I worked on QRZ.COM to learn about them. The final monitor looks after Ham Clock and I mainly use that for the solar conditions as well as which bands are open for me as Ham Clock has VOACAP on it.. For example, if I am taking part in a German, North American or Spain contest I setup the a VOACAP in the country or continent I am working and I get informed about the open and closed bands between them and my location. Elwood does a great job at updating this program and it is well worth adding it to your station's software.
Finally, all my monitors are on swivel arms so they can be adjusted to my liking. Because I spend a lot of time in front of the screens I like to have the most commonly used ones at eye level and my left and right monitors set up so that my head does not have to move just my eyes. For me the less neck movement the better over the long-term contesting adventures. The Ham clock monitor is the only one up high and I only check that screen now and then.
So what does your monitor real estate look like?
1 comment:
I only have 2 monitors Mike. I wish I had another one for HamClock. I used an old tablet for a while but didn't like it. I acyually have not that much room in the shack. But your monitor real estate looks very nice and clean. 73, Bas
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