I hate the reference to “the shack” or “ham shack” because I’m in my office within my home. Yeah, sure, that house might be pushing 100 years old before long, but it’s definitely not a shack.

For the last couple of years I have been using a Yaesu FTdx-1200 that I picked up on a local swap net. It has been an awesome radio, and certainly a huge step up from the Yaesu FT-900 that was my first HF radio. CAT control and sound are ran via a Yaesu SCU-17. Power is supplied by an Astron RS-50A (also powering an FTM-3200 VHF until I can find an all-mode VHF/UHF transceiver)

As can happen with ham radio, I do also have a bit of an urban antenna farm growing. That did start before I got my license with a 5/8 wave 10-12m vertical that I used for CB. I actually used that antenna to make my first HF contact on 40m to H44MS in the Solomon Islands. I got a 44 signal report!

But I digress. Now I primarily rely on my 107′ random wire, with 9:1 match box. My FTdx-1200’s built in tuner will run the antenna from 160m-12m. It truly is, in my opinion, one of the best bang-for-buck setups.

I also have a 40/20/10m fan dipole and a 2m antenna too. Below you’ll see a bit of the layout around my 100’x50′ urban property.