Adding 220V

The building chosen for the shack only had 120V service served by a single 20A breaker. I wanted 220V service to power the amplifiers. The closest access to 220V came from the nearby barn building, which had a 100A service panel.

A local contractor advertised on Facebook that his electrician was finishing a job and had a few days available. I contacted him, and they were able to start within a few days.

To keep costs down, I had them focus on installing a new panel in the shack and getting power to it from the barn.

The complexity in getting power out of the barn and over to the garage. This involved digging a trench, running conduit under a porch, and punching through the walls of each building.

They made good progress and had most of the work done within a day.

The barn side has a 60A breaker feeding the run to the barn. The shack has a small electrical panel with two 220V circuits (20A each), multiple circuits for the shack and garage, and room for expansion. They also added ground rods and grounding for the shack panel. The existing 120V circuit coming from the house was capped off and will not be used.

Once that was done, I was able to do the shack wiring myself. Even though the electricians weren’t keen on surface wiring (they would have preferred putting everything in conduit), I kind of liked saving money and retaining the ability to easily make changes later if needed.

I chose LED lighting fixtures that let me adjust the brightness and color warmth, as I wasn’t sure what the room would need. Might still be some room for improvement in this area once I start spending long operating sessions in contests.