By Dave Jensen, W7DGJ

Have you ever dumped a fresh cup of coffee or a beer while enjoying a ragchew? After years of mistakes near my radios or computer keyboards, I have finally found the perfect solution. Of course, it’s not just for ham radio operators, but I am enjoying it more than any $15 or $20 ham accessory. The IKEA coffee cup holder mounts to most desktops or radio stands and is quite beautiful. It’s made from solid wood with nice grain and a metal mount that should appeal to any operator. In typical IKEA fashion, look for their LÅNESPELARE Cup Holder.

While buying my coffee cup holder, I also picked up these additional IKEA accessories which complement my shack. . . there’s a neat Headphone/Cellular Phone stand (photo below) for only $6 (MÖJLIGHET) and I can’t find a better work surface for my key or the mouse than the IKEA oversized Gaming Mouse Pad. We all know what a mouse pad is, but this is about three times larger than most. It’s made from nylon covered foam, and it won’t move no matter what kind of slippery surface you’ve placed it on. I’ve got a glass desktop and when operating CW my keyer slides across the surface, no matter how hefty its base. Problem solved for about $10 (LÅNESPELARE Mouse Pad).

I wish I had a “before” shot for my shack, because I used to keep all my gear simply lined up on the desk. Unfortunately, when the radios and accessories started outnumbering the square inches of space available, I began stacking them on top of each other. I kept wanting to organize it and make it better looking and more functional, but it wasn’t until I uncovered these cool risers from Amazon that I was able to easily get a new look for my shack.They’re quite reasonable, about $25 for a pair, and they come with adjustable legs to easily make room for gear placed above or below their surface. The construction is acceptable for all but the largest linear amplifiers, and I like the fact that they have an open design with holes to keep the air circulating around the equipment. For this one, search for Amazon product ID #B07F3FTVQF.

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