About ShackDesk
ShackDesk is built by N4TEK — Mark McDow, Gainesville FL — an IT consultant and General class ham who kept running into the same problem every time he sat down for a digital mode session. Getting the right audio device and COM port assigned, every time, without hunting through Windows settings. ShackDesk is his answer to that.
My Computer Guru LLC is the business behind ShackDesk. It's a small operation — one person, one callsign, building tools he actually uses.
ShackDesk is a growing suite of Windows desktop utilities for amateur radio operators. Each app targets a specific friction point in shack setup and operation — the kind of thing that seems small until you're trying to get on the air fast during an EMCOMM activation.
Audio device and COM port display and switching for digital mode operators.
Serial CAT communication diagnostics using Hamlib.
Maidenhead grid square, lat/lon, and DMS coordinates on any device. Installable PWA, no account required.
ShackDesk apps are offline-first. No internet connection required, no telemetry without your consent, no nagware. They're designed to work in the field, at a club station, or on a go-kit laptop just as well as at your home shack.
Questions, bug reports, and feature ideas are welcome in the GitHub Discussions for each app. Links are on each app's page.
Some ShackDesk apps have public source code on GitHub. PortPane is one of them, and contributions are welcome — see the CONTRIBUTING.md in each repository for guidelines.
ShackDesk is a product of My Computer Guru LLC. © 2025 Mark McDow, N4TEK. All rights reserved.