Coping with Recumbency
Easier access to bedside radio and TV

see copyright notice. Page created 26-Jul-2020. Use the button groups above to navigate quickly around the site.

Some years ago, I bought a DAB-capable Roberts "Classic" radio to replace the ancient AM-FM one on my bedside table. Its design appealed to me - minimal controls based around a central, upward-facing display (actually tilted 15° forward) and a multi-purpose rotary "digital" control which scrolls through menus, and clicks down to make a selection. All well and good - until you want to make adjustments from your bed. Faced with the choice of tilting it over to see the display, or getting out of bed to look down on it, I made this little attachment for horizontal viewing, from cardboard and PVC tape.

I'm not sure what to call it - it's neither a periscope nor a prism! It has two reflectors, made from flexible plastic mirror glued onto stout cardboard panels, and positioned as in the diagram. The "mirrors" are 65 x 25mm, and their slightly uneven surfaces distort the image, but the display is perfectly legible. And it can still be seen from above, through a gap.

So much for the radio, now I wanted equally convenient TV. This bracket is made from a piece of chipboard, hinged to a wall-mounted block. A flat-to-wall VESA mount is bolted to the chipboard (so the TV can be lifted off easily if it's needed elsewhere).

The white length of plastic (an A4 bookbinder) is pivoted on the lower edge of the chipboard, so that the TV can be swung out by the recumbent user - the ultimate in laziness! Foam plastic blocks cushion against collision with the wall (on the back of the TV's base stand) and over-travel of the hinges (on the vertical edge of the chipboard). Both radio and TV are powered through switches mounted on the side of the bedside table.

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