CLUB SHACK RENOVATION.

THE CLUB GETS A MAKE OVER.

25 Jan 2012

Have you visited the club shack this year? Have you seen the improvements?
One of the past years major improvements in the club was to try and bring the club shack in to the 21st century, to sort out 30 years of collected items, and to brighten up the room.
Back in 1971-72 the late Brian Benbow (G4ASJ) did the original shack build. Brian supplied all the bench equipment from his DIY/ Hardware shop and fitted it all free of charge. Steve Head (G8KOS) carried out the mains power wiring. The dreaded colour scheme of orange paint has now gone and was considered fashionable in the 70's. We know the paint came from Brian's shop and no lesser person than Andy (G4JNT) applied it to the walls at a time when he was Brian's shop school boy assistant.
Anyway, back to present day work started with a major clear out and the painting of the walls, getting rid of the vivid oranges and greens on the walls and wood work.
It should be noted that we are not sure how some things were still attached to the wall. The big wall cabinet was removed “easily” and has been replaced by a cupboard making more space on the benches to operate.
New shelves have been put up on the walls and new table tops have been fitted making much more room to work and operate.
The opportunity to rewire the sockets on the desks, we were always using extension boards, but now there are more than enough sockets around the room for all the equipment.
Finally the carpet was torn up and has been replaced by carpet tiles. The room is looking so much cleaner and brighter.
Still to be completed are the following tasks: cutting in the ring main tails in to a new consumer unit, painting of the skirting boards and window frames and the hanging of the certificates.
We also need to work out an efficient layout for all the radio equipment. This is complicated as we have to include HF / VHF / UHF / Microwave equipment inn such a way that it’s easy to use for the club members.
Our thanks to our members who have stuck with the rebuilding of the shack through the year. A lot of begging, borrowing and scrounging made it possible. G4ASJ would have been impressed.