Newbie Purchases/ My Shack a work in progress

 Lets talk about my shack/working conditions.....

Its not ideal, but as I'm in the early stages of my ham radio hobby, I think i am still deciding what i need to do what i want to do9, which is, pretty much everything. I hunger for BOTA/POTA/Digital and satellites ...... this list goes on. 

What you initially buy, because you think its what you need, soon becomes apparent that you probably made some ill informed choices, very expensive choices. 

So day one, you pass the test, and off you trot to the nearest radio shop or online store.

I was advised that if i was thinking about taking my next licence level maybe my initial purchases were a tad limited. The wise words of the proprietor of my favorite radio shop, which soon became true.

I started with a Xeigu G90 and a Chelegance MC750 vertical antenna and a 30amp power supply and a 8ah LIFEPO4 battery. 

I still love and use everything I bought. Everything  fits in a rucksack and is great for trekking up the hills, in the Peak District and Yorkshire,  and onto the beaches around the east coat of the UK. This is a great setup for BOTA (Bunkers on the air)  and POTA (parks on the air) activations or anything portable. Throw in a fiberglass pole and a 40m EFHW antenna and you are pretty much set for life. Or until the sunspots disappear. 

Getting my next licence was all a quest to just get that extra power. When the sun goes quiet and the dark days arrive, I want that 100watts (2 S point) boost to get myself heard, on the only band that is active in town, 40m. bands of a longer wavelength are also available but not to my limited antenna setup.

This brings me to my next purchase. The beautiful love of my life, Yaesu FT710 field. not great for dragging up the hills but ideal for car and short walking distance travel activations as well as happy at home plugged into my EFHW concoction. This was a real investment for me, cheap by other radio standards, but still a sizeable chunk out of my bank account. I love this radio, the receiver is super sensitive and the noise reduction is brilliant. This should have been my first choice, although the shop owner tried to push me in the direction of an Icom IC-705.  

Total outlay at this point is about £1900. For the time being i am happy i have what i need. 

The shack 

I don't have a separate room for my radio space, it spreads from my bedroom to my living room.

In the bedroom, I have an IKEA cube storage device and on top sits my 2 radios i keep for home use and my little power supply and well as 4 boxes in the unit to store my coax, connectors, antennas and all the other little bits and pieces. 





My G90, when not in use outdoors, sits on small table near my computer in the living room doing FT8/FT4. 

Antennas I will discuss in a future blog as this is getting a bit long and its probably got that read to go to sleep vibe. 

Enough Waffling for now 73s

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