Ham shed build

Ever since we filled in the swimming pool a few years back, I've noticed that there's enough space in the back yard for a shed. Here's a likely spot:

This morning the truck arrived with all the bits.

Although offered as a kit, I'm glad I paid to get the guys to do the construction for me. The sheer weight of some parts, such as the solid floor would have been difficult for me, let alone getting the walls up and square. This shed is 2.3m x 2.9m.

It's on piers but has a very solid floor over that. I'm confident it will not be flooded even in the biggest rains we've seen. After the floor was done, the walls went up quickly.

The walls are pretty solid wood and I'm hoping they'll provide enough insulation for winter and summer nights. If not I'll add insulation and lining later.

Definitely a two person job.

Almost to lock up stage after a couple of hours:

We had some extra carpet stashed away which makes it rather luxurious. It's going to take a while to get all my radio and electronics bits arranged satisfactorily.

The solar panel was simply laid on the roof and I'm keen to see how practical it is to power the whole operation this way. For now I'll run an extension cable out with mains for soldering iron and CRO but later I'll probably get mains power on.

Re-routing antenna coax is going to take a bit of time but I expect to be back on air within a day or so.

I can recommend the supplier Outdoor Living & Lifestyle and their installers are just wonderful blokes. They even had an industrial strength radio, that runs on the same rechargeable batteries as their tools, to keep them entertained:

I looked at metal sheds, they are much cheaper (particularly if you don't count the concrete floor you need to put down), but in the end spent $3,600 total for what you see above, including delivery and installation.