The Micro-Shack

It eventually happens. You get a QTH built up with a reasonable set of antennas, then you have to move. My friend Mike used to think he lived under a curse -- two years after he put a tower up, he ended up moving. This happened to him three separate times. He solved that problem when he moved last -- he hasn't put up a tower since.

My wife was moved to a new church, and with that posting came a parsonage. The little problem with the parsonage was it was a bit smaller than the previous house. So, where could I set up some radios? No more basement shack, cause, there is no basement. And there's no spare or "bonus" room. What to do?

There was a little utility room next to the car port. This is an unheated / (cooled) storage room, that houses the water heater and the electrical box. It's about 5x7 feet, and not good for terribly much. Perfect. (Well, not perfect, but it could work....)

The storage room was pretty dismal. While it had a window, the walls were thin, unpainted plywood that had seen a fair amount of abuse in 40+ years. I removed a beat-up cabinet that apparently had been salvaged out of someone's kitchen a few decades ago. A couple of coats of white paint considerably brightened the place up.

On the wall opposite the water heater, I put some adjustable shelf brackets in place, and had enough brackets on hand for five shelves. Then there was the small matter of the operating desk. I mounted 2x4 blocks on opposite walls by screwing into the studs and placed a piece of 23/32" plywood on top of them. (Do you know that it is crazy you cannot buy 3/4" plywood any more?) A couple of 2x4 blocks along the wall hold up the back end of the desk, and two strips of 1x4 glued to the bottom give it enough reinforcement that it would probably hold up my weight. Should be good enough for any boat-anchor I choose to put on it.

The operating desk fitted the space available: 5 feet 3 3/4 inches by 29 inches deep and 30 inches above the floor. The shelves just above the desk would support some equipment to free up a little desk space. It would be small, but quite usable.

Now, it's just a small matter of getting power, ground and some antennas up.