The Shack

My shack is in the spare bedroom at the current QTH. All my radio equipment is kept in the shack, also there is a computer for taking logs and other radio related purposes.

I have no permanent antennas up at the current QTH though I use a homebrew flowerpot antenna as a temporary antenna for 2-meters on occasion, and a boomerang antenna for 11-meters also on temporary use basis, I have a separate bench (the original shack desk) as a workbench and soldering station.

My equipment

This is the current list of equipment in my shack:

  1. Moonraker FA5000 80 channel CB radio (still works, but being FM only it won’t offer much flexibility with the new, 2014-on, modes, it is retired)
  2. Intek H-520 Plus multistandard handheld CB radio (there are actually 2 of these, one functional, one damaged)
  3. Midland Alan 78 Plus Multi B CB radio (this radio was used in my first car paired to a tornado stinger/orbitor type antenna on a magmount)
  4. TTI TCB-550 multi-standard CB radio (this particular example has had it’s speaker removed and had a fan glued to the underside to cool it, the fan has since been removed)
  5. Midland Alan 42 Multi Handheld CB radio
  6. President Grant II ASC AM/FM/SSB CB radio (my first President rig and second Uniden rig, now we have legal AM and SSB this rig is perfect for the job)
  7. CRT SS9900 11/10-meter radio
  8. Thunderpole T-3000 (in the car, permanent car CB radio)
  9. Thunderpole T-800
  10. PNI Escort HP7120
  11. Moonraker Micro
  12. Team RoadCom FS (bought for future radio camper van project but used in another room at present)
  13. (Coming soon) Midland 38
  14. (Coming soon) *mystery* Midland radio that I’ll reveal on my YouTube channel as it is quite unusual
  15. Realistic TRC-1007 handheld 40-channel CB (27/81)
  16. Syncron MB+5 RB preamplified microphone with roger beep circuit (currently out of use and needs new cable)
  17. Midland BaseCamp446
  18. Intek DRS-5070 (this particular one has had it’s speaker removed and a fan added and is fitted with a BNC socket, currently out of use due to a fault, suspected to be the final output transistor and the BNC removed and used in a homebrew Bias-T)
  19. Intek MT-5050
  20. Binatone Action 950 (pair, one has had a BNC socket fitted in place of it’s normal antenna)
  21. Binatone EK1000 (pair, dismantled and not used)
  22. Motorola TalkAbout T62 (pair)
  23. Wouxun KG-UVD1P Dual-Band VHF/UHF handheld radio
  24. Baofeng UV-5RC Plus Dual-Band VHF/UHF handheld radio
  25. Pofung GT-5 Dual-Band VHF/UHF handheld radio
  26. Baofeng BF-888 UHF handheld (programmed for 70cm simplex)
  27. AnyTone AT-D868UV Dual-Band VHF/UHF analogue and DMR handheld radio
  28. Radio-Tone RT-3 Network Radio
  29. Retevis RT87 Dual-Band VHF/UHF handheld radio
  30. Yaesu FT2D VHF/UHF analogue and C4FM handheld radio
  31. Leixen VV-898 Dual-Band VHF/UHF mobile radio (used for APRS igate due to cheapness, in another room)
  32. QYT KT-8900D Dual-Band VHF/UHF mobile radio (retired)
  33. Yaesu FTM-400XDE Dual-Band VHF/UHF analogue and C4FM radio (installed in car)
  34. Yaesu FT991A (used at home for 2/70 and potentially HF when antenna issued resolved
  35. Steepletone MBR50W Worldband receiver (in storage)
  36. Omega 4996 Airband/2m/CB receiver
  37. Realistic scanner
  38. Precision Gold (Maplin Electronics) ESD safe soldering station (It’s a rebadged Atten soldering station so bits and irons for the Atten version work with the Maplin version)
  39. Maplin Electronics XM21X 13.8V 7A regulated power supply (relocated to another room)
  40. MyDEL variable voltage (set 13.8V) DC regulated power supply (has cigarette lighter socket, binding posts and low-current speaker-type terminals)
  41. Unilab variable voltage (2-12V) AC/DC power supply (unregulated)
  42. iQon/Multimedia by Philips (former) Pentium 4 PC (shack computer, previously used an Intel Celeron CPU, upgraded to AMD Sempron 145 CPU)
  43. RTL2832U SDR stick with R820T tuner
  44. NooElec NESDR SMArt RTL2832U SDR with R820T2 tuner and TCXO
  45. JumboSpot (A Raspberry Pi Zero W with an addon board on top in a black case with an OLED display)
  46. Raspberry Pi 1B revision 2 acting as YSFReflector for my YouTube livestreams

When operating portable I use a CHUWI Hi10 Air tablet with keyboard dock for logging, this is not on the above list as it is not shack equipment though can be used in the shack with the SDR dongles as the main shack computer doesn’t seem to handle them too well at present.

Planned additions to my shack are currently listed below

  • Raspberry Pi Zero W with camera board in wall-mounted camera housing (wireless IP ShackCam, will still be controlled by the shack computer but over the network)
  • Yaesu FT-450D HF/6m radio (radio discontinued so opted for FT991A instead, see list above)
  • HF Signals µBitX HF transceiver kit (no longer required at present due to FT991A

The shack can be viewed most of the time on the ShackCam, currently an off-the-shelf webcam fitted to a suction mount on the window, though there will be times when the ShackCam won’t be operating, usually when I leave the shack at the end of the day or the shack computer is off for whatever reason, also during meal times if I remember to shut it off.

I try and spend most of my free time in the shack at the moment, though not always on air as I am tweaking the shack to how I’d like it, and I also work on other radio related projects, including using SDR as I now have it available.

Hope to catch you on the air soon, be it CB, PMR446 or the Amateur bands, I tend to monitor GB3IR and GB3HG at home, I also monitor the Hubnet, CQ-UK and Network Radios, normally in channel 00 on the latter