That was the sound of the men, working on the chain gang

3 minute read

Only in this instance there was also a woman, Petra M7PAH, who came along with her small but perfectly formed Suzuki pickup truck and together with Gary Tor Kid took the fallen ceiling and a whole load of other junk to the council tip thus recovering the car park space it had been occupying.

Matt M9MIM applied some more sealant to the roof of the hut and discovered that the split in the roof seems to be due to wind rocking of the satellite TVRO dish bolted to it. Alas the dish fittings are now seized and will have to be cut off with a grinderette, perhaps on Friday, in order to remove the dish and mount completely which was going to happen anyway as we now have better things to do than watch television.

Tor Kid, Mike 2E0RWW and Chaz G6UVO also came along and removed all of the equipment from the shelf in the old shack, which was very difficult because everything had been screwed on in a particular order such that one rig or bracket was blocking access to the screws of another; eventually the whole shelf had to be taken off the wall complete with its own brackets (their screws also blocked by rigs), turned over on the bench, and painstakingly dissected.

Two enormous steamer trunks, each only partly full of donated apparatus, were emptied and their contents ‘triaged’. One contained largely things that we are unlikely to want, such as period 1980s Microwave Modules gadgets, which were added to a pile of stuff to sell at a rally. The other contained gorgeous rigs some of which (like an FRG-7) are collectable antiques and others, believed by M9MIM to be fully working, eminently suitable for inclusion in the new shack layout.

All this gear has been roughly sorted into three piles: to be tested against a future decision; to be sold; and to be used. The ‘test’ pile includes a rather basic 4m rig which if working will be a start to getting on to a new band.

The steamer trunks themselves are naturally quite old but are apparently a fashionable antique at present so M9MIM might try to sell them as they take up a lot of space and if they are filled with anything worthwhile they become too heavy to move.

The plywood panel over the end window, which had been supporting the TV set, was taken down and the TV mount recovered - we hope to use the TV screen for an SDR display.

By the end of the afternoon the hut looked like this:

hut

The collapsed but now tidied up ceiling and wet carpet are fairly clear, as is the now unobstructed window and the old window panel and shelf awaiting removal. Less clear are the rigs sitting on the bench at the end, which are our regular Anytone ARES CB rig together with three from the steamer trunk, all of which M9MIM, who received them as donations, believes to be working; Rigpix links as the camera evidently couldn’t hack it:

A Trio TS-120s mobile type 100W SSB HF rig, eminently suitable for a QRO HF mobile station

An Icom IC-251E all mode 10W 2m base station rig which will if all goes well go straight into the VHF/UHF cubicle once this is ready

A Trio TS-930S 100W , fitted with the optional ATU, which will with luck become the Club’s main HF rig, leaving the FT-450, the only HF rig we have capable of 60m operation, to do Blue Ham.

The five rigs removed from the shelf (the FT-450 and several VHF/UHF and CB types) are invisible as they are sitting, each with its belongings (bracket, power cable, mike etc.) on chairs invisible behind the stack of chairs on the right.

The next work party will convene on Friday evening at the usual Club time to cut off the TVRO dish mounts and perhaps lift and remove the ruined carpet. The success of M9MIM’s re-sealing of the roof will have to be evaluated and perhaps a plate welded on as we cannot afford to risk the leak returning once the new CB and HF cubicles are underneath it.