RadCom Basics May 2022, Edition 28

RadCom Basics 11 With a tight budget where do I start? By Lee, G4EJB Having moved again last year, it was time to put a station together. As usual, I had all types of plans in- cluding building an 8ft x 6ft wood- en shed.Well reality kicked in very quickly with the poor availability and doubling in price of sheds. So what options had I got then? Well, there was an old 6ft x 4ft garden shed that wasn’t in too bad a shape. Could I manage with that? After the small space I inhabited at the last location (see the radio sta- tion bench in RadCom Basics, Janu- ary 2021 made from an old potting table), I thought with some careful planning I could make the tight space work – though far from ideal. Thankfully I am still able to carry out the physical work involved. I dismantled the shed, added some extra treated timbers to the base as the old ones were a bit tired, rebuilt the paving slab base it sat on, made good the windows, filled any holes in the shiplap and gave it a coat of some oldTimbercare.To finish it off, I had an off-cut of roofing felt to give it some more protection. Now for the internals One thing I do appreciate is staying warm as well as dry. So, the shed had a membrane made from old polythene sheeting, then a layer of Rockwool insulation and some polystyrene based insulation. To line out the shed, I used hardboard from some old wardrobe sliding doors and plywood. It was paint- ed where necessary with white emulsion – to keep it light. Nearly all the materials were recycled (I don’t throw much away) with the exception of the plywood and a vinyl flooring off-cut. Please note carpet was not used – I will discuss this next time. I’d love to tell you all this work was done in one go, it wasn’t. The house and garden demanded far