Radio Power

I’ve been thinking about radio stuff today, so decided to check the mains power in my workshop. This is located midway along my outbuilding complex. It’s now accessible again, as I’ve hacked away the previously impenetrable triffid jungle. It’s in a sad state; the door has rotted away, and house martins used an internal wall as a nesting site for a couple of years. They apparently tried using the interior light fitting to nest; unsurprisingly, the light doesn’t work. I haven’t worked up the courage for bulb replacement. The light switch and twin power sockets are just inside, and to the left of, the non-existent door, which is a little worrying. I knew there was still at least some power there as switching on the house’s rear light, over the back door, also powers up ones outside the fuel sheds. As far as I can tell all power comes into the complex from a single, thick, cable that runs underground to the workshop door then enters via the door frame. I swept cobwebs off the double mains socket and plugged in an extension lead with an illuminated switch. To my surprise it worked. The sockets are standard domestic, internal, 3 pin units. i.e. they’re not IP rated. I dug out a flood light that I’d previously fitted with a 24W compact fluorescent, as a drop-in replacement for the R7s tube. That failed almost immediately, in my scullery, despite minimal previous use. Fortunately I have a stock of these, and several floods with floor stands. Having got one working I dragged it down to the workshop and everything works fine. I definitely want to replace that double mains socket with something IP rated.

There’s signs of rust on the inside of the corrugated roof, though the wooden joists look OK. The complex has concrete floors and all walls, internal and external, are concrete blocks. The external walls are rendered. It’s a decent sized room. I wish I’d kitted it out for radio use, especially as the room next to it (a tool shed) has my HF & satellite mast bolted to it. It looks like an ideal place to install my SGC STEALTH Tuner. If I had spare cash I’d be tempted to put in some insulation (and a door!) to use it as a summer radio shack. The SGC manual shows a horizonal loop fitted to a van / RV roof using short, plastic, vertical stand-offs. I imagine the same setup would work well on the outbuilding, as an NVIS antenna.

06-MAY-2020 👈 Top of page 👉 13-MAY-2020

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