I have been an operator for two years now and in that time my shack has had several incarnations.
It started on a trolley that I could move between the deck in summer and inside the house in cooler times.
It then moved inside permanently and onto a desk that can be elevated. All of the power, antenna and connecting cables dangled down to power boards and a power supply on a smaller trolley on the floor.
It was ugly, unwieldy, dirty (as in dusty) and, quite possibly, dangerous. I was intending to do a Parks on the Air activation on Sunday but atmospheric conditions were poor, so I stayed in. With a deep breath, I said “it’s time” and I attacked the beast.
It was on my mind to do ‘soon’ as last week, my Roomba had a near-death experience with my shack. I got a message on the phone saying Roomba was in trouble. I went looking for it and found it covered in wires, like an animal being strangled by a Boa constrictor.
I screwed an AC outlet board (eight mains and four usb) and a DC power board with six sets of banana sockets into the bottom of the desk. I secured all loose leads and surplus lengths with cable ties.
It came up pretty well. It took about three hours and I was left with a whole lot of surplus power and connecting cables (that were just lurking and not being used). I have some fine tuning to do but all in all, I am happy.
Before
During
After
9 November 2026