Wanting to rebuild the Shack, and other financial nightmares

Back in 2020 things were more complex for everyone, I’d just moved to this house, and Covid hit. I didn’t get a chance to get the antenna’s up, and life became very hectic. To cut a very long story short. I was planning a move to the USA to be with my then-partner, unfortunately, that didn’t pan out in the way we planned. I sold all my radio gear and most of my worldly possessions. Getting a US visa wasn’t going to be easy, it was going to be a ten-year minimum process and involved lots of capital neither of us had.

So in 2023 Kellyn, relocated to the UK, which in itself is a story for the ages. Getting a UK visa was a lot easier than a US visa, but still entailed a lot of time waiting on our hands for things to get done. Eventually, in March her visa arrived, and it was only in July that her National Insurance number arrived, in the wrong name. So that had to be sent back and sorted. As with all government departments that took an age. With our Son here, she was given a ten-year visa!

So in 2024 things settled enough to start thinking about getting back on the air. After our ‘renewal of vows’ (so that family from the USA could attend) I got the website active again, initially with the Weather side of things. Now I am looking to start getting the radio content back together.

As anyone who has met me will know I am not a person that goes asking for aid, and this is not the case here either. It will be a long road to rebuilding the shack. But it will be worth the time and effort in the long run.

As you can see from the top photo the original shack consisted of a Kenwood TS2000X, a HF linear amp, a Nobel 4m SSB and CW rig a Philips 4m FM rig and an ICOM IC706mk2. as well as various VNA’s and antenna’s that included a 23×4 23cm array (Bayed and Stacked), 2m 7 element beam, 4m 7 element beam, 6m 3 element beam and a assortment of HF antenna’s.