July 2021 and the shack gets a major re-model. Having spent plenty of time re-planning and considering remodelling the shack/workspace, the project has come to fruition.

Why the decision to re-model? Very early on in 2021, I came to the conclusion that having my radios and workbench as one unit left a lot to be desired, both for reasons of space, and also practicality.

I decided to slightly separate the radios from the work area, thus the original desk has been extended to the left. Also on the left side of the shack is now the computer.

The work area to the right has a small perspex screen between it and the radio area this serves as an aid to prevent any solder or PCB cleaning chemicals getting splashed on the radios.

The work area has been laid out so that the tools I mainly use are behind the anti static mat and easily to hand along with my 45 amp power supply, Bird watt meter and an SMD solder rework station.

The anti-static mat I chose for the bench is large enough to cover most of the work area and allow me to work with static sensitive SMD components that are used in 2021, while minimising the risk of damage. Of course, an anti-static wrist strap is used in conjunction with the mat.

A light blue colour mat was purchased, my thinking behind choosing blue over the normal black mats was simply that I figured any small components or screws etc would be easier to see against the lighter colour.

Above these I have my bench power supply, one of the oscilloscopes, a couple of multimeters, a signal generator and the all important speaker for use with radios that are on the bench where I had to remove the internal speaker.

The shelf above has numerous containers storing the various components that I may require, leaving just the very top of the unit holding all the rest of the test gear.