More Home Updates (Ham Shack & Art Studio)

We are now winding down the summer season in our Virginia home. Packing up to take a month long RV trip before arriving at our Florida destination. Over the summer we have made many updates to our vintage 1956 home. Back in the spring we finished the kitchen remodel. Then it was buying furniture for the screened in back patio. Finally, I have made some progress on two more dedicated rooms.

Ham Shack

This is a good sized room to accommodate my ham radio hobby. A corner room in the finished basement. This has been on my wish list for a long time to design a room specifically for this hobby. And yes, ham radio is still a thing. It has not gone the way of the dodo bird. In fact, there are even more facets to the hobby since I took a little four year vacation in the RV.

The new technology is very interesting and I’m slowly getting back up to speed. I’ll update a future blog about my progress. I enjoy everything from just making contacts and rag chewing to operating contests and chasing DX (outside the US). I also enjoy building kits and some of my own radios.

The room has two main components, the operating desk and a building or construction desk. I built both desks to a custom design. And then a wall of shelves to store some collectables and spare equipment. Finally, a regular desk to work on other stuff.

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Since I have almost finished the ham shack, I have had a blast working many stations including many Parks on the Air (POTA). This is an organized effort to place ham operators into all parks and provide a radio contact with others from their homes. You can achieve various levels and receive a cool certificate.

I have had some good radio contact results even with a marginal antenna. The plan is to do more antenna work in the springtime to have the super station KC9LC back on the air.

Contact me if you have an interest in this hobby and would like to learn more.

Art Studio

Having a dedicated space to set up tables, easels, and for all my art supplies makes it very convenient to pursue yet another hobby. I’ve painted in the RV, at RV park rec centers, and on the dining room table, but having to clear it all and then get it back out again makes it a little more difficult.

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I now have a large dedicated room in the basement with a complete set up with everything I need. And I’ve painted another twenty or so creations since completing the room. I will need to display some in a future blog update. I think they are pretty good. Even saying so myself! 🙂 The art studio will look better when I hang several paintings on the bare walls.

Wrap Up

After we return next year, we begin to focus on Pat’s two dedicated rooms. The Quilting Room and the Library. More fun stuff!

We are actually on the road now beginning the Great Loop trip as we started from Virginia and have KY, IN, IL, MO, MS, LA, AL, and finally Florida as either stop overs or multi-day destinations. The weather has been unseasonably warm and rainy, but I suspect that may abruptly change in the coming weeks.

Thanks for following along! Take care and God Bless.