The Club Shack

[K3MRI]

Call me old, but I remember when clubs had a shack. I'm not just talking about our school clubs that all had one, in that the radio room was the place to meet, operate and otherwise have a great time. But my club had a communal shack where all members pitched in labor, equipment, and maintenance. Usually it was on one of the members' farms or someone who had a nice big empty plot of land. One club in my area was based out of a trucking company's warehouse, another was at the local air strip.

I'm curious how people feel about club shacks...

[WA2WMR]

When I was studying for my license back in '62, I would go to the Jersey City RACES club station at Roosevelt Stadium. They had all sorts of gear there. They had a couple of Viking 1 (or was it 2?) Hammarlund receivers. They had Gonsets for 6 meters and 2 meters. And then there was this big gray thing that stood on the floor on shock mount that had a bunch of knobs and when one used the telephone dial (do any of you remember dial telephones) to select a channel, all the dials would rotate as it tuned itself.

[K3MRI]

The results of our mini poll are interesting. Few respondents so far and clearly unscientific, but the leaning is definitely towards clubs having communal shacks. MVARC, VWS, MARC, all the other clubs I’m a member of… listening? 😇

[K3MRI]

Well, so far, clearly more people want a shack than not want one, by a margin. Again, few respondents, but it confirms my thoughts that we all long for that communal space where we can connect face-to-face and potentially operate in better conditions, especially if the shack is in a better place than my HOA 😫

[WA2WMR]

Well, years ago there was a setup at the Coast Guard station, but after the earthquake the wouldn't let anyone in. 

[K3MRI]

3 hours ago, WA2WMR said:

Well, years ago there was a setup at the Coast Guard station, but after the earthquake the wouldn't let anyone in. 

I remember hearing about that. What a shame.

[WA2WMR]

It took quite a while before they allowed club members in to retrieve club equipment. 

[K3MRI]

What were they looking for, proof of ownership? I mean, it was a club, right. You'd the the CG would have just released the equipment to the club and let the club figure it out.

[WA2WMR]

I think it was concern about the building collapsing.

 

[K3MRI]

24 minutes ago, WA2WMR said:

I think it was concern about the building collapsing.

 

Ouch, so the building was about to collapse so they took their time and, meanwhile, all the equipment in there was at risk of being sandwiched. Ouch indeed.

[WA2WMR]

Well, there had just been an earthquake and, I guess, they were concerned about people being sandwiched.