Shed Workshops

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What are Shed Workshops?

Since mid-2019 Wellington Branch 50 NZART has held regular Shed Workshops. These have proved popular, providing an opportunity for amateur operators to learn about techniques and topics in a more practical setting in somebody’s shed/garage on a Sunday afternoon.  They also represent a chance to  share technical experience and ideas and to get started on a new project.  

Each workshop has a nominated lead and is held in the garage of a local amateur radio operator. The workshops usually focus on a specific topic or technical activity, although this does not preclude anyone introducing unscheduled topics at a workshop.

Workshops may spin off projects, such as the construction of homebrew Magnetic Loop Antennas.  Where a series of workshops are focussed on construction of something of interest to attendees (or a group of attendees), donations may be requested to cover consumables/projects.  Sometimes these are paid for out of club funds.

Workshop format

Workshops are scheduled for a Sunday between 1pm and 3pm, normally on the first full weekend of a month.   Each workshop session has a nominated lead/convenor who sets the agenda and timetable as appropriate.  

2020 Topics

March 1 –  Homebrew HF transceivers (Charlie Morris ZL2CTM)

June 7 -Receive only Magnetic Loops (Bernard ZL2BD)

July 5 – Hive Makerspace at Waitohi and Introduction to Nano-VNA (John ZL2XJ)

August 2 – Introduction to SDR Spectrum Analyser (Ted ZL2TB)

 2019 Topics

February 10 – Multimeters: Old and modern show and tell. Checking accuracy and meter calibration (Bernard ZL2BD) 

March 9 – Test equipment: Six operators showed off a piece of test equipment in use (March)

April 13 – Vintage Radio restoration/ construction 1 (George ZL2AG)

May 5 – Vintage Radio restoration 2 (Don ZL2BL)

May 26 – Class D Amplifiers (Bernard ZL2BD)

 August 4 – Build an active antenna #1 (Bernard ZL2BD and John ZL2XJ)

Sept 1 – Build an active antenna #2 (Bernard ZL2BD and John ZL2XJ)

October 6 – TX/RX antenna switching (needed for your active antenna)

                                      & using a phasing circuit to reduce noise (Bernard ZL2BD)

November 3 –  Interference – levels and strategies to reduce it (ZL2BD and ZL2XJ)

December 1 – Putting together a hotspot for DMR or D-STAR (ZL1AXG)

Possible future topics

  1. Transceiver and Linear Amp testing: Two tone tests (SSB) and power measurements. Using RemoteDX Inc Remote Station equipment for demonstration
  2. Baluns, Ununs: end-fed matching of suburban antennas. Demos and measurements.

Please check the main page of the website or the activities calendar for scheduled shed workshop topics.