Hello everyone! Time for another installation of the Cambridge105 Construction Blog!
We have power!
The electrics of Cambridge105 has probably been one of the more long-winded projects on the premises, what with the electrics having to be installed by volunteers who need to be available, around walls that need insulating, furniture that needs building, equipment that needs installing and a station that needs broadcasting. So whilst there are still elements ongoing, there is a lot to report on!
First of all, the first thing we needed was to be able to see what we were doing, so we needed to get some lighting sorted out. We got ourselves some strip lighting from Lighting Styles, designers of contemporary & modern lighting. From decorative ceiling lights to practical office lighting, they have all styles of lighting for all applications. Thankfully we needed nothing more complicated than basic office and studio lighting, which they provided in the form of some rather attractive strip-mounted spotlights.
Strip Lighting from Lighting Styles
Station Director Steve Potter with Roger Pake and Chris Dunn
Roger Pake, who puts the son into G.M. Pake & Son Electrical Contractors, worked together with Chris Dunn from C.D.P. Electrical – providors of commercial, domestic and industrial electrical and datacomms installation – to install all of our electrics. Together the two of them have put in a lot of man hours for which all of us at Cambridge105 are hugely grateful. Without them, we wouldn’t have any power to run the buttons we needed the lighting to see!
Next, we needed to be able to plug all of our electrical equipment in without miles of sprawling extension leads. That meant lots of cabling that needed to be accessible, but tidy! Senate Electrical – part of the Rexel Group, the leading distributor worldwide of electrical supplies – and QVS Discount Electrical Wholesale – the one stop shop for all your electrical needs at below trade prices – helped us out with the raw materials for this one, which Robert and Chris fitted for us.
Chris Dunn putting in some wiring.
The raw materials.
Roger Pake working on the fuse box and distribution unit.
Once we had the electrics all wired up, lights fitted, and sockets powered up we were beginning to look a little more like a professional radio station, rather than a bunch of radio anoraks in a disused garage. We were able to start properly plugging in server racks, studio and office computers, rather than scrape the barrel of power by daisy chaining extension leads and socket adapters from the one or two sockets already available on the premises. Oh, and we also got broadband installed. So we can hook up to that new-fangled interweb everyone keeps talking about.
The Office
We’ve successfully got over another hurdle in the construction of your your community radio station, but we’ve still got a lot more to do. Whilst our main studio is currently fully functional, the furniture on which our equipment sits is far from perfect. The next step is to build studio 2 some custom furniture for the equipment to sit in. Once that’s done, we’ll install all the equipment we need to keep the station running in studio 2, whilst we dismantle the current studio where you hear shows like 105 Breakfast and Drive. Then Studio 1 can get its additional layer of sound insulation, it’s custom furniture built and installed, and generally announced “finished… for now”. Then we can crack on with tidying up our office space and kitchenette. More on that to come in our next update!
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