[VHFcontesting] Almost-turnkey rover for sale

[John D'Ausilio]

It is with mixed emotions that I must offer the Intergalactic Roving
Battle Jitney for sale .. other obligations make it impossible for me
to dedicate the time necessary to keep it ready to go. I'm going to
keep the RF stuff for a future SO effort and offer the Jitney as an
almost-ready-to-go rover as described below.

The Details

Vehicle: 2000 GMC Safari Extended AWD with around 120K on it. It spent
it's first 100K miles as an AT&T service van, and has been nearly
trouble free. The AWD transfer case electronics work but it needs a
new clutch-pack, around $250 and $50 of fluid if you DIY. If you don't
need AWD it works fine as-is. I've been changing the oil every 3K
(basically once a year). The inside is (sloppily) paneled in 1/4" ply,
with an inch of styrofoam behind. The operating table is 3/4" ply and
runs the entire length of the van on the drivers side from just behind
the drivers seat to the back doors. There's a floor-to-ceiling rack in
the center, and the battery box lives in front of the rack splitting
the interior into two operating positions. There is a 14" IBM monitor
mounted on the wall at each position.

Power: 4 x Interstate U2300 golf cart batteries, wired in
series-parallel and treated as a 12V bank since new (2 years ago).
They are always on the charger floating at 13.5 and I check and top
off the water before each 'test. Charger is a PowerX 45A RV
charger/PS. Included is a heavy-duty shielded box (in the rack) with
an 1800 pure sine inverter and a Jacobs Accuvolt, with correctly-sized
feedthroughs for DC and AC connections. The system is wired to the car
charging system through a 150A ammeter mounted on the dashboard, and
there's a boat-type isolation switch in easy reach of the driver to
disconnect the rover battery from the vehicle. Alternator is stock,
but I've found that by making sure the engine speed is high enough
(for cooling) and by careful management of the isolation switch you
can get the charge current down to a safe 75A without melting the
solder holding the diodes in ;)  Also comes with an extra 12V deep
cycle with a solenoid for making 24V for Motorola amps on 903.

VHF/UHF: Fixed mast on a Yaesu G-800DXA on a custom mount to the front
bumper. Top of mast is 11' 6". Six foot yagis for 144, 222, 432 and a
homemade moxon for 50, individual cables (LMR400) from each of the
antennas to the patch panel on inside of the rear door.

Microwaves: 20' crankup (mil lighting system, very heavy duty) mounted
on Yaesu G-800DXA with ID controller for PC which is on a custom mount
plugged into a trailer hitch, The entire mast rotates in a homebrew
thrust bearing. H-frame made from square fiberglass and held together
with machined plates (very sturdy). 12-foot loopers for 903, 1296,
2304, 3456, and a relay system which multiplexes those four bands
through a single piece of LMR600. There's an extra cable (LMR400) for
another low-band antenna above the H-frame. Plenty of room to mount
higher bands inside the h-frame. Top of mast when collapsed is around
11' 9", can be adjusted down if desired. I think the very top is
around 30 feet when fully extended.

Please contact me off-list if interested .. I'm more interested in
seeing it continue being used than I am in getting maximum value. If I
don't find a package buyer many of the items described will be
available individually in a month or so as I deinstall stuff.

The jitney is located in SW Connecticut.

de w1rt/john