AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Isn't that what priority channel is for?

[Heath74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heath74]

Also means the cool kids who have them can talk behind everyone else's back.

Lol, just makes for a very uncomfortable trip if you get caught out...

[Trekrider Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Trekrider]

Also for parallel redundancy in case one fails

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

Isn't that what priority channel is for?

Just easier to have two radios isn't it? I've always had two and couldn't imagine it any other way.

Lol, just makes for a very uncomfortable trip if you get caught out...

If you're saying that horrible a thing behind someone's back over a UHF then you probably don't care too much about it being uncomfortable.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

I have to ask the dumb question, why 2 UHFs?

I thought the same thing first time I saw this set up.

I expect to use it mostly when in convoy and wanting to talk to Truckies, I always talk to truckies when travelling if I or they are looking to overtake, when trip leading you still want to be in contact with your group and 2 x UHF's is just easier than switching back and forth.

Also I have a 40 and an 80, 40's dont play well with 80's so I can choose which one to use depending on the group I am with and if they are having issues hearing me.

On last years GTG I led most days but also was talking with other groups on a regular basis, switching back and forth once again, once you start to think about it lots of scenarios come to mind where I could have used the 2 in the past.

Cheers Andrew

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

A new set of rubber was in order for the upcoming trip, after looking at all the options I couldn't find a reason to change from the BFG AT's so got a brand new set fitted up

Cheers Andrew

[1coolbanana Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 1coolbanana]

Cant go wrong with that decision :-)

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

Well here it is assembled.







Cheers Andrew

Hi Andrew

This looks like a great touring set-up, I'm thinking of something very similar - I have an existing fridge box and slide from Drifter.The fridge will most likely be freezer only so wasn't too concerned with height or the need for a drop slide.
How do you go with accessing the top drawers? Are they easily accessible and would you do anything different if you were doing it again?

ps. Thanks for taking the time to index and post all of your mods - it's a fantastic resource for us all.

Thanks

Trev

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Yes it's a great touring setup, not for everyone though as it does limit the cargo area to smaller items which is fine for our purposes. The top drawer is getting pretty high, I am 6'2" and can get to it from ground level but I still sometimes stand on the rear step when packing it. We keep all the expensive electrical stuff in there such as camera and computer, sat phone etc. nice and high in case we get stuck in water.

If I had my time again the main thing I would change is too not buy the Black Widow drawers, they are OK but are heavy and don't make the best use of the space.

Other than that I am pretty happy with it, maybe I could have added water storage, but it's worked brilliantly for us on numerous trips now. I can access anything in the cargo area within a few seconds when fully loaded which was the main aim, that and it usually keeps neat and tidy.

I do have a plan for another storage setup in the back, but it's not applicable to your 150, besides which if I told you I would have to kill you, top secret stuff at this stage

Cheers Andrew

[Whitey1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey1]

So with 2 x UHF's now fitted



I needed another Antenna, obvious place to mount it was on the scrub bar same as the first one but on the Drivers side, unfortunately this meant welding a mounting tab on (should have done that when I made them just in case) and of course that meant a repaint. I know I maybe could have got a clamp of some sort to mount it there, but it would not have matched the other side and would have annoyed me everytime I looked at it, so welding and a repaint it was.



Cheers Andrew

I looked at that photo and thought "wouldn't they get whacked by trees all the time on tight tracks?" But then I remembered that you don't have trees in SA! Well you call them trees but the rest of Oz calls them bushes! LOL

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

I looked at that photo and thought "wouldn't they get whacked by trees all the time on tight tracks?" But then I remembered that you don't have trees in SA! Well you call them trees but the rest of Oz calls them bushes! LOL

Ideally I would have mounted them elsewhere, but with the ARB bar and the grill attached to the bonnet there are limited opportunities on the ARB bar. Also if I mounted them on the top tube of the bar then they would be too high to fit under my carport.

Where they mount is actually only about 25mm further out than the ARB mounting position and 125mm higher. The hieght of the arials is great as they are just marginally higher than my awning which is the highest point on the car, so a great guide as to what I can get under.

Like most things time will tell how they go, if they get bashed around too much I will just move them to the top tube and buy a new house with a taller carport

Cheers Andrew

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Or you could fit 2 of these
http://www.4x4equip.com.au/showProdu...nless+Steel%29

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

I posted a long timke ago about picking up 9323 HF Radio and 9350 Auto tune Antenna, well with the upcoming trip I finally got round to fitting it all.

A new panel made to mount the main unit behind the seat and in front of the Fridge in a bit of a dead space.




The radio didn't come with a mounting bracket so I made one of those as well.




And fitted the unit, just some tidying up of cabling to go now.




And of course the HF remote head fitted in the custom roof consol that I posted up a few weeks ago.




Cheers Andrew

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

A radio is not much use without and Antenna, so I fitted the 9350 Autotune on the back door utilising the mounting holes for the spare to mount the Arial on a custom bracket I made, as well as using the remaining 2 bolt holes to run the cabling through meaning I didn't to drill a hole in the door

An earth cable goes tot he top mount bolt and I also ran an earth cable from the rear door through the grommet and earthed to the body inside cargo area, everyone tells me you cant have too many earths on a HF!

Some of the cabling running internally in the rear door




Utilising the existing bolt holes to run the cable.




I once read one of the advantages of a HF over a sat phone is that you get to have a tough looking antenna mounted on your car, I guess it looks tough?




Cheers Andrew

[Trekrider Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Trekrider]

Hi Andrew, Did you know that you can get an App to give Codan Selcall tones for the iphone now? Just search selcall in the App store. It's also available for Android.