TVan

MEET T'VAN

T'Van (short for Trailer Van or TV Van) is almost forty years old.

He was originally commissioned as an outside broadcast unit for a regional television company and fulfilled that role for twenty years.

Latterly, he spent ten years being used as a timing station for a hill-climbing club in Lancashire.

We acquired T'Van at the end of 2006 with plans to use him as our contesting shack and decided to complete a "bare shell" restoration.

This page is intended to document our progress and maybe give other contest groups some ideas.


	September 2006 T'Van....as we first met him.		September 2006 The interior was very cramped and in quite a state!

	April 2007 Work commences on the new floor, with a lot of thought given to incorporating some structural integrity.		April 2007 ..............and plenty of insulation!

	June 2007 The RF patch panel in one of the side cupboards - gives us 4 RF feeds to the operating bench, plus the ability to connect two rotators and a big earth spike.		June 2007 The other side of the patch panel (which is now hidden under the kitchen worktop). Decided to use high quality Suhner coax for the RF feeds.

	June 2007 The other side cupboard containing all the utilities - mains inputs, circuit breakers, 12V leisure batteries for lighting, inverter to provide back-up 230V mains from the batteries....oh and the drain for the sink.		July 2009 The front of T'Van incorporating a 30ft Hilomast and ladder to access the roof.


		July 2009 Three views showing the inside of T'Van - kitchen area on the left, operating area with 12V DC power supply, PC for contest logging software and UPS in the centre, sink and toilet on the right. Only one big problem - the chairs are way too comfortable to be able to operate 24 hours without falling asleep!


	July 2009 Power distribution and RF feeds for the left and right hand operating positions that include five high current 12V DC outputs and a load of earthing points (directly below the RF feeds). The four mains sockets on the top row are connected directly to the 12V inverter for emergency mains operation. The XLR sockets are for connecting rotators.


May 2010 T'Van receives a new twin-axle trailer chassis and cupboard doors.		May 2010 Together with a shiny high-security front door - superb craftsmanship from Darren - thanks!

February 2011 The horrible old and leaky perspex windows are replaced with proper ambulance glass - now you can't see in!		February 2011 But there is still plenty of light inside. The glass filters sunlight extremely well and as a result, the interior stays much cooler than it used to.


	February 2011 The ultimate luxury - 120 litres of fresh water tank installed over the axles, connected to an electric pump - no more lugging bottles of water around site!

T'Van is an on-going project and there is still work to do. Next job will be a proper layer of paint and I have to build a safety rail around the roof (went to step off it recently and I don't fly too well).

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