S-250 Shelter / Ham Shack Conversion

Hi Mark,
You were one of the guys that helped me out with some of my shelter-to-trailer mounting details--thanks. I fabricated a similar system of corner blocks that I saw in the detail photos on your excellent site. We are all envious of your green toys; sure wish I could get a HMMWV to pull mine!
PS

professor solderflux said:

Hi Mark,
You were one of the guys that helped me out with some of my shelter-to-trailer mounting details--thanks. I fabricated a similar system of corner blocks that I saw in the detail photos on your excellent site. We are all envious of your green toys; sure wish I could get a HMMWV to pull mine!
PS

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Cool! I'm really happy that I could help! Hey, I'm envious of y'all's (is that a word?) green toys, too!

Professor - I am envious of your luck in tracking down an air conditioner in MSP (from your older posts) - I wound up buying one from Colemans. It was new in the box, but shipping was $ 165.00! You gotta admire military packaging, though - after I tunneled through 100 Lbs of lumber, cardboard, dessicant, and MIL duct tape, I had a squeaky-clean AC. Now, all I have to do is install a hole in my S-250 and build the brackets to install it.

Certain shelters had a slide out bracket for a window style air conditioner, and the slide out system may be made to order for retrofit. I will take some pics later (suns not up yet) and post today.

Brian
KE6IYC

135GMC--I see your from St. Paul; ironically I got the new AC probably less than 20 minutes from you at Sportsman's Guide. In the end though, it was a bust; there was a leak somewhere in the coolant line and it just wouldn't hold refrigerant. Shiney new, but wouldn't work--I suspect the local appliance repair man that charged it the first time might have used the wrong procedure, but what do I know? Funny thing is, after cleaning up the original unit, and charging it (different repair man), works fine. Heat was non-funtional on both units; don't know why, but AC is more important in the heat and the smallest milkhouse heater will provide all the heat you'll ever need WITHOUT the noise of that big unit.

Here's a pic of the shelter power connector/cable. Let me know if you have one you want to sell.

professor solderflux said:

Here's a pic of the shelter power connector/cable. Let me know if you have one you want to sell.

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I might have one or two of those connectors. I'll look for them when I have a chance...

Try this again grrrrrrr........

What a great idea! You gotta admire those professional welds on the last pic.

I just got done reading this tread too, now I am interested..... NF6X, are you going to take your rig to any of the shows we have been talking about around here ( March or Hemet airshow) , I just finished reading some of Your blog, are you still looking for troop seats for Your 35?

My HMMWV and shelter will probably show up at a local show someday, but I don't know when. See, the problem is that when the inspector signed off the permit on my big barn during my home construction, the first thing I did was park my HMMWV inside. The second thing I did was to drag all of my crap over from the house I was renting and cram it into the barn, behind the HMMWV. Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to put a second roll up door on the rear wall so that I could drive my HMMWV out and then bulldoze my crap into a ditch with my Bobcat.

It's been a few years, and I'm just starting to clean up the barn. I also have more HMMWV upgrades planned once I have room to work on it. So who knows when it'll see daylight again?

Yes, I'm still looking for a set of drop side troop seats for my M35A2C. I have a bow set out in one of the sea containers. I think it needs the headboard, too, but I can't turn around and look out the window right now because I have a dog sleeping on my lap (I'm home with a chest cold today, sadly). You know, as much as it would seem weird to not have at least one deuce, I have more projects than time to do them, and I'd consider letting that deuce find a new home. If I had the time and money, I'd replace both the deuce and my wrecker with an M923A2 sporting a nice knuckleboom crane, or something along those lines.

Need a deuce, let me know!

Brian
KE6IYC

ke6iyc said:

Need a deuce, let me know!

Brian
KE6IYC

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Are you saying that you want more deuces than you have, or that you have more deuces than you want?

Have less(0) than I need(1)

Brian
KE6IYC

ke6iyc said:

Have less(0) than I need(1)

Brian
KE6IYC

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Well, let's talk more after the weather and my lungs clear up. And to stay on topic, maybe you also need a deuce-sized shelter to go with it? I like that shelter a lot, but it's looking less likely that I'll use it as my primary home ham shack, and I would be happy to see it on the back of a deuce, being used as intended.

Full disclosure: my deuce is registered as non-op right now, and it needs brake work and axle seals before it drives away under its own power... both of which I'm unlikely to do before I clean out the barn, do the HMMWV work that I want to do, and make a deuce-sized space in the barn so I can get it up on jack stands. So anytime in the near future, it'd need to leave behind a wrecker or on a Landoll. There are probably better deals out there.

ONTOS66 , I havent been able to find the specs You put in resources, am I looking in the wrong spot?

nf6x, I have an extra set of troop seats that came with my deuce ( I have a drop side, but havent compared if the extra one are the same). Do You ever get on the Keller repeater?

well too bad the deuce shelter is so big, I would rather put a 250 in the back of My m105 for a radio comms setup, a few years ago I might have done it, but I like the soft top, and so do my friends riding in the back on the 4th of July...

ke6iyc, can You tell me more about the mast in Your avatar, are you thinking of mounting it to a 250 shelter?

I not familiar with the Keller repeater. Would it likely be reachable from Riverside, Irvine, or points in between?

I'm also curious about that big antenna mast. It looks cool.

The mast is a Wil-Burt locking 60 foot pnumatic mounted on a trailer. Same (but bigger) as the news vans use. Was going to mount it behind the shelter, but it weighs close to 400 lb., and was too far behind the axle. Now if I had a deuce and associated shelter, things may change.....

Brian
KE6IYC

That mast is cool! I have a friend with a shorter pneumatic mast mounted on the back of his (civvy) van, which he uses to support simple wire antennas for various military HF rigs. I recently picked up one of the 38' CSA fiberglass push-up masts on eBay. It's pretty cool, but not as neat as the pneumatic ones.

Anyway, competition over my larger shelter has already begin off-line, but my immediate priority is to crawl under a blanket and take a nap.

Well I dont know about Irvine, but it makes it to fullerton and anahiem, maybe santiago would be better....

Brian , That would be just about what I was thinking of doing years ago, but only with a retired san bernadino country fire comms truck ( never happened). I only found one manufacturer for air mast in austrailia, how did You find this one if You dont mind me asking? Oh,,,and you can just use the air off the deuce!!!!! This is starting to feel like a reeses comercial, You got Your mast on Mark`s shelter in my deuce