Antenna + Van ???

[rangelia]

Van choice made, but look at the
Nissan 2500 3500 Series passenger vans. Very highly recommended as tow vehicles. Vans, I hear, are addictive. Cover the field for the next one.

As a truck driver I see some VERY nice ones. From Airstream Sprinter models to dressed factory pieces.

Nothing — and I mean NOTHING —looks as good out on the road as one with really well chosen aftermarket wheels.

Two upgrades:

1) BILSTEIN or KONI shock Absorbers.

2). Change front & rear antiroll bar bushings to polyurethane from rubber. (Ride quality unchanged, but bars act much faster and poly pretty much doesn’t wear out. Win-Win).

— I’d do both on a vehicle with 15-miles on it.

The bushings don’t require the vehicle or wheels be off ground.

Just ease self underneath.

Wow, what a great time to investigate Starboard-side wiring runs to get that coax back to the pillar!!

— Firewall-access for Ancor 10/2-Duplex in FR split-loom though a marine cable gland to the optional SECOND battery to run that kickin’ radio rig !!

—The Big Three Upgrade!!

Man, what a great Saturday that’ll be after the Breedlove NMO Mount & Larsen NMO27c antenna arrives !!

.

Thanks for the upgrade tips, I'll definitely look into them

 

[Blackcat630]

If you are happy with mediocre performance I would go the fender mount route.. BUT with all that medal up top to play with... pull the headliner and drill. A so239 perm mount or puck dead center with a sirio p5000 would kick ass with that much counterpoise under it.. just my .02 good luck and have fun!! 73

 

[Slowmover]

If you are happy with mediocre performance I would go the fender mount route.. BUT with all that medal up top to play with... pull the headliner and drill. A so239 perm mount or puck dead center with a sirio p5000 would kick ass with that much counterpoise under it.. just my .02 good luck and have fun!! 73

Read Applegate on permanent installs and it comes to the use of right tools.

Reluctance, banished.

.

 

[Mudfoot]

I'm looking for a similar van. Once I do, it'll have a bunch of holes.

 

[Slowmover]

I'm looking for a similar van. Once I do, it'll have a bunch of holes.

375-HP V8.

Git ‘er dun. With a truck it’s not acceleration per se, but being loaded and maintaining a higher average MPH. Hills, flattened. Etc.

The NV-series has been around since circa 2013. Many, many configurations.

For anyone:

Regional commuter miles don’t count as experience in cross-country travel.

As with pickups, highway speed range is 55-65/mph. Gotta get there is control over the day, not the cruise control set speed. Engine Run Hours versus Odometer is the story. No lane changes, no braking and stopping points known in advance.

Fatigue is the problem. A truck is work. Make it all friction-free.

Day One is easy. Day Three will kick your ass.

Relaxed-pace below the flow with a DAILY trip plan to execute.
One waypoint to another. The race is to the steady.

Try to run at the limit and you’ll wear yourself out too early, mix with the worst drivers, and miss all the scenery. High risk for no gain. You’ll stop more often and burn more fuel. Wear & tear on vehicle not justified.

A combined rig like this is a VERY comfortable way to move people and their gear. Independently of most all services. Rest areas and campgrounds. No C-stores at all, and groceries once weekly.

Think about it: leave campground, have lunch at a pretty spot, and end the day at another campsite. That’s the sum total of mixing with others. The idiots fly past as you ease along managing them around you using the mirrors to time what you want done (skill acquisition; you don’t have it as of today).

Being in the world, but not of it.

Radio en-route makes for timely advice.

Make avoidance a goal to achieve and it’s easy (there were next to no highway services in the 1960s and 1970s, so picnic areas were the thing. Fuel by unhitching at campground and going town to service tow vehicle. “Avoidance” used as analogy of what we travelers faced then).

Lower center-of-gravity than a pickup. No wasted space. No gear out in rain.

A used NV with a 10-15 yr old Airstream ain’t expensive (as example). This rig shown FAR better than a brand-new pickemup and square box typical travel trailer right out of Happy Toms RV City.

My different needs (business) saw me combining a diesel one-ton and 35’ all-aluminum travel trailer. Squeaked under $30k purchase price together. That was a dozen years ago. (It can be done).

Imagination is the only limit. A van has the space to utilize it.

.