Stone

You've got your agencies confused, it's the DSA who do driving tests

One of them was taking it more seriously than the other, at the beginning of my test when they were checking the paperwork he found a gorilla mask and scared the crap out of my examiner with it :rofl: I think it's very much down to who you get on the day...

I'd love to have a go in the OT, I think I could have got my head around manual gearbox with clutch and steering wheel but having tillers as well was what threw me in the 2S1! It's weird in that you have a huge deadzone at the front of the tiller travel, then pulling them back a bit applies a fixed amount of deceleration to one track, and pulling them back further lets you tighten the turn. You can't turn the other way until you've returned the first tiller to the forward position, you can pull on the other tiller but nothing happens! :shake:

Stone

I forgot to mention that the last part of the test I took was a 180 deg turn in the road - then park up neatly in front of the Godzvika. Like you - Nick had the bay for reversing marked out with tape (mine tap IIRC).

Misunderstanding: the turn in the road was

1. pull up at left side of the "road" (two strips of mine tape about 3m apart)

2. do an aggressive right turn in 1st to get you 90 degrees to your original direction

3. reverse almost straight back to try and minimise chance of throwing a track (horrible grinding noises coming out of the sprockets all along as all the churned up lumps of mud went through them, this was on the soggiest part of the field!)

4. do another aggressive right turn in 1st to get you pointing the other way.

There was no bay involved at all, as apparently that's not part of the test any more! Nick was fuming as they hadn't mentioned it to him so we'd been practicing for the wrong test, but it did all work out in the end...

Did they require you to get out of the drivers seat and walk along the top of the vehicle to the rear before reversing into the bay??

Nope, just standing up at the drivers position for a good look left and right into the mirrors' blind spots sufficed. It was a much more spontaneous type of turn-in-the-road than it would have been for reversing into a bay, maybe that was why, in case you held up traffic? You can see most things behind you if you have a good look, so long as it's not too close

There were some really confused bits to it so I think they were mostly trying to adapt a car driving test to match the APC. My examiner asked me how I would check the wheel nuts were secure, I made something up about using a torque wrench but didn't point out there were two wheels per axle, ten axles, 8 nuts per wheel, you'd be there for an hour prodding at them all :rofl:

Also Nick asked them if future students could take the test in his 360 tracked excavator, the answer was no because it has digging equipment on so you need a 3 year ticket like a forklift licence instead of an H? After I passed I asked if I could drive the digger now and got a rather stern 'No' but it's tracklaying and steered by its tracks...I don't get it!

I did have a cracking time though, Nick has an awful lot of interesting stuff (and he's a nice bloke, which helps) - don't think I've ever seen so many Stalwarts in one place, even if some of them are looking a bit sorry for themselves...

Also the 432 is dead easy to drive, the Gvozdika seems to need at least one extra set of hands to use all the controls! I thought it was funny the Russians included a hatch above the gearstick so an instructor could ride on top and help out :rofl:

Stone

Went out today. I passed :yay:

Just me, Nick and another chap taking who owned a Scorpion (not sure if he posts on here, but if you're reading, hello Jim!). Started at 0830 and were all done by about half past two.

When I was there the Examiner stands off to one side from the group of candidates. He tells you what manouver to do - you do it then pull up beside him to get the next instructions. For me it ran thus:

 

 

1. Pull away, do a circuit of the field and parallel park behind the indicated vehicle (a Godzvika SPG). Pull out again and then stop here.
   
2. Proceed down to the entrance on the left, reverse into it then pull out and come back in this direction. When I indicate by raising my clipboard stop the vehicle in a controlled manner in the shortest possible distance.
   
3. Pull away and turn the vehicle through 180 degrees and park up as if beside the kerb.
   

 

That was it basically.

This has totally changed! Nick had laid out a load of tape markers to indicate the sides of an imaginary road and a bay to reverse into, we did a ton of practicing around the (well-drained) figure-8 track, complete with stopping behind another vehicle, reversing into the bay etc. When the two examiners arrived - one was the other's boss - they wouldn't cross the twenty feet of mud to get onto the nice track; even when offered a lift in a Landy they declined as apparently they're not allowed to get into anyone else's vehicles? :??? We had to rip up all the markers and reinstate them next to their canteen building, because apparently they have to have somewhere dry to retreat to if it rains (for the paperwork?) which has to have electricity...so we had to use the really soggy ground directly in front of them for them to get a decent look.

That was when we found out they'd ditched the requirement for reversing into a box and instead it was going to be a turn in the road! Nick was sweating buckets at this point convinced we were going to throw a track reversing while turning but it failed to happen even up to the tops of the road wheels in mud

Test for me ran:

• Couple of questions (is there a fire extinguisher in the vehicle, how would you use it etc)
  
• Perform a turn in the road so the vehicle is pointing in the opposite direction (then pull over, cut the engine and wait for further instructions)
  
• Do three full laps of the track, after finishing the third lap pull in behind the indicated vehicle over there (a Russian 2S1), then pull out again and complete the lap (then pull over, cut the engine and wait for further instructions)
  
• Perform another turn in the road
  
• Do three laps in the opposite direction, on the last lap I will give you a signal for an emergency stop, stop the vehicle as fast and safely as possible
  (then pull over, cut the engine and wait for further instructions)
  
• Do one more lap of the track, pull in once over on that ridge there as if stopping at the side of the road, and again just past that Russian tank.
  
• Repeatedly try and start the engine, fail, wonder if the starter's broken, get concerned look from examiner and 'is it supposed to be smoking like that?', call Nick out, remember to put it in neutral before starting engine, brazen it out as a mechanical fault and restart engine :sweat: :n00b:
  
• Pull in by examiner, exit vehicle
  
• Highway code test (stopping distances for a car, what would you do after leaving a muddy field before you went on the road, road sign quiz)
  
• The end!
  

Took about 45 minutes in all, sweating buckets throughout, unbelievable amounts of mud (nearly clipped the 2S1 a couple of times as there was a HUGE rut right next to it, some of the mud deep enough that you could see where the belly had flattened the tops off between the track ruts!) and I got a minor for doing a powerslide around one of the corners at about 30 :rofl:

Jim had to scoot off afterwards but Nick gave me a quick blast around the field in the 2S1, lovely beast (think I got a splinter off the wooden tillers!) but virtually zero visibility 'cos there's a socking huge gun in the way! Bouncing through some deep ponds at speed, you can see the difference; if you ford too fast in the 432 you end up wearing most of it but the 2S1's glacis plate flings it all forward at enormous speed instead

So, amazing day, very happy

Stone

Why would it be nontransferable? Not doubting you, just don't really understand why they would do that...surely the whole point of 'personalised' plates is that you can make a vehicle look as old as you want. As I understood it the only thing you can't do is make something look newer than it is, is there a caveat somewhere I missed?

Stone

Very tidy!

Stone

There were some 80s First Field Dressings in our vehicle First Aid kit when we bought it (rediscovered them this morning looking for something else). If you want them drop me a PM and I'll chuck them in the post, they'll only go in the bin otherwise

Stone

Have they actually painted the tyres black?

Stone

Neil: Might have another lead for you to chase up, I'll drop you a PM.

Stone

Not very surprised, if they drive them like this...

Whoops :rofl:

Stone

What brother? *confused face*

No manuals I'm afraid, the chap who has them is sticking to his guns (and Pinz told him they'd boil him in the big vat of copyright if he shared them), I did try though!

Stone

Since I love you all I've dug out a couple of pictures I took way back when showing the new spec gennies. Much nicer than the Onan bricks!

Now, who can identify the smaller mast on the RR trucks - is it a PU12?

There's an article about the antenna design which some might find interesting here.

Stone

Just when I thought I was getting there.

 

Does anyone know if these photos of the radio equipment actually "Ptarmigan", what would "Triffid" and "Bruin" look like? Any pics anyone?

 

Stone, is this the Radio Relay version of Bedford MJ Ptarmigan?

Spot on, that's a Radio Relay (aka TRIFFID), same spec as ours. Can see from the red genny casings that those are the 3.5kVA Onan ones - old as the hills but still not that bad. The last few in service had them replaced with much swisher and quieter units in about 2007 - all the vehicles went to Ashchurch and had the Onans removed and I think it was one in three got the new spec genny, as they were a lot more expensive. They had a very flush front panel and were fully enclosed, with a thick rubber exhaust hose propped up halfway along. That mast on the back seriously needs retracting, the bit of Withams yard they store them in has a load of leccy cables slung just above! :shake:

That one has a new-spec ladder on - the top 'loop' where it hooks on is all one piece. We have one old and one new, the old ones had a drilled hole with a pin fed through it which is always getting bent :argh: They're usually bent as anything because they leave them on the back of the boxes and park by listening for the bang, so if you ever get one make sure the mountings are straight or that ladder will only ever fit on the box it came off!

This is a different one i think one generator and cabin

Maybe SCRA© as per here? Ours is a hybrid of this type and the radio relay - we bought the box off one of these (small windows) and then later bought a complete vehicle and left the box behind when we needed to move it around.

one from the last post 2 generators

And that's the power veh.

These are all quite old ones 'cos they've not got the shiny new tyres on - if they were actively used they'd have had new tyres so these are probably reserve ones. Bribe a mechanic to come with you if you ever consider buying one, loads of them are absolute dogs! (even ours had lots of useful stuff loose, like the bolts holding the steering column on, and the rear diff drain plugs...)

Yes I have spent many an hour at withams mouching about.

Wind whips across it a bit Last time I was there we had to dig 4" of snow off the roof of the truck we were grabbing bits off!

Stone

DAF DROPS: GVW 32000kg, Unladen 17000kg

Foden DROPS: GVW 32960kg, Unladen 17960kg

Could probably just do it, but I don't reckon you'd want to - imagine your pain if VOSA stopped you and confiscated both!

When laden with a flatrack and ISO container the DROPS vehicles (especially the Foden) are getting very close to maximum height; and that's with all the weight evenly spread. There must be a good reason the Army use low-loaders and HET, they didn't buy a load of kit from Oshkosh for fun...

Stone

Bet you wish I'd given up

It's worse than that, there's at least three different types of Ptarmigan fit and a couple more support veh

From memory (lots of looking around Ptarmigan boxes before we decided on one, including a trip to 22 Sigs at Stafford) there are vehicle types:

Power vehicle - 2x Onan 20kVA genny

Power vehicle - 1x Onan 20kVA genny, space for stores (as you pictured)

Repair vehicle - large workshop body, desk space etc

Office vehicle - large office body (different layout, with side doors)

Relay vehicle - what we ended up with - interior looks like your pic; short comms body to rear and a pallet on the front containing 2xOnan 3.5kVA genny, 2x Clark SCAM12 mast (one affixed to rear of comms body), rack for jerry cans/batteries etc, cage containing different antenna heads/drums of cable. Drums of cable attached to Bedford along sides

SCRA vehicle - slightly different interior layout to relay vehicle, different kit in (this this acts as one end of the link where phone lines etc plug in to)

Might be worth just going to Withams and poking around, they've got hundreds of the bloody things :lol:

Stone

I think your container body is different, with the bollards on the side where your heavy clamps hook over. The previous posts showing section drawing and photos of hook bolts, show that the container overlaped the truck body, there were pins under the overlap to hook the clamps on.

Yep, I realise this. There's a pic in this thread showing the same type of body as we have, but without the bollards - this makes me think they could be shifted between bodies as required (maybe to make stacking them in storage a bit easier?)

The bollards have what looks like a 3/4" hole drilled through the centre - we have a set of aftermarket wheels that we can bolt on through these holes to shove the body around when it's on the ground, but it looks like you might also be able to use the clamps on the right with them.

Totally agree about right clamps for each body, you wouldn't want it coming adrift while cornering! :shake:

Stone

If that's a Chinook it's had some serious surgery! :shake:

Looks like a Lynx to me...

Stone

For future reference, here's a better pic of the ones I mentioned. Very heavy!

Stone

We've got one but if it ever had a handle it's been snapped off

In what direction does it operate? Ours just sits there...

Stone

That will stuff his future business then...no wonder there's a huge splash on the front page of his site about moving operations to Kuwait.

Stone

This is all music to my ears. I remember doing this on 10Gc/s (before Herr Hertz got into units) In 1972, this was before Gunn devices got into the public domain I bent the cavities of klystrons like KS9/20 up into the amateur band that was then 10G to 10.5G. I built a duplex rig with a seperate TX & RX dish with a 30M IF.

 

A novelty was aiming the contraption at the traffic low & just feeding the detector head into an audio amp. It was quite good fun trying to guess the vehicle size & speed by the woosh & wees from the amp. It certainly had a sobering effect on spped merchants!

Yep, do that with an e-scan head at 16?GHz with some fancy user interface stuff and you've got a Blighter, pretty much

Stone

MTLB hatches work for me.

You're right about British lorries, the MJ is properly ugly. Also always thought Pinzgauers look a bit crosseyed, like a Pekinese :rofl:

Stone

Is there supposed to be a knob on top of the cold start control shaft? I assume it's the one sticking up in the cab next to the ignition and engine stop controls...think ours might have been fiddled with

Stone

I've got a very different set for our radio body, they have a much wider base section, a u-shaped bolt that fits over a protrusion on the radio body and a spring between each side of the bolt and a nut that retains the base and spring (the spring held in with a plate). I've attached a pic so you can see what I mean.

(the radio body protrusions have a hole in the top that could be used with the type of clamps sabre showed, but the body wouldn't be held very securely...)

I've got a spare set of four clamps I could be persuaded to part with if they'd fit what you've got, send me a PM.

Stone

I actually guessed this right first time, just joined in too late to play (dayjob has involved designing radar countermeasures)

My guess is that the x-axis represents time and the antenna array is pretty highly directional. That would explain why the trace is broken with a much higher frequency for the vehicle than the man - it's measuring the frequency of motion so you're actually seeing the man's footsteps. You would swing the antenna array to look in different directions and the display would let you know about movement at different ranges. The range indicator double-lines work in a similar way to the range gate on a normal radar system - in this case they have a constant signal so it always shows up, and you can choose the frequency of oscillation so you would know what range it represented (and so what the range of the track you overlaid was at).

The current Blighter radar actually works in a pretty similar way - the difference is that the beam is electronically scanned in both azimuth (by beam-scanning) and range (by altering the radar frequency). The operator display shows a wide field of view with a semicircular display on it and movement shows up as a range/azimuth 'cell' lighting up. You can then listen to the Doppler signature as an audio signal and can actually tell the difference between something walking on four legs (sheep) or two (sniper). Clever.

Do I win a secondary prize?

Stone

Knowing Withams they won't have left the towing frame on by accident...my guess is that it's either knackered or has its engine sat in a puddle of its own fluids on a pallet somewhere.

And they won't be cheap!

Stone