Beginning the van journey

[KJ1H]

Hello! I've been reading the site and watching Bob's videos (among others) for a couple of years now, interested in trying the #vanlife out for myself. Well, I've gone and done it.

I scored a deal on this 2003 Dodge last week and brought it home over the weekend. It needs a little work but nothing major. I'm pretty handy working on cars, so it's nothing I can't handle. It's already been used as a camper van and has a homemade bed in the back, but the previous owner must've been shorter than me because I can't fit across the back, so I'll be reconfiguring the inside layout - basically, a no-build build, at least to start. I also plan to add a trailer hitch and motorcycle carrier so I can carry my Kawasaki KLR650 with me for on/off-road adventures. I'll also set up a simple portable ham radio station, both for fun as well as to help with rally and hillclimb race communications, the closest I'm going to get to actually racing myself.

I live in New Hampshire, where we're still in winter's icy grip. Progress will be slow to start, but once things warm up I plan to get cracking. I'm not planning to go full-time at this point, but I haven't ruled it out for the future after some test drives this year. I'm looking forward to finally putting all my plotting and planning into action!

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome KJ1H to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

highdesertranger

 

[nature lover]

HelloKJ1H - WELCOME - i AM TRYING TO KEEP TRACK OF NOMADS AND LIKE MINDED FOLKS ON THE East coast - THERE SEEM TO BE A LOT OF "WANT-TO-BES" BUT YOU GOT TO BE A WANT-TO-BE BEFORE YOU TAKE THE PLUNGE. MY RIG IS A 99 DODGE CONVERSION VAN SIMILAR TO YOURS - SEND SOME INTERIOR PICS AS YOU GET IT BUILT - THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE WHO CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS AS YOU GO. BLESSINGS

 

[tx2sturgis]

Welcome, and there are a few of us hams on the forum, if you look around you might see some ham related threads, although they may be kinda inactive at this point. 

You might want to put Quartzfest in January of each year on your bucket list...its a big ham radio gathering in the desert near Quartzsite Arizona.

Coincidentally, I hear, some of the folks here on the forum end up in that area around the same time of year.

 

[KJ1H]

Gee, isn't that pretty close to the RTR? What a strange coincidence.  

 

[LaMonster]

Hey there and welcome!

I used to work in the ham world, at a company that did DSP noise and tone suppression ... if any of you ever use that type of product.

That looks like a nice rig. You mentioned you are taller, can you stand up inside?

 

[nature lover]

I have never been into ham radio but some people have told me that my body shape resembles a canned ham.

 

[KJ1H]

Hey there and welcome!

I used to work in the ham world, at a company that did DSP noise and tone suppression ... if any of you ever use that type of product.

That looks like a nice rig. You mentioned you are taller, can you stand up inside?

I can not, although the extra headroom still helps. The bed it came with is built pretty tall, and I can still sit straight up on it without hitting my head on the roof.

I'm somewhat old school with my radio stuff. Mainly 144/440 FM repeaters these days, though I do have an HF rig and wire antennas I can set up remotely. I got licensed back when Morse code was still a requirement, and I keep myself fluent.