S-250 Shelter / Ham Shack Conversion

[dragonman]

I have three or four shelters in Iowa. PM if any interest

 

[5tonpuller]

At one time I owned I guess s what they called a mast luncher? It had pipe with collars welded on ether and and you
put it in this thing and cranked it up. Got another tube, locked it on and cranked it up. It had cables to hook to it to steady it
as you got higher. There was 2 of them in this shelter with all kinds of cable and radio stuff. What was the M number of this antenna thing? Been so long I for get. Wish now I never sold it.

 

[professor solderflux]

There were several sizes, here's a page for one of the bigger ones; an AB-577GRC.
Dream Portable Mast

 

[professor solderflux]

Here's 2 others that were commonly used for wire antennas in the RTTY shelters. They didn't use a launcher with these though, they were assembled on the ground and then pulled erect with the guy ropes and a pivoting base plate. Both were 40' in length: AB-155 and AB-86.

 

[HORNETD]

Lighter and easier than Hi-lift jack.

Tuggy T-Post Puller | Wire + Tools | Northern Tool + Equipment

Would also recommend the post driver (metal pipe with two handles) to make driving the rods easier.

If you go the single use tool route then you might prefer the Brush Grubber Rod/Post Puller, Model# BG15 <Brush Grubber Rod/Post Puller, Model# BG15 | Fencing | Northern Tool + Equipment> It will extract rods that are driven nearly all the way in and even those that were driven all the way in if you dig out enough of the rod for the puller to get a grip.
--
Tom Horne

 

[HORNETD]

Excellent looking shelter. I like the plans a lot.

WRT getting the grounding rods back out, you may consider using a Hi-lift or ratcheting farm jack. They're very handy for getting stakes and fence posts out of the ground, so if you had some kind of attachment loop or hook on the top of the grounding rod, it would work very well.

Surplus cable grips and come alongs with any kind of tripod or a frame will extract the rods just fine. There are also rod lifters and fence post pullers that you can buy but I prefer multi use devices.
--
Tom

 

[antennaclimber]

We use 3 of the AB-577 type masts for Field Day. They work very well.
Easy to put up and take down.
Karl

 

[Catfuel]

WOOOO HOOOO!!!! I just took delivery of the GRC-106A Sunday morning.
I managed to get it in the mount and adjust the side brackets. It looks really good. I have to dress the power cables and connect them to the shelter power bus before I fire it up. I squirreled the spare driver and finals away in a metal spares box for safe keeping. Now to get the ME-165 and install it and wire up the MT-297 mount to the radio for the C-434 connection. Operational testing to follow...
BTW I'm still looking for a shelter fuel heater to replace the electric heater in there now. I want to keep warm without running a generator all the time for heat. Rumor has it it may get a little cold in Alaska sometimes.

 

[professor solderflux]

Nice! Looks just about new!

 

[wsucougarx]

Wow, pretty incredible setups. I've got a lot of work to do now

 

[Bulldog 4]

I have alot of work to do on mine too. It will eventually be home to a Yaesu FT-897D plus some other stuff.

 

[ke6iyc]

Add another to the list

Hi all,

This is a 250 I picked up back in June or so, mostly done, picking up a Shakespeare 120 for it in the A.M.

Will post interior pics when I get a chance.

Questions welcome!

Brian
KE6IYC

 

[quickfarms]

Neat

 

[nf6x]

This thread is relevant to my interests.

 

[ke6iyc]

Let me know what help I can be.

Brian
KE6IYC

 

[HORNETD]

I am still hoping for advice on what sized vehicle would be needed to tow a trailer with one of these S250 shelters on it. Also what kind of trailer braking system should be used? The shelter would be fitted out as a radio station for Amateur Radio Emergency Service deployment.

--
Tom

 

[ke6iyc]

Mine is mounted on a 3/4 ton 95 Dodge Ram (diesel), so I would think that the same could pull it (3/4 ton pickup). Standard electric trailer brakes should work fine. Mine is multi purpose ham radio, camper, workshop...

Brian
KE6IYC

 

[professor solderflux]

I adapted a standard 4x8 utility trailer for mine and upgraded the axle to 3500# with ST225/75D15 tires. It's loaded pretty full with radios, batteries, generator, etc., but I can still pull it with my 4 cylinder Jeep Wrangler. Not fast, mind you, but can still do highway speeds. My 6-cylinder Nissan Pathfinder does a better job, but the short wheel base on the Wrangler is really nice for maneuvering in wooded terrain. I don't use trailer brakes, but they would be a nice add-on when I come down from the 600' overlook hill our radio club uses for Field Day!

 

[nf6x]

Ok, now that I've caught up reading this thread (how did I miss it before?), I can share a bit about my own sheltery toys!

My first one is an S-250 that I bought from a friend (also a member here) with an almost complete AN/GRC-122B RTTY set inside. It had an RV air conditioner mounted in the roof, but that proved to be such a leak problem in rain that I ripped it out an patched the roof with riveted aluminum panels inside and out. My HMMWV had already been through a few configurations when I got the shelter, but having the shelter inspired me to convert it to a proper shelter carrier. I located the shelter mounting frame, then went through the parts manual to find everything that was different between the basic cargo truck and shelter carrier. I ended up swapping out most of the rear suspension with the heaver shelter carrier version.

My other shelter is one of the deuce-sized ones, with a matching shelter dolly. I haven't decided what to do with it, but I'm presently storing radios in it. I was going to use it as my ham shack, until I decided I'd rather be inside the house with air conditioning, heating, a bathroom and a fridge full of beer.

Pictures of both shelters might be found hiding on my web page, though I don't have much detail about the innards there.

My S-250 had a hole in the outside skin, and I patched it with a riveted aluminum panel. I guess my warbird-restoring friends have rubbed off on me.

All of the shelters in this thread look great to me! I'm especially jealous of that AN/GRC-46 shelter, since that's one of my favorite radio sets. I have most of the components of one of those sets (not all of them working yet), but I'd love to have the matching shelter, even though that would mean that I'd need to go buy an M37 to carry it!

 

[professor solderflux]

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