Wireless broadband update
It’s now been a month since moving from 2-way satellite “broadband” service to a wireless broadband network connection.
Since then an external UHF antenna has been installed to get a better signal from the 3G base station. The signal strength has increased from “low” to “low to medium”. It’s not the magnitude of signal gain that I was looking for, but, given the amount of gum tree foliage that the signal has to bore through, it’s better than nothing.
The antenna was installed by professional riggers sub-contracted to the broadband carrier; it sits extremely solidly on the roof. Given that the Telstra 3G wireless broadband terminates on the same or nearby tower to where our telephone-over-microwave service sits, I got the compass out and took a bearing. The microwave antenna is sited about 150 metres south of the house and has a clear line-of-sight to its base station. The UHF wireless broadband antenna was about 20 degrees too far to the south; I swung it around but, surprisingly, it made little difference – the quantity of foliage is being blamed for this.
The peak download speed to date has now been 2800 kbit/s with a peak upload speed of 1100 kbit/s. Compared to the 512k/128k satellite service, I’ve got nothing to complain about (so far).
Wireless broadband
I live in a rural location. I have no copper telecommunications cable to the house; in fact I’d have to install a kilometre of cable to get to my property boundary, and then Telstra, the local carrier, would have to lay about 7 km of cable to connect me to the local telephone exchange. But then, the local exchange doesn’t have ADSL or ISDN!
My telephone service is delivered by a voice-over-microwave radio link.
For the past couple of years my internet connectivity has been delivered by 2-way satellite. While I can’t complain (OK, I can think of lots to complain about), it was better than a dialup modem – just. While I could live with a maximum 512 kbit/s downlink speed, the latency injected due to the huge distance the packets had to travel was a major pain in the neck.
Just recently, Telstra, the same local carrier, finally dropped the tariffs on its 3G wireless broadband service. For $129 (which, while expensive, is cheaper than the 2-way satellite), I have managed to get a peak downlink speed of 2600 kbit/s (2.6 Mbit/s) and a latency to my place of work that’s now 100 ms instead of 1700 ms.
I can now access the internet just like most of the rest of the people I know.
Oh yes, and while my monthly quota has now “jumped” from 5 GBytes to 10 Gbytes, I still feel like a poor cousin to those using Comcast in the USA who now have to live within a monthly 250 Gbyte quota. The poor cherubs.
Troopy in Newtown
An old-model Troopy parked in a side street in Newtown, Sydney.
I’m not an expert on older-model Troop-carriers but I think this is an FJ45. I’m sure somebody will correct me if I’m wrong!.
Language use: “First debut”
Arghhh! I’ve just heard a news-reader on the ABC Evening News (the Australian ABC, that is) tell us that somebody was making their “first debut” in a cricket team. This, I suppose, is a precursor to their second debut?
The first fuel usage results are in
I’ve run the Landcruiser Troop Carrier for nearly a month now, being nearly 2000 km[1], so some facts and figures on initial fuel usage seem in order. It’s important to remember that engines, and diesels in particular, are “tight” to begin with and need some time to “loosen up”. Initial fuel usage figures, therefore, will be slightly less efficient than those after 20,000 km or 12 months or thereabouts.
While the Troopy[1] has two 90 litre[3] fuel tanks as standard equipment it seems inefficient (due to the extra weight) to always run the vehicle with both tanks in use. I’ve decided, then, that while in the vicinity of home I’ll only run one tank at a time. Additionally I decided that, in order to ensure that no tank sits near empty with fuel going off (algae can grow in unused diesel) and that the fuel tank switching system gets used on a regular basis, I’ll alternate between using the main tank and the sub tank. So as the main tank nears empty I’ll fill and use the sub tank instead of the main tank, etc.
Given that the Troopy had had an unknown amount of fuel in each tank at delivery I couldn’t start measuring the fuel usage until I had filled and run each tank to near-empty myself. I’ve now done that.
The first tankful gave 13.7 litres / 100 km[4], the second tankful gave 13.1 litres / 100 km. The Toyota “glossy brochure” states that the mythical “highway cycle” should return 11.7 litres / 100 km. My own vehicle usage has been a mix of town and highway driving. I’m quite happy with the 13.1 litres / 100 km – it should only get better as the engine loosens up. (For comparison my 3.0 litre non-turbo, diesel Toyota Hilux ute[5] returns 11.5 litres / 100 km).
Notes: [1] 2000 km == 1200 miles [2] Troopy == Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carrier, 4.5 litre, V8, turbo-diesel [3] 90 litres == 23.8 US gallons == 19.8 imperial gallons [4] 13.1 litres per 100 km == 18.0 miles per US gallon == 21.6 miles per imperial gallon [5] Toyota Hilux ute ~~ Toyota Tacoma pickup
Trakka Troopy
I’ve decided to intersperse the adventures of Tristan Troopy with photographs of other 78-series Troop Carriers that I come across (and perhaps other Landcruiser models too).
To kick off this theme here’s a Trakka camper conversion Troop Carrier parked in Redfern, Sydney.
First check up
Tristan had his first check up this week. The 1000 km free service was performed on Tuesday with nothing unexpected to report. Tristan had 1320 km on the odometer.
I asked that the hand-brake cable be adjusted as the hand-brake was only just holding the vehicle when fully engaged. It’s OK now.
Given that Tristan has new ARB front and rear diff-lockers I asked that the diff oil be replaced given that there would probably have been some post-run-in debris in there.
The only issue that I had asked to be looked at that hasn’t improved is the tight clutch pedal/cable/spring assembly. When I take my foot off the clutch after changing gear, the clutch pedal doesn’t follow the smooth upward action of my foot but seems to stick slightly. It’s not a major issue by any means and, for the time being at least, I’m assuming that it’s something that will sort itself out as the vehicle wears in.
The first day trip
As fate would have it, I spent a week in Sydney just after taking delivery of the Troopy – and I’ve only been back for a few days. The day after taking delivery of Tristan, Bronwyn and I took a Sunday drive from Armidale to Glen Innes via the scenic route, viz. various dirt roads to the east of the New England Highway.
The purpose of the trip was to familiarise myself with the vehicle, see how it handled on the dirt, put some kilometres on the clock, and generally just have a nice Sunday drive.
I didn’t put any fuel in the vehicle in Armidale but made a detour into Guyra from the Ebor road for diesel for Tristan, and food for us. The vehicle attracted a couple of comments from other Service Station customers and I spent 15 or so minutes talking about Landcruisers.
After heading back out of Guyra on the Ebor road, we turned north to Ward’s Mistake, Kookabookra and Moogs Swamp on the way up to Glen Innes.
I forgot to take my camera on that trip, my mind was elsewhere 
After putting not quite 300 km on the clock my overall impression was that the Troopy is a delight on the dirt (more on the suspension upgrade later), comfortable and spacious.
It’s far too early to comment on the fuel economy – that’ll have to wait a few months. The 4.5 litre V8 turbo-diesel is a mighty power plant – I’ve not owned a vehicle previously that can accelerate uphill.
