In February 1980 I bought an ex-demonstrator Holden Commodore SL VB-series station wagon. From memory it had a 3.3 litre, straight 6 petrol engine (designed in the 1940′s, I was told). That car did a lot of touring but I soon discovered that there were places that it wouldn’t go.

So, sometime around mid to late 1981, the next vehicle purchased was a Toyota Hilux 4×4 2.2 litre petrol ute (pickup). That ute and I did a lot of travelling. I made my first trips into Australia’s Centre with it but, being young and naive at the time, and I now cringe at the thought, I did most of my travelling without telling anybody where I was going, without appropriate spares, and without a decent supply of food and water. Another memorable trip was north through central Queensland up to the Atherton Tablelands, then on to the coast, then following the coast to Coffs Harbour and back up the mountain to Armidale.

My second Hilux was a 2.4 litre diesel dual-cab 4×4 ute purchased in February 1984. That vehicle saw trips up to Darwin, Kakadu, Alice Springs, Ayres Rock and the Olgas, the Simpson Desert, …

[Country around Quilpie, Qld].

I sold that Hilux with about 240,000 kms (150,000 miles) on the clock and I still see it around town; it looks to be in great condition for its age.

My current Hilux, a 3.0 litre diesel 4×4 dual-cab was purchased in January 1998. I must have settled down somewhat as it’s only in the past few years that this vehicle has seen action in the Outback (as can be seen from my photoblog). This vehicle is getting close to clocking up 200,000 kms (125,000 miles).

But, after three Hiluxes in 27 years, the time has come to move on. My next vehicle will be in a different class of touring vehicles. It’s a 2008-model, Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carrier GXL 4×4, with a 4.5 litre turbo-diesel V8 engine.

This new vehicle was ordered around the beginning of October 2007 and, due to the high demand for them and the low numbers of them arriving in Australia, it’s taken almost 9 months to be built and delivered. I’ve not actually seen it yet but it’s currently in Tamworth (some 125 km away) having some necessary equipment installed. Things like a bull-bar, a rear/tow bar, upgraded suspension, a winch, etc …

The new vehicle has a name – “Tristan” – reputedly a celtic name for “The noisy one”, though I don’t expect the V8 to be all that noisy. The name “Tristan” also relates to bold and daring – so that’s OK

This blog, “tristanTroopy”, has been created to record what Tristan and I get up to over the coming years. I’ll describe my thoughts about, and experiences with, Tristan, the added equipment, and anything else that’s involved with operating and maintaining the vehicle.

Now I just have to sit back and wait until Tristan is ready for me to pick up in, perhaps, a week or so.

Later this year I’ll be heading west into the Australian outback (including the Birdsville Track) for what will be about a 5000 km (3100 mile) round trip. It’s an opportunity to take my ham-radio equipment along for fun and safety (and see what I might be able to do on 2m SSB (Aircraft Enhanced mode) and digital modes). For HF I have a Terlin Outbacker mobile antenna but it’s not been used much to date. Last weekend I attached it to the bull-bar on my Hi-Lux truck and gave it a test.

I don’t have a permanent mobile installation so the setup was, of necessity, rather primitive. I used an Icom IC-706 MkIIG, and an MFJ desktop antenna tuner sitting on the passenger seat to feed the antenna. I don’t have any earth strap installed to the vehicle chassis yet, so was a bit worried about the effects that would have. The vehicle has a diesel engine so that probably helps to keep the noise level down.

With everything plugged in, and the engine running, the S-meter sat with zero noise level so I was happy. I made a quick contact on 40m just to get a signal report. I worked VK5ZKT/P near Adelaide ( a distance over well over 1000km) so I was happy with that result too.

Over the coming months I’ll set about upgrading the setup to give a slightly more permanent mobile installation.

[Ref: Outbacker antenna info can be found here].

It was apparently announced at Dayton recently. Some information from AB4OJ’s website can be found here.

Update: After what seems an eternity, the new IC-7000 seems to have made it to Icom America’s web site.