FEMA RV trailer recycled into something "useful"

[Radio]

Ever wonder what happens to those old FEMA trailers that wind up in auctions?

This one was recycled into something at least worth having a look at.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...6.html#s278912

It also answers the question: How much solar power is required to live completely off the grid?

It does not answer the question about why one would "embed an artist with studio into a post disaster setting..."

But it is fun to see.

[KF5BET]

Come on down...There must be 500 of them sitting about 10 minutes north of the QTH here....although they don't look as purty as the one you showed!

[wa8yxm]

Why would someone embed an artist in a post disaster setting?

Well,,, Some folks thing that "you have to suffer for your art" and/or the contrast thing between the post disaster and the art.. Both are "Motivations"

I won't give you my opinion of those motivations, but they are motivations.

[Radio]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

I won't give you my opinion of those motivations, but they are motivations.

I think we share the same opinion.

[KE5ZRT]

I have recycled a Border Patrol outpost travel trailer (FEMA type) into an HF MARS emergency Communications trailer complete with an Icom 7200, a Comet CHA-250B vertical antenna, a PACTOR-II USB modem, and satellite communications. I work for the Transportation Security Administration which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Army MARS. So I get to play radio at work and get paid for it!

When the trailer was issued to me over a year ago, it had a roof leak that had caused extensive floor and wall damage. We didn't have to pay a dime for the trailer, and I did almost all of the work myself--except for the awning installation. I replaced the paneling on one wall with dry erase panel board which makes an excellent giant notepad. I laid new plywood and floor tiles on the floor, and converted the bedroom into an office with oak cabinets and a wrap-around prefab counter top. My comms trailer also has solar power, but only a 45 watt set of panels, enough to operate a light or two and maybe a laptop and the radio with limited transmissions in extreme circumstances. We also have a 5000 watt generator.

A coworker and I will be dragging the MARS trailer to New Orleans next week to deliver MREs and cases of water to the area prior to the start of hurricane season. I've never been to New Orleans, and I'm getting paid to travel with an RV! Sweet gig! We'll be staying in hotels overnight, and deploying the antenna for communications checks along the route--most likely in whatever restaurant parking lot where we stop for lunch!

Terra, my wife, will be following us in her car to tag along for the trip.

[Andy N1ORK]

Great stuff Chris! Be good to post some pics here for us to see your handiwork. We use 2 Comet 250Bs at our EOC here in Manchester and for what they are, they work great. Only 26' high, don't need radials and covers 80m - 6m without a tuner. We use Kenwood TS2000s which have a built in tuner, so the bandwidths are better.
73
Andy - n1ork

[KF5BET]

Hey Chris:

You will be passing right through Lafayette. Why don't you let me know when you will be passing through, love to meet you and see your rig!!

[KC1BUD]

Why is it that so many of these aging hippies are also clueless to color co-ordination? Or are they totally color blind?



Also noted in this photo that it is supposed to be a trailer that can be totally off the grid but look in the photo at the power cord snaking its way across the photo.

[W5DOK]

I go to a lot of Ritchie Bros. equipment auctions and last year they auctioned off thousands of those things that were brand new, never used for as little as $500. All that I saw, sold for less than $3,000. You can bet your boots that we paid a heck of a lot more for them. That's our government at it's finest and our tax dollars at work. I think that half of the deer hunters in South Texas bought them and set them up in the woods as deer hunting camps.