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$25,000 of Communications Gear In a $500 Car

In perhaps one of the finest displays of technological excess in automotive communications gear, one "enthusiast" has managed to cram over $25,000 worth of gear into a $500 car. The car is rigged for just about every conceivable communications band including FM, UHF, VHF, HF, and WTF. What other amazing displays of technological excess have others seen? "The equipment seems to cover an amazing array of technologies, many of which seem to be redundant. For instance, just how many handheld 144 MHz radios do you need? It seems like the owner of the Ham Car is capable of listening to every police/fire/ems/military channel in the world. Simultaneously. There's a laptop and we assume there's some form of cellular or satellite communication setup for that, too."

18 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. Everytime he drives in front of my house... by ls671 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Every time he drives in front of my house, my TV goes wild, I sometimes can hear alien like sounding voices coming from the TV, my wireless connection drops and my clothes dryer even starts to spin backward !

    I sometimes worry about the effects on the driver's health in the long run... ;-)

    --
    Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    1. Re:Everytime he drives in front of my house... by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

      Every time he drives in front of my house, my TV goes wild, I sometimes can hear alien like sounding voices coming from the TV, my wireless connection drops and my clothes dryer even starts to spin backward !

      It's a Dodge Colt, not a TARDIS. You can only blame the wireless drops on the car. The voices chanting "Exterminate! Exterminate!" are a different problem...

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  2. Not very useful.. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    The car is rigged for just about every conceivable communications band including FM, UHF, VHF, HF, and WTF.

    Unfortunately the car can only travel in a 50 meter radius around the second tin can the string tethers it to.

    .

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  3. Just think... by Brandybuck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just think. With a quarter of that money he could have gotten a car that wasn't an oil burning beater.

    --
    Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
  4. Wtf? by SlashDPC · · Score: 4, Funny

    WTF is WTF?

    1. Re:Wtf? by Daimanta · · Score: 4, Funny

      yes

      --
      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  5. wtf band by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good propagation on the WTF band tonight.

    1. Re:wtf band by ByOhTek · · Score: 5, Funny

      Slashdot always has good propagation on the WTF band!

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
  6. Can it be driven? by icebike · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There is no leg room in the drivers side.

    There is windshield obstruction illegal in most states.

    The power requirements would probably exceed engine capacity.

    So, question: Can it actually be driven, or is it a joke, sort of a flea-market grave yard for broken gear?

    --
    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    1. Re:Can it be driven? by Falc0n · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Oh its no joke. You really haven't been to an Amateur Radio meetup before... ;-)
      Hams make the Slashdot community look normal!
      73
      -KF7FJM

  7. WTF? by AragornSonOfArathorn · · Score: 4, Funny

    What the fuck is WTF?

    --
    sudo eat my shorts
  8. And ladies... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...he's single.

  9. the ./ post fails to mention by SendBot · · Score: 5, Funny

    It seems worth noting that this uber car also has hydraulics.

    "Just waking up in the morning gotta thank marconi
    I don't know but today seems kinda lonely
    Got chatter from the police radio only
    And momma got static on the HF
    I got my eavesdrop on, but my signal left
    Finally got a call on the cell phone in my vest
    Hooked up a bigger antenna as I shut the do'
    Thinking will i live, for another set of radios
    I gotta go cause I got me a chevy colt
    And if I hit the switch, I can make the ass drop"

  10. Redneck crap by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, how does this kind of redneck garbage get into slashdot? Some buffoon got hisself a 1985 Dodge Colt (trailer trash car if I've ever seen one) and proceeds to put a shit-ton of radios in it. Big deal! There's no technology or inventiveness here, it's the same as some ignoramus who built a vehicle out of his La-Z-Boy. Let's get a closer look - license plates trimmed with neon (barf); misuse of the "radiation" symbol (car is not radioactive); Florida plates (redneck central); a laser light drawing spirograph designs on the rear window (what is this, a nightclub circa 1992?); ground-effect lighting (waaaaay overdone); a scrolling LED sign, and much more totally stupid crap. Most of the gear is just ordinary handheld radios. I mean, come on, a "Sear's Platinum" battery powers the whole thing? What kind of self-respecting geek shops at "Sear's" (sic)? And a "Hydrallic" system? *cough* redneck *cough*

    I'm all for rewarding creative use of technology, but this isn't creative, it's merely excessive. Not news for nerds, stuff that doesn't matter.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Redneck crap by kevingolding2001 · · Score: 4, Funny

      misuse of the "radiation" symbol (car is not radioactive);

      I dunno about that. With all those radios, you'd think there would be a fair amount of radio activity going on.

  11. Re:Reminds me of a college friend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So? I had a friend with a Bose system in his Pacer.
    Thieves stole the car and left the stereo on the curb.

  12. It's a joke. by couchslug · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One of the "finest displays of technological excess" my arse.

    It's just a bunch of gear stuffed into a shitbox car in a manner not conducive to usability.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  13. 25k? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    25K?
    You can get an ICOM R9500 which will give you everything between 5khz and 3.5GHZ with filtering and processing and a 40 channel per second scann rate for 12.5k http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/receivers/tabletop/r9500/default.aspx
    Add in another 2-4k for a really nice multiband Ham rig, and your done..

    plenty of room and money left