DTI (OFCOM) spotter van test equipment.

[Megatron]

Last year i bought an Ex DTI, (Ofcom as it is now) MK2 Transit Van.
supplied in 1984 by ford special vehicle operations and has only covered 29000miles.
It was apparently a pirate radio station triangulation van.
It had about 12 small antennas on the roof, and also a big 6/7m pneumatic mast with a periscope sight thing on it for taking bearings.
The back of the van was kitted out with 230v electrics central heating, and workbench mounted on anti vibration mountings,
does anyone have any information about the equipment that may have been fitted in the vehicle or photographs of something similar?

[paulsherwin]

There won't have been many of these about - in fact, this may be the only one. There was a huge FM pirate radio problem in London in the mid 80s, not so much because of the broadcasts themselves (though these were a nuisance and caused interference) but because most stations had links to organised crime, particularly major drug suppliers and rave organisers. There was a lot of political pressure to 'do something', and your Transit may have emerged from that.

[turretslug]

I don't suppose there would have been anything terribly hush-hush or ground-breaking for this sort of work, but probably a selection of swanky receivers, spectrum analysers etc. that would have been collectively worth more than the van at disposal time!

[Megatron]

Interesting though the vehicle was disposed of by DTI in 1987,
The mileage then was about 10,000 suggesting it hardly got used at all.
Reg is VNY which is cardiff which seems odd.

[paulsherwin]

As I implied back in #2, it probably spent its DTI years driving round London council estates, providing legal evidence that the big aerial on the top of Nelson Mandela House really was the source of Urban Roots FM.

[Radio Wrangler]

In about 1991 we won a contract for equipping 40 vans in a country which had just reunified. The vans already had masts, antennae even a roll-out groundplane and EMC test antennae... it could do EMC tests on appliance right in the street outside.

Wht we created for it was a system with a spectrum analyser remote controlling an ICOM R9000 receiver. The operator drove it all from a monitor and keyboard on a desk. Receivers etc were below the desk. He could put markers on features of interest and the Icom would be automatically tuned to follow it. The spectrum analyser was modified to include splitters to feed the three antenna inputs of the R9000.

In the 1980s and in Britain, there would likely have been a portable model spectrum analyser. Hp or Tek, later the DTI went with Anritsu, chiefly for their low weight. Receivers... maybe something from Watkins Johnson if they were feeling posh.

The DTI people hunting illegal broadcasters have spoken of a typical target being an FM transmitter hidden in some flat in a tower block with an antenna on the roof and it not being obvious which flat the antenna cable went to. There were often booby traps left to hurt or kill the DTI people. Things like hypodermic needles taped onto the blind side of hand rails on the roof access... needles suspected of being contaminated with HIV and hepatitis. Nasty. Attempted murder.

Your van may have seen an interesting life.

The German vans did spectrum use surveying for considering licence applications, interference finding, pirate finding and general spectrum management duties. DTI had a selection of vehicles from Peugeot cars with direction finders, to spectrum management vans, and yours sounds a little specialised.

David

[Megatron]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

There were often booby traps left to hurt or kill the DTI people. Things like hypodermic needles taped onto the blind side of hand rails on the roof access... needles suspected of being contaminated with HIV and hepatitis. Nasty. Attempted murder.

Your van may have seen an interesting life.



David

That will explain the security glass, window bars, escape hatch, deadlocks and other safety features.....

[paulsherwin]

Oh, there were some serious criminal gangs involved in 80s London pirate radio. It wasn't just a case of kids playing records in their bedrooms - there was big money involved. One of the reasons that the DTI needed to assemble lots of evidence before doing a raid was they needed a lot of police support, which was expensive.

[Megatron]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Oh, there were some serious criminal gangs involved in 80s London pirate radio. It wasn't just a case of kids playing records in their bedrooms - there was big money involved. One of the reasons that the DTI needed to assemble lots of evidence before doing a raid was they needed a lot of police support, which was expensive.

The van is painted Oxford Blue too, which is a non standard colour, it's the darker blue that police vans were at that time. probably so it blended in with other police vehicles?