Starting my own aerial farm

A nice aerial farm at a gathering of Land Rover products. My Jeep has now started its own farmlet (see small photo below right)

The GME TX3220 fits perfectly in a Jeep's dash pocket

A few months ago, I posted these  thoughts on UHF radios. The availability in the dying weeks of 12.5% GST of a nice GME special package that basically included a free good quality matched aerial prompted me to take the plunge. The GME TX3220 is a compact unit less than half the size of the old GME AM set that served so well on the Land Rover. As the photo shows, it fits perfectly into a little dash pocket on the Jeep, unobtrusive and out of the way. The guys at Motortech 4x4  made up a nice mounting bracket that fits onto existing bolt holes, so no sheet metal was penetrated during the installation of the product! I'm impressed by the strength and quality of the signal the AE4012K2 aerial pulls in, despite not being mounted in the best position (ie the middle of the roof!). Although the unit is compact, even the clumsy-fingered should have no problem working the knobs and buttons. It's way better than trying to use a 2w hand-held for in-vehicle use.

The 5w unit is 29mm high, 129mm long, 117mm deep and weighs just 420g. It includes a speaker of decent quality, but there's a jack for an external speaker if needed. It comes with a strong mounting bracket if your 4x4 doesn't have a convenient little pocket to put it in. It quickly scans the 40 channels so you can hear all the inane babble, if that's your thing. GME often has special deals, so if a UHF radio is on your list, keep an eye out for the next one. Check also other good brands such as Uniden, Motorola, Midland and Oricom.

Sydney show special: VW supersizes the tray

Japanese ute manufacturers are waiting with a degree of anxiety to see what kind of pricing will come with the Volkswagen Amarok when it's introduced here next year. The word from within VW is that at least some models will be highly competitive with the Japanese masses. Several were on show at Sydney and one of the things that most impressed me was the load area of the Dual Cab, 1555mm long by 1620mm wide to give a 2.52 cubic metre load. There's also 1222mm between the wheel wells. So what? That's important to some buyers because it's possible to load Euro pallets sideways and save space.

Sydney show special: The ultimate G Class

I've been a fan of the Mercedes G-Wagen, now the G Class, since driving one bought in for evaluation by the army as a Land Rover replacement. A few have come in for civilian owners, either as private imports or special orders from the factory and now, it's being introduced to Australian buyers in five-seat wagon configuration. The G 350 BlueTEC  uses technology to reduce diesel emissions, especially nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, but forget about that. The G 55 AMG, pictured, is the ultimate G Class, with an $A215,000 price tag and a 5.5 litre V8 supercharged engine developing 373kW and 700Nm of torque between 2750 and 4000rpm. It will do 0 to 100km/h in 5.5 seconds.
The interior is uber-luxurious, but I can't quite figure why someone would want to pay that kind of money for a fast box that they'll never use off-road, where it excels.