Hi
Sorry I haven't picked up on this thread earlier, thanks Nige for flagging it up for me.
As a past owner of 71FL01 an "Intercept Complex Electronic Warfare Truck mounted 1 Tonne Rover" I make the following observations.
The 101 Intercept Complex is a rare truck, however it is possible that a total of 17 where converted to this role [see later about the specific roles]. As stated elsewhere it is believed that 19 VAMPIRES were constructed. In addition to the EW identification pointers already mentioned look for signs of a large plate being fitted over the side opening doors, screw holes all the way around the doors, I thought I'd located a door plate on a farm in SE Wales but the trail went cold.
When fulfilling the Intercept role the only access to the rear compartment was via the rear door.
To the right hand side of the rear door there should also be a pull out drawer unit about letter box size that allowed signals to be passed into the truck without compromising security, this may have been plated over in later service.
As you will have seen from John Bailey's truck there is also a special spare wheel mount on the front of the 101.
The door handle and lock on the rear door are high security specials often supplemented by a padlocked hook and eye arrangement. There should be a ladder mounted on the offside rear with a facility to mount one over the earth stake box on the near side. There should be 3 fabric covers over input panels, one each side just in front of each rear wheel and the other on the offside rear wall just above the "post box". There should also be some odd bracketery on the rear wall of the cab assuming the truck in question retains it's rear wall. I've got some details "on file" of the kit that went there if anybody wants to know I'll try and dig it out.
Dealing with the role I'll try and cull the "highlights" from my aticle "Electronic Warfare, an insight into the role of VAMPIRE's and 101 EW's" that was published in the Ex Military Land Rover Association Newsletter.
There were two intercept Complexes per 14 Sig Regt Squadron. The Complex was usually located approx 5 kilometers behind the FEBA usually central to the VAMPIRE "line" which was about 1 to 2 kilometers back from FEBA, there were 4 VAMPIRE's per Troop. The VAMPIRE's fed back to the Intercept Complex with each Complex responsible for hostile comms upto 70 kilometers away. The EW Complex then passed this info back to Div EWCC.
Each Intercept Complex consisted of 6 101's plus a range of support vehicles. The 101's usually reversed into a tailor made tent and were all hooked up to each other. It is probable that each EW 101 had a different role to perform within the Complex so internal equipment fit would be different for each truck, so it is reasonable to suppose that there are only 3 of each EW variant. I am aware of the following roles;
1 x 101 was the "Terminal" and this towed the Troop Sankey water bowser.
1 x 101 was the "DFC" truck.
1 x 101 [my "old" 101] was an Intercept and towed a Sankey that carried a 21 meter mast.
I've not yet been able to clarify the roles of the other 3 101's in the Complex.
So an interesting vehicle that should remain unmolested.
My "old" 101EW now resides with a collector in the Netherlands. I sold it on when I realised I had gone as far as I could afford "restoring" the 101 to it's 14 EW role. £1,400.00 to get a bit of Watkins Johnson radio kit from the USA meant it had to go. A beautiful mint truck with 8,000 miles recorded - three years later I still suffer from withdrawal symptoms!
Cheers
Peter
