What is This Truck?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Parked outside a Rehobeth Beach DE firehouse is this US Government emergency truck with police style red & blue strobes and a radar or satellite style antenna dome. Markings include WV and 33 on the front bumper.

Photo 1

Photo 2

The question was posted on a DC scanner list I follow.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

2

Cat detector. They did away with all the bleedin’ aerials.

3

They couldn’t just buy a dog?

4

Check out this page: Places To Sell Your Products

Looks like a Ford Hazmat truck maybe?

5

The first link is broken and a side view might be helpful. But as a completely wide stab, there is a town in West Virginia that’s in a radio-free zone, because of a radio observatory. Perhaps the truck is used there for detecting rogue radio signals.

6

Here’s the fixed side-view https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49563419/mysterytruck1.jpg

7

It’s gotta be a hazmat vehicle.

8

It could be hazmat related but the only thing it has in common with the hazmat truck in the link is that they’re both blue. The hazmat truck is obviously built for a very specific reason and has a lot of unique modifications. The OP’s is simply a truck with a utility bed. There’s nothing particularly novel about that, there are fire and rescue trucks and even work trucks like that. What’s interesting is the white thing on top. Chemical detector? Radar? Communications antenna?

9

Radiation detecting trucks are similar but have large rectangular panels. Maybe a new version?

10

I was on my phone earlier and now that I’m at a computer and see a better pic, I noticed the roof is covered with antennas. Well, at least 7 anyway. The dome also looks like a satcom dome. I was hoping to pinpoint the brand but most domes don’t taper like that one does. I did find an unknown dome with a similar taper here.

Anyway, I’m guessing it’s a communications truck, a cousin to vehicles like this and this.

11

Ah, the scanner gurus did their digging and found it is a support truck for 31st Civil Support Team (WMD) of the Delaware Army National Guard.

From their Wiki:

Here’s a PDF of Mass National Guard (note similarities).

So it’s a likely choice. The West Va group is the 35th, DC 33rd, so the WV & 33 don’t necessarily match unless it’s Truck number 33 of the West Virginia detachment.