Mobile radio station

A mobile radio station comprising:

• a frame portion;
• a communications tower having at least one communications antenna and a scissor lift mechanism usable to dispose the communications tower in a stowed configuration wherein the communications tower is disposed in the frame portion, and a deployed configuration wherein the communications tower extends out of the frame portion and disposes the at least one antenna upwardly of the frame portion;
• and a tower deployment mechanism usable to control movement of the scissor lift mechanism and thereby movement of the communications tower between the stowed configuration and the deployed configuration;
• the scissor lift mechanism including at least two scissor lift stages movably connected together using a plurality of interstage joints, each interstage joint including a first joint member having a first contact portion, a second joint member having a second contact portion and a joint pivot connection that facilitates relative angular movement between the first and second joint members;
• the first joint member connected to a first scissor lift stage and the second joint member connected to an adjacent second scissor lift stage such that as the communications tower moves from the stowed configuration to the deployed configuration, the first joint member rotates relative to the second joint member about the joint pivot connection until the first contact portion contacts the second contact portion at a point of contact;
• and
• wherein further rotational movement of the first joint member relative to the second joint member about the joint pivot connection causes pivotal movement of the first joint member relative to the second joint member about the point of contact and movement of the interstage joint to a rigid configuration wherein rigidity of the interstage joint is increased.