Guys, I think the point is this: There is a real emergency. You are off someplace with a big battery and have been operating for quite some time, enough for the battery to have gone down. You have another message to get through. In this situation, perhaps you should be running CW at a lower power, but still, the situation could be very real.
Having a battery booster could be very helpful, and perhaps one should be added to the ham's arsenal. On the other hand, running 100 watts on battery is probably not a good idea either. Having been in emergency situations where you do not know when operations will end, you do everything you can to conserver your resources. That means lowering the TX power as much as possible. Even still, Murphy says that at some point when the battery is running out, someone will hand you an emergency message to get through. How do you handle it? As I noted, I'd then lower the power and grab the CW key... Jack Brindle, W6FB On Jun 28, 2012, at 2:54 PM, Matthew Zilmer wrote: > You might want to get a battery booster. Here is one > http://stores.tgelectronics.org/Detail.bok?no=10 > . > > I can recommend that one. Had one for a couple years and use it to > boost to 14.5VDC from whatever voltage any time of day from a solar- > charged battery. I think my K3 likes that 14.5V! > > Matt Zilmer > Consultant - Product Management Dept. > Magellan Navigation / MiTAC Digital Corp. > Tel: (909) 394-6052 > Cell: (909) 730-6552 > Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere > > > -----Original Message----- > From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net > [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net > ] On Behalf Of Peter Wollan > Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 11:07 AM > To: John Kountz > Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Field Day experience with K3 > > The problem here isn't the battery AH capacity, but the voltage > supply. It could be dropping below 10 vdc because both radios are > on the same supply, or because the power supply wires are too fine > gauge, or because the battery is defective. > > The K3 is less robust to supply voltage than the other Elecraft > radios. The K2 is rated for 10-15 volts; the K1, KX1, and KX3 go > down a lot lower, I think 8 volts. I looked at the K3 documents to > see what minimum voltage it requires, and I couldn't find it -- I > think it's something like 11, but it may be 11.5 or even 12. > > You'd probably do fine just by using a separate battery for each > radio, and not letting it run down too far. A voltage booster isn't > needed, as lots of operators all over the world have demonstrated. > > Peter W0LLN > > > On Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 12:19 PM, John Kountz <j...@t6ee.com> wrote: >> ... In tandom >> operation, the Eagle was not affected by momentary voltage dips >> (below >> 10 >> VDC) whereas the K3 would shut down. > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
