[Elecraft] Field Day experience with K3

[Jack Brindle]

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-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> ] On Behalf Of Peter Wollan
> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 11:07 AM
> To: John Kountz
> Cc: elecraft at 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 <john at t6ee.com> wrote:
>> ...  In tandom
>> operation, the Eagle was not affected by momentary voltage dips  
>> (below
>> 10
>> VDC) whereas the K3 would shut down.
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