[Elecraft] Field Day experience with K3

[David Cutter]

Hello Jack

Thankfully, I have not been in a real emergency, but one of my prime 
directives would be to first establish a stable and exclusive channel, 
OK, it might have to change from time to time, but not like a contest 
situation.  Having established a channel, one of the power-lean digital 
modes would be the choice for me: I keep hearing stories of working 
across the world on a dead band with half a noodlewatt.  The incoming 
data is captured on a power-lean laptop, palmtop, Iphone unambiguously 
in plain language and forwarded or printed off if you must with a small 
printer.

I declare I haven't done any of this, it's just my firtile imagination - 
but I'd like to.

David
GUNA


On 28/06/2012 22:43, Jack Brindle wrote:
> 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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