[Elecraft] K3 Off Grid

[Bill Frantz]

I fully agree with you about the value of the grid, but there 
are more common reasons for the power going down that we should 
protect against:

     Ice storms: I remember stepping over the power lines 
leading to a
     B&B I thought I was going to spend the night at. That didn't
     work, but for EmCom we need to be able to run our radios.

     Earthquakes: The could knock our local power quite easily. (They
     are our canonical "bad thing" for Los Gatos AREE/RACES planning.)

     Hurricanes: They can knock down the power lines.

     Tornados: Ditto

We don't need human foolishness to need emergency power.

I have a solar panel and batteries that will run my radio. At 
100 watts, I may run short if there are a lot of messages that 
need to be sent. I should run indefinitely at QRP levels.

The moral is, there may be emergency operations at QRP levels. 
Give them some bandwidth.

Cheers - Bill. AE6JV

On 3/3/14 at 8:53 PM, wrcooke at yahoo.com (WILLIS COOKE) wrote:

> Hams might want to be capable of operating free of the grid 
>for emergency operation when the community loses the ability to 
>generate enough electricity, like the F-117s did to Bagdad 
>during the Gulf Wars.  Nuclear attacks or insane 
>environmentalists getting their way comes to mind.  In which 
>case, we will need gasoline, diesel or propane fueled 
>generators to fill the need until we can restore power.  We 
>will be in a world of hurt until we can reestablish the grid. 

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