[Elecraft] Cold K3

[Nr4c]

It's nice someone finally acknowledged my post about the battery as part of the culprit. 

I too have had LCD screens go blank in the cold. And I realize the electronics have limits as well. 

But note that many small low power radios are very sensitive to battery voltage. If it's too low, the radio draws more current the get the required power level which draws down the voltage even more, and on, and on.  

Sent from my iPhone
...nr4c. bill


> On Oct 6, 2016, at 2:32 PM, Fred Jensen <k6dgw at foothill.net> wrote:
> 
>> On 10/6/2016 10:43 AM, Richard Fjeld wrote:
>> 
>> Someone posted with a question if the battery was cold. That may have
>> been pertinent.
> 
> Nearly all chemical reactions slow with decreasing temperature. Batteries produce an electrical current through chemical reaction(s). In the northern interior of AK, coldest I saw was -67F ... for 10 days. Vehicles idled 24/7 and if one died, it got restarted in the spring. :-)
>> 
>> I was curious. I posted about what I had been taught years ago
>> concerning solid state circuit design. As of those designs, it is my
>> understanding that solid state radios will have reduced performance in
>> cold temps.
> 
> Solid state devices have both high and low temperature limits. Switching speeds slow down a low temps.  Crystals will also cease oscillating at low enough temperatures.
>> 
>> I'd like to know if this is true with designs today. Perhaps you, and
>> others, will post some findings on this question as you operate in the
>> cold.
>> 
>> (Most radios today, have LCD screens and that will hamper the findings.)
> 
> I have an older IC-2800H VHF/UHF radio in my truck.  It has a color LCD TV display.  The truck is parked on the driveway [a little too long for the garage] and in the winter, I can turn on the radio, and it works, however the display is blank for several minutes until things warm up a little.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Fred K6DGW
> - Sparks NV DM09dn
> 
> - Northern California Contest Club
> - CU in the Cal QSO Party 7-8 Oct 2017
> - www.cqp.org
> 
> 
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