[Elecraft] RE; How well does the K3 work with lower power supply voltage . . .

[Bill Frantz]

When our club, the West Valley Amateur Radio Association, does 
field day, we use many K3 and Flex transceivers. We run them 
from 12 volt lead-acid batteries with solar power systems to top 
up the batteries. We have had not had any significant problems 
in any of SSB, CW, or Digital, although I think the the digital 
stations have the heaviest battery drain. We have noticed that 
before dawn, when the batteries are getting low, the IMD 
increases and we get more QRM from other stations in our 
operation. Swapping in a fresh battery always cures the problem.

Note that we run QRP, which helps with avoiding intra-station 
QRM and boosts the score.

If I were buying batteries for portable/field operation today, I 
would look at the Bioenno LiFePO4 batteries. Good power/weight 
and power/size ratios and near full voltage until the end of 
their capacity. The down side is they are more expensive the 
lead-acid batteries.

73 Bill AE6JV

On 5/28/20 at 8:41 PM, john at t6ee.com (John Kountz) wrote:

>I have two K3 transceivers and have attempted to use them on 
>several Field Days with limited joy and unlimited 
>disappointment.  I've attempted to use one or the other with 
>120 Watt solar cells and 100 AH GelCel and/or Lead Acid 
>batteries which had been charged beforehand.  As long as there 
>is healthy sunlight and you have a duty cycle of between 10 and 
>15 percent transmission with 85 to 90
>percent monitoring you'll have a functioning station.

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