[Icom] Power Issues

[William Lambing]

To add to what Clif so well stated:

In line components.  Those who use the cig lighter adapters should pay =
heed to the solder issue.  Also, these adapters sometimes have a spring =
that makes "point contact" with the lighter.  Corrosion or other crud on =
these lighters is in effect a series resistor.  The spring also is =
usually small gauge wire.  Look at any ARRL Handbook for wire size =
compared to current it will handle.  With time and current, this little =
wire spring becomes a series resistor also.

Use Ohms law and figure your own losses out.  Measure, as Clif stated, =
the voltage AT the radio.  You might be well surprised at how little =
voltage you do have at the radio.

If you consider that a radio may well draw 10A, then if you have 2-3 =
ohms of series "stuff", how much voltage do you have for the radio? That =
will put you under the recommended voltage for that radio.  Then you =
complain that your Icom or whatever sounds like crap.  Whose fault is =
it??  Certainly not those of Icom.

A friend of mine complained about his radio not working worth a darn at =
50W, but was ok at 10W.  We measured the voltage and found under the 50W =
rating, he had less than 10V at the radio.  We looked at the lighter =
adapter spring and found out it was on the order of 3 ohms.  That plus =
the other losses in his system, really killed it.

Been there, seen it happen.

73

Bill, W0LPQ


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