[Lowfer] Great idea for experimenting...

Wed, 17 Apr 2002 13:05:15 -0400

Hi Brian,

In mid-January this year Mitch P. was able to copy my loop signal (WA) at 
533mi when I lowered the Vcc to the final to the point where the input power 
was -20db or 10mw. All I have to do, now, is come up with a vegetable 
battery that can produce that much power.

Some time ago I was experimenting with lemon and potato batteries and found 
the voltage dropped off very rapidly under load. Apparently gas bubbles are 
formed on the electrodes and tend to act as an insulator and therefore need 
to be removed in order to bring back the current flow. At a QRSS30 
transmitting rate it would take far too long to send just one 'WA' before 
the voltage dropped to 1/2 unless I wired up a whole bag of potatoes.

Any battery experts out there that can suggest a way to reduce this 
electrode problem? Also, where can I find a source of zinc for the negative 
electrode? Plain old galvanized iron has a very short life before the zinc 
coating is eaten away. Looks like zinc isn't used any more in std flashlight 
batteries or I would have a good source there.

Bill A

>From: "Brian Helms" <[email protected]>
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: [Lowfer] Great idea for experimenting...
>Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 08:19:43 -0400
>
>That's a pretty good idea for pushing experimentation a little further.
>Just imagine someone hearing a signal 500 or 1000 miles away and being able
>to say that it came from a vegetable, fruit or whatever.  I wonder if 
>lemons
>would work better??
>
>Brian Helms
>KD4RLD
>185.555 khz  (dismantled for other projects)
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "WE0H" <[email protected]>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 11:51 PM
>Subject: [Lowfer] Great idea for experimenting...
>
>
> > A friend of mine and of others here has done some experiments with 
>potato
> > batteries powering a Lowfer transmitter. Is anyone else game for trying
>out
> > this experiment??? It could add a new twist to Lowfer operations. I was
>told
> > that each potato cell produced about 1/2 volt at 1ma output. Potatoes 
>are
> > cheep so this could be fun & low cost. If you got discouraged midway
>through
> > the experiment, you could always slice up the rest of the bag and add 
>some
> > onions and then fry them up for a yummy treat. Hi Hi. Ideas, comments,
> > suggestions & flames are welcome of course.
> > 73's,
> > Mike>WE0H
> > http://www.geocities.com/we0h/lf.html
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Lowfer mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer
> >
>
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