[Mobile-Portable] HF mobile newbie question

[Earl Needham]

At 02:11 PM 8/19/2007, Scott Oakland wrote:
>Hello:
>
>I have been trying to connect a Yaesu FT101ZD (has one 6146B final) 
>to my car battery via the cig. lighter and a Portawattz 300 W 
>inverter (rated at 30A max) with no success. When I turn on the rig, 
>after a short time , the inverter alarm starts beeping and power 
>begins to shut down or be intermittent. Is it because my cig lighter 
>outlet is rated only for 10 amps (the rig draws up to 20)? Would a 
>portable powerpack-type unit instead of the car battery be better? I 
>don't relish having to connect directly to the car battery. I want 
>to go portable to islands in the area (IOTA / USI), and would like 
>to get this rig on as I don't have the $ to buy a dedicated mobile rig.

         I think a 300-watt inverter is marginal at best for the rig 
you;re trying to use, but if the inverter alarm sounds even if you're 
not transmitting, then you possibly have other issues going on.  The 
beeping indicates the inverter isn't getting enough power to keep it 
running.  I know you don't want to hook up to the car battery, but 
that is the best way to run a rig from a vehicle.

         If you;re dead set against connecting to a car battery, you 
might try either the battery booster from 
<http://members.cox.net/w4rry/order.html>http://members.cox.net/w4rry/order.html 
or else the MFJ-4416 appears to be a similar item.  But I wouldn't 
use either  one as a permanent solution, but only for 
emergencies.  Alan at http://www.k0bg.com/ has some information at 
these things.

         By far, the best solution for running an HF rig in a vehicle 
is to get one that will operate from 13.8 VDC and wire it directly to 
the battery with wire large enough for the load.

         7 3
         Earl

KD5XB -- Earl Needham
Clovis, New Mexico DM84jk
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cw_bugs
Quoting from the Coast Guard: ZUT