[NLRS] IF radio power consumption

[Doug Reed]

Radio City had a few radios in the Yaesu refurb "scratch & dent" sale. 
It was over a week ago when I was there, but they had an FT-817 for 
around $440. That is cheaper than the usual retail sale price but over 
the used price. You'd have to call to see if they have anything else. I 
bought a FT-6 dual-band HT for $130, about $50 under the regular price, 
and it seems physically perfect.

As for DC power draw, we know the FT-817 was designed for portable use 
so it also has the lowest power draw on RX & TX. But it is tiny and can 
be hard for big fingers to use. If RX draw on the FT-857 or FT-897 is 
decent (under an amp?) and TX draw is low (under 3 amps?) choose any of 
them.

There is nothing you can do about current draw on the transverter, but 
you can make sure the 2W & 8W amp are in standby during RX because they 
draw a lot of current.

I've been using a 70 AHR battery to run my 10GHz stuff. Without the 
DC-DC power booster it began to get marginal by mid-afternoon because of 
voltage droop during TX. With the DC booster I have no trouble running 
all day. If I had to go "wireless" for a while, I think a 7AHR battery 
would keep me running for an hour or so before I had to get back to the 
car.

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.

jcplatt1 at mmm.com wrote:
> I think Texas Towers has the FT-857 for a little over $700 right now ...
> other distributors may have the same "special" price too.   The FT-857 is
> essentially the same radio as the FT-897 in a different box.   I have the
> 897 and love it - the best GP all around radio I have ever had, plus it has
> a handle on the side, a "big knob", and a 1/4 phone jack on the front for
> headphones.   I'll turn mine down to 5 watts tonight and see what the
> current draw is and let you know.
>
> Another option is to watch on eBay and swap feast for an older style 2m
> only multimode rig.   TM-255, TR-751 and maybe the IC-260 come to mind.
> These are becoming more difficult to find, yet their performance is often
> ideal for IF rig use.
>
> 73, Jon
> W0ZQ
>
>
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