[Premium-Rx] Powering receivers away from electricity grid

[Blair Batty]

At 03:27 PM 9/29/2005, you wrote:
>A bit late to join the thread, but here are my experiences both from 
>deploying premium receivers with generators and from doing portable 
>contests with the local radio group.

Hi All:

I have a Ham shack, with receivers, scanners, transceivers
and computers. I wanted my gear to be able to function in
case of a power failure. Most of the Ham gear functions on
12 vdc, so run off a 13.7 vdc power supply connected to
a RIGrunner 4012 fused power distribution center; plus a
100 a/h deep cycle boat battery floating on the system.

However, my HF gear is all Harris, running off 110 vac. First
I tried a cheap APC computer UPS but it generated an alarming
amount of rfi. Next I tried a better Exide UPS 450; also unusable
due to RFI.

The solution is to get a high quality, professional
UPS. I was lucky that a good friend of mine found
available for a good price, a couple of reconditioned Liebert
rack mount, UPSs. See:
http://www.liebert.com/products/english/products/netpwrpr/upsgxt2u/60hz/bro_8pg/html/SL_23151.asp

These units convert all the  power to 48 vdc, then back to 110 vac, providing
virgin electricity; a noise free, perfect sine wave. It has enough 
power (1.5kva)
to run my entire shack, including AC-powered ham gear and two computers.
Unfortunately, these UPS cost about the same as a premium receiver,
so I was extremely lucky to get a good price on a rebuilt unit
(sorry, no more available).

Of course, the internal batteries don't last long in an outage, but
there is an enormous electrical outlet for external batteries. I'm
going to get four boat batteries (to get 48 volts) which should
keep me alive for days... So far the only drawback is the continuously
running fan in my otherwise quiet shack; I'm exploring a remote
installation.

I get power conditioning and battery backup and it works great.
So you can get sine wave output UPSes that work great on radios,
if you're willing to pay the price, or get lucky on eBuy. Indeed, I plan
to take it on field day, to place between the generator and radio,
as a power conditioner. Shopping for UPS, you really do need to
try before you buy.

Some of us have invested a fortune in our equipment. One of these
power conditioners seems to me to be necessary insurance.

Sincerely
Blair
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