[Yaesu] Voltage

[David Willmore]

> Marketing hyperbole at its best!
> 
> There are 'voltage booster' devices to increase 12V to 13.8 for mobile rigs
> running off of battery power alone.  They are usually limited to low current
> applications like QRP.  The FT-817 is typical of these picnic-table (as the
> Euros call them) radio that need the 13.8 V to get the full 5W as speced.
> Perhaps an 817 owner could tell us what the 12V wattage out is.. my guess
> would be about 3.5W.

Actually, the FT-817 reaches full output power by 11V for all bands and even
lower for some (14MHz at 9V).  See the graph at http://www.k6xx.com/ft817/poutvcc.pdf
You have to get into 'deal lead' voltage range before it starts to drop appreciably.
It was designed to run off of a 9.6V pack, after all.

And, lead acid cells *don't* charge quickly.  They really don't tolerate it
well.  If you like fast charge, stick to NiCd or NiMH who can take 1C
charge pretty consistantly and some special designs can do up to a 4C rate.
You got the reason for lead acid right on your last point--they're cheap.
That and being 'sufficient' is what they have going for them.  On electric
vehicles, they aren't even considered as an option.

Cheers,
David N0YMV