[Yaesu] FT1500, your input appreciated

[Bill Sinbine]

At 12:30 PM 1/19/2005, you wrote:
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>.
>.
>
>Greetings:
>
>I have:
>
>1) FT1500 2m mobile purchased April, 2001. Works fine. Its manual says the 
>current draw for 50W is 8 amps, 2 amps at 5 watts.
>
>2) Coleman Jumpstarter ModelPMJ8960 10Amp/hr portable battery. Its manual 
>says its 12v cigarette lighter ports can provide 12v DC at 10A maximum.
>
>3) I connect the two with a home-brewed cord: Radio Shack fused cigarette 
>lighter plug (w/LED indicator) spliced into a factory-supplied Yaesu power 
>cord--each lead has its own fuse. Three fuses in all protecting against 
>accidents. This cord is about 10 feet long.
>
>When I key up at 50 watts, the DC INput display goes from 12.6 volts to 
>10+ volts. I'd expect that.  Is it normal for the rig to deliver that kind 
>of punch to the battery?

Yes it is....Most radios now a days like to see 13 volts as the norm. The 
batt won't last long with the power draw...


>Secondly, with the rig plugged into the Coleman or installed in the car 
>connected to the automotive battery, in the OFF position, when I 
>disconnect the power cord, the radio "blips" or pops (heard on its 
>speaker) and the display blinks once.  Does the radio draw current even 
>when turned off?

That would be for the memory backup. If it didn't draw anything off the 
batt in the radio for backup wouldn't last as long.


>Thirdly, are these jumpstarter battery packs poor choices for ham use?

They work fine. You just have to remember the power draw.... What does it 
pull at the 5 watts? Listen to the radio on another RX and see what it 
sounds like with the lower voltage. It might not sound good after a short 
while because of the low voltage..

Think about it .....
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Bill Sinbine
n4xeo at bellsouth.net