[CQ-Contest] Inverter generators

[Doug Grant]

As has been pointed out, the generators used at WRTC2014 were indeed
Honda EU2000is.

We observed that they were completely RF-quiet on 40-10M, but produced
a small amount of noise on 80M - about s3 in SSB bandwidth when tested
in the daytime. But in the summertime conditions that was many dB
below the band noise.

One team experienced much higher noise than that for some reason. It
was cured by adding a ground rod at the generator. We never tracked
down the root cause of the noise, and after the weekend was over, we
really didn't have much motivation to do so.

We purchased (and later resold) 65 of these generators. They all
started easily, and none failed. The one-gallon fuel tank only gives
about 10 hours of run time, so we purchased after-market 3-gallon
extended-run gas tanks (some of which had defective fittings which the
vendor replaced). Most of the teams made it through the contest
without having to add fuel.

13 were used in our first test run, 13 more were added for the second
test run, and the balance were added for the main event. All were run
dry after use, and the oil changed prior to storage.

Yes, the Honda machines are expensive. However, I learned of another
group that had a bad experience with Chinese-made off-brand, low-cost,
non-inverter generators...of the 20 or 30 that were purchased, several
were DOA and several more failed after a short period of operation.

I believe Brett's original post concerned choice of an inverter-type
generator for a DXpedition-type operation. Saving a few dollars in
purchase price vs. possibly having a potential catastrophic failure of
the only power source in a remote location seems like a bad tradeoff.

73,

Doug, K1DG
Chairman, WRTC2014 (retired)