[TenTec] boost mobile voltage?

[Clark Savage Turner]

On Apr 24, 2005, at 7:07 AM, Bob Stephens wrote:
>
> I tested "our" Corsair with a fully charged 7 amp hr gel cell and got a
> report of a little "flutter" that went away when I switched to the 
> Astron.

A pretty small battery to draw 20 amps on peaks.  I suspect that the 
voltage drop was pretty bad on peaks.  I would not use a small battery 
like that unless I drove the Corsair QRP.

> I'm wondering - did you do much ssb with the battery or mostly cw?

Yes.  I did SSB.  Used the Corsair and the Herc II for several tests.  
I used a fairly large (just a bit larger than a standard auto battery) 
Marine deep cycle battery fully charged.  The SSB was fine, everything 
held up pretty well.  I didn't go for more than an hour, the Herc II 
takes a bit of current, hi.

I would often operate with a small trickle charger running on the 
Marine battery using the Corsair.  Always worked fine.

> When I key the mic on battery I can see some frequency searching on the
> readout. With a power supply, the readout will stay stable about half 
> the
> time and will be a little unstable the rest of the time on transmit. 
> The
> readout is stable on receive, and then fluctuates a bit when keyed. Is 
> that
> okay?

That is with the small battery, the 7 amp/hour?  Makes sense, that 
little battery probably just can't do 20 amps very well, especially if 
it is not brand new and completely charged.  I'd just get a larger 
capacity battery on it.

I'd try this set up (the battery is probably $60 or $70 at Sears or 
some other auto store?) without the battery booster first.  I don't 
think you'll see any problem.  The booster will draw a bit more current 
(check the efficiency) so you need to look at the tradeoff.  Of course, 
if you plan to use the Scout, you just want a higher voltage to start 
with.

Clark
WA3JPG