[TowerTalk] Emergency power for rotator

[Mark .]

Greetings, Gang,
I recently received a 'portable power station' as a gift. You may have seen 
these in one form or another. It is a 4 amp-hour, gel-cell battery, 
connected to a cigarette lighter outlet and a small, 50 watt, 115VAC 
inverter, all in a nylon carrying bag.
The battery is great for QRP rigs, HT's and such, but , at first, I wasn't 
so sure about the value of the 50 watt inverter. What did I have, besides my 
electric razor, that could be powered by just 50 watts?

My Yaesu 800SDX rotor, as it turns out! I have a larger, 300 watt inverter 
on hand for powering the rotor from my 12VDC battery bank. But it has a 
built-in fan that runs continuously, and it is annoying. I had been 
searching for a smaller inverter to power the rotor, and was about to buy a 
140 watt unit.

My Antennas are a Force 12 C-3E, and a Cushcraft 13B2, beams for HF and VHF, 
respectively. A small load, for sure. The whole works turns just fine, at 
normal speed, using the tiny, 50W inverter.

So, if you were looking for emergency power options for your station, you 
may find that a small inverter is all you need for the rotor.

good luck,

--...MARK_N1LO...--
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