[VHFcontesting] Inverters and roving

Thu May 22 13:04:23 EDT 2008

Steve,

I love my Honda EU200i. Twice the power as the one Jack mentions. Not any louder either. Running radios from the pickup cab with the generator underneath the rear bumper is tolerable, really, not that bad. Honda spec's the noise as 59dB at full throttle and 53 dB at idle. Mayberry's usually has an ad in the back of QST magazine. That was the best price that I found.

73,
Dan K6NKC

-- "Jack Isenberg" <ihi at frontiernet.net> wrote:
Steve,

Dont rule out a generator TOO quickly.  Roving plans and configurations tend 
to snowball.
Tom and I started out small, then grew to a lot of bands
Then added amplifiers, and had to go to a generator just to keep up with the 
power requirements.
(we had a deep cycle, then two, then three, but generator helped a lot)
I have a small Honda EU1000 and love it.
Very light weight,
put it out about 50 feet and noise is minimal.
only takes a minute or two to put it out and pull the rope (ONCE)
In fact I am in the process of buying another one so I have enough power to 
run the equipment, lights, AND a heater.

Take a look at my web site:

http://www.frontiernet.net/~ihi/

good luck
73
Jack
WA2IID

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <k4gun at comcast.net>
To: "VHF contesting list" <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:00 AM
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Inverters and roving

As usual, I have received a number of excellent comments and suggestions and 
that has lead to a few more questions on my part.  As is also usual, a lot 
of those comments came to me directly and not through the list.  I'm going 
to try to respond to a few of those in a single posting.

First, one person asked if I had added ferrites to the DC input.  The answer 
is no.  The battery and inverter are sitting side by side inside the tool 
box.  I can certainly add them, but I'm not sure if that would do any good. 
The battery is charged by the alternator and there are no ferrites on that 
either.  That again would be easy enough if anybody thinks it would do any 
good.

I have ruled out getting a DC operated rotor.  Its a great idea, although 
expensive.  It doesn't power my laptop and therefore, I'm still in need of 
an inverter.

One person suggested a generator.  I had ruled that out because it just adds 
complication.  Each time I park, it means getting out and starting it.  Not 
a huge deal, I know, but my goal has been efficiency and maximizing 
operating time.  That suggestion is back on the table, but I'm still not 
sure I want to go that way.

One other person suggested good results with the Exceltech brand of 
inverter.  Its not cheap which brings up the question of how much power I 
really need.  The have a 250 watt model (300 surge) for $484 and a 600 watt 
for $775.  Obviously, 600 will work, but would I be able to get away with 
the 250 watt model?

Again, thanks to all for the great responses.  Y'all have been an invaluable 
resource.

Steve K4GUN

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: k4gun at comcast.net

> Well, my new rover system is just about complete. I posted some pics on 
> QRZ if
> you're interested: http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=163565
>
> I've run into a problem though. I decided to spend the money and get a 
> pure
> sine wave inverter. Based on opinions here and elsewhere, I figured this 
> caused
> the least amount of noise. I also mounted it in the steel toolbox and 
> attached
> a couple of ferrite beads on the electric cord. The battery is also in the 
> tool
> box.
>
> Sounds like a good plan, right? Well... not so much. It turns out that all
> pure sine wave inverters are not always as quite as you would think. On 50 
> MHz,
> I have an S4 noise floor and a buzz on the calling frequency. When turning 
> the
> antenna, its an S8 noise. Its seem fine on 144 and 432, but on 50, its 
> just a
> nightmare. When I turned the inverter off, the noise dropped to S1 or 
> less.
> This is an AIMS inverter that I bought off e-bay from a company called 
> Energy
> Igloo.
>
> I'm about tapped out for this contest. I think I'm going to get a DC 
> adapter
> for the laptop and just use the truck as a rotator. Maybe I'll use my
> "stimulus" check for another inverter. Any suggestions on which one to get
> would be greatly appreciated. Any other thoughts or suggestions would be 
> great
> as well.
> _______________________________________________
> VHFcontesting mailing list
> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting

_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting

_____________________________________________________________
Click here to find the perfect banking opportunity!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2111/fc/Ioyw6iigDcrFQDMm5CqUh3txJRa11z99BPvslJEsa59YaOlLsTsPri/?count=1234567890