Today James (MØBOV) and myself took a trip to East Clandon to operate portable and to “test” some things out.
We setup my FT-897 with my battery pack. We found the Sutton and Cheam Radio Society net, and wasn’t long before we were informed something didn’t sound right.
A look at the voltage meter on the rig showed the voltage was dropping. Oh dear. It seems the battery pack has some kind of protection on the JumpStart crocodile clips to prevent some kind of electrical feedback. I guess I will have to design a connection via the 12v DC input instead.
If that fails, I have 2 12v (7mah I think) batteries for a UPS that were never used.
One interesting thing we found was the Solar Chager (see earlier post) voltage varied quite a bit (partly due to the LED). Ranges we saw went from about 4v to 13v. Steadier was the current. This was from 100mah to 400mah+ in bright sunlight.
Contacts weren’t many. But we had some fun playing with a few different wire antennas. The best which gave a some contacts into Ireland, Scotland and a few in Europe was a Long Wire antenna made from some PTFE wire I got from a Junk Sale at local club. It was strung over trees, around some fence posts and a couple of bushes.
My favourite (and last contact) was with the Marconi Radio Group (MNØMRG / MIØMRG) or rather former WARG member Ted GIØJQQ.
Posted above are a photo (from my Camera phone so not great) of setup and view from car just after we left the car park. We left to chat to John G3OLX as hs camper wouldn’t fit under height barrier.
Who knows what fun we will have next time. We are considering a better way of lauching the Wires into the trees.