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Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: floridarandy on October 04, 2021, 01:32:08 pm

Title: Powering Ham Radio
Post by: floridarandy on October 04, 2021, 01:32:08 pm
2020's Covid slowdown gave me the chance to indulge a life-long interest in ham radio by successfully studying and passing the Technician and General license exams.  Over the last year I've enjoyed making local contacts on the 2m and 70cm UHF/VHF bands as we traveled.  I use the Yaesu FTM300 in both the Jeep with a mounted antenna and a direct 12v connection to the battery.  In the motorhome I use a 23amp, 12v switching power supply run off shore power or the inverter.  In neither case have a I encountered and radio interference (RFI) from the Jeep alternator or in the motorhome from the solar/lithium/inverter, etc.

I am now getting my first HF radio and wonder what the pros and cons, especially with regard to RFI, might be from powering this radio directly off a 12v run from the house batteries (6x100aH Battleborn's) or off a linear power supply fed from the Victron 3000w MultiPlus.

Anyone have any thoughts.

Thanks

Randy
Title: Re: Powering Ham Radio
Post by: Old Toolmaker on October 04, 2021, 02:13:58 pm
We have an Icom 720A and a Yeasu FT 100D and they run just fine off the 12VDC.
N1RPN and He who must be obeyed, AA1OH.
Title: Re: Powering Ham Radio
Post by: floridarandy on October 04, 2021, 03:09:49 pm
We have an Icom 720A and a Yeasu FT 100D and they run just fine off the 12VDC.
N1RPN and He who must be obeyed, AA1OH.

Are you saying that you are running a 12v line directly from the house batteries to the radios?
Title: Re: Powering Ham Radio
Post by: Old Toolmaker on October 05, 2021, 07:43:30 am
Are you saying that you are running a 12v line directly from the house batteries to the radios?
From the fuse box, chassis ground.  The inexpensive PD9260 is amazingly quiet for a switching power supply. Lynn and I once worked Ukraine, 10 meters mobile with a really sketchy arrangement involving a cigarette lighter, a mag mount, monofilament guys and really good propagation.  In my quest to piss off as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, Ukraine said: "I want to talk to the mobiles only.  If you insist on interrupting I will close my station for a month."  We'd been moving steadily up the band, talking between cars while we transported cars from Florida to New England, never realizing that Ukraine was chasing and calling because he wanted something more than "NNNNN, 59 . . ."  You know. Conversation.