That is the cheepest upgrade your station and valuable insurance bit of
rover info I have heard yet. Thanks, I am currently working on coming up
with a way to mount my Yaesu FT-897 in my Ford Mini-Van in the front seat
area. But with the hand E-Brake next to the driver seat and a storage
compartment between the driver and passenger seat. I am stuck to come up
with a way to mount the radio and control the radio. With this handy tid
bit I will look into these and incorporate them as when I make a final
location decision. Again great info from lessons learned along the way,
thanks for passing that along.
Dave N3XUD/R
On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Les Rayburn <les@highnoonfilm.com> wrote:
> Many VHF Men, especially rovers, have learned the wisdom of fusing their
> power
> leads running to those pricey transverters, pre-amps, and VHF/UHF rigs. For
> rovers, this usually means fusing both the positive and negative leads as
> close to the radio as possible.
>
> But as any rover can tell you, troubleshooting equipment in the dark on
> some
> lonely hilltop can be an exercise in frustration. Especially in the heat of
> a
> contest. During the CQ VHF contest while operating at night in North
> Florida,
> I had a fuse blow on my Yaesu FT-857D. Since I had not brought along the
> "rover rack" it was literally the only radio available, leaving me dead in
> the
> water until the problem could be fixed.
>
> But luckily, I used "Smart Glow Fuses" which light up when they're blown. I
> also used the specially made clear fuse holders which are made just for
> these
> fuses. "Tracing the problem" was as simple as lifting the back seat and
> looking at the custom power distribution center. I replaced the 20 amp fuse
> that was glowing with another from my bag of spares and was back on the air
> in
> less than 30 seconds.
>
> Smart Glow Fuses are sold at most automotive parts stores, and can also be
> found at Ace Hardware, Wal-Mart, and other retailers. They're available in
> a
> variety of sizes from 1 amp all the way up to 40 amps. They're a bit more
> expensive than standard blade-type fuses, but worth every penny if you're
> on
> that dark, lonely hilltop.
>
> They also work great in the Anderson PowerPole distribution panels sold by
> West Mountain Radio, MFJ, and other companies. And they're perfect for
> fixed
> stations too, not just rovers.
>
>
> 73,
>
> Les Rayburn, N1LF
> EM63nf
> 121 Mayfair Park
> Maylene, AL 35114
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