Hey fellow Rovers,
Good power systems and power management are the key to successful
roving. Unfortunately, I've been fighting the Inverter noise problem for
a couple of years now. We've needed an Inverter to run our computer as
well as the ac powered rotators. I've tried several cheap, modified sign
wave units. They all emit unstable spurs and hash all over 6m and often
on 2m and up as well. Every time you turn the beam the hash level
increases and the spurs get broader. We have tried everything short of
building a sealed and filtered box for it to go in like W3IY (sk) did.
Bill had said that he still had a little hash due to the less than pure
sign wave output.
I've seen many very high priced inverters that probably would work well
but at $ 1000.00 - $ 2500.00 the cost was prohibitive.
Finally I ran across an ad from Power Stream advertising the
PST-S600W-12, a Low Cost, Low RFI inverter. Checking further they
claimed to have a pure sign wave output as well as well shielded and
filtered switching circuit. I decided to order one but the web site
said they were not available "at this time". After checking back for a
couple of months I called them up and they took my order over the phone.
It cost around $ 216.00 plus shipping.
After installing it in the new rover we spent several hours testing
under different loads and on different bands and there isn't a sign of
RFI anywhere! The hash from the rotator running wasn't present either.
Even though we now run a generator this allows us to run on DC power
while under way as well as when in a generator restricted camp site.
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm
I hope this helps some of you out.
73,
Jim K3LFO/Rover
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