Jim,
Tom and I use a pure sine wave inverter made by PowerBright. It is 300
Watts continuous 500 peak and seems to have very little noise (certainly
less than either the truck engine or the AccuVolt which by the way is quite
noisy!). it sells for under $200.
Seems to be plenty to run the computers and the rotators when we dont have
the Generator running.
73
Jack
WA2IID
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Erickson" <k3lfo@arrl.net>
To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 2:20 PM
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Inverters
> 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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