Welcome to the FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
Need the latest SmartSDR or 4O3A Genius Product Software?
SmartSDR v4.1.5 | SmartSDR v4.1.5 Release Notes
SmartSDR v3.10.15 | SmartSDR v3.10.15 Release Notes
The latest 4O3A Genius Product Software and Firmware
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

What power supply do you recommend for SO2R operations

Martin Bérubé
Martin Bérubé Member ✭✭
in Contesting
I have participated in the WW DIGI contest last weekend. That was my first SO2R operations ever. I was using a Flex 6600. Evertthing went well but, at the end of the contest, my power supply decided to show some disagrements after a day of near continus tramsmission.

So here is my question to experienced Flex SO2R operators. What kind of power supply do you use or recommant for your radio.

Thanks,
Tagged:

Best Answers

Answers

  • Joe N3HEE
    Joe N3HEE Member ✭✭

    What do you mean by disagreements ? The RS-35 should be fine for what you are doing. I use the Astron RS-50M. More than enough current to run multiple radios and accessories. It also runs a little cooler during long contests. I never pay attention to the meters. You can save some $$ and go with RS-50A.

  • Martin Bérubé
    Martin Bérubé Member ✭✭
    edited September 2020

    Joe,

    This mean a capacitor blew up. Is is a RS-32A

    Thank you for your comment.

  • Joe N3HEE
    Joe N3HEE Member ✭✭

    Who is the manufacturer of that power supply ? Astron makes very good highly reliable power supplies.

  • Martin Bérubé
    Martin Bérubé Member ✭✭

    It's an Astron RS-35A

  • EBSDallas
    EBSDallas Member ✭✭

    I use a pair of RS-35A’s. One powers only the radio (6600). The other runs various shack accessories (HF-Auto, antenna switch etc.). I have had both for years and have not had a problem with either of them except for the incandescent meter lights burning out (replaced with blue leds). While I often run digital modes, I do not do any digital contesting. I do run a little casual cw contesting and a lot of serious phone contesting and they have kept up without issue. Does yours run more than just the rig? It’s always possible yours had/has a marginal component in it that isn’t up to the stress imposed by extended digital contesting. It might be worth a call to Astron. I’ve always found them to be very helpful and pleasant to deal with.

  • Stan VA7NF
    Stan VA7NF Member ✭✭✭

    The best configuration is a 10-100 Ah battery with marine circuit breaker (low resistance, no fuse contacts to film over) that is charged by any of the suggested power supplies through an appropriate charger - I am not recommending any specific hardware as it will change with the battery type chosen. Note: Many Li-ion batteries have enclosed charge controllers so they can be charged directly from the PS.

    The advantages are:

    + Pure DC with most PS birdies filtered out and a .01 uf mica for HF+ and .1uf capacitor for audio in parallel across the battery helps even more

    + Several hours operation if the power drops, even better bridging a partial second drop often due to lightning

    + I use a 7 Ah Li-ion bicycle battery + Marine 30A breaker (protection + on/off switch) mounted inside my grab and go box; as well have a 110 Ah AGM inside my shack

    + Fairly even draw on the PS as the battery takes the surge, also lighter gauge is possible if your PS is distant; but use 8 or 10 between battery and rig

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.

Comment As ...

Categories