Hi Kevin,  
   First of all, let me introduce myself to the list. The name here is
Michael Dane. I just joined the list recently, and look forward to
participating in the discussions that are held here.  
   I, agree with Steve's comments. Here at my communications desk in my
home, and at the EOC where I am in charge of em-comms, I use the AMG 5500
batteries to power the radio gear.
They have worked well for me during the power outages that seem to plague
us here along the Oregon coast.    
   Hope this helps, good luck!

Michael Dane: W7ALX  
Lincoln County Emergency Communications 
City of Depoe Bay Emergency Operations Center. 

-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Steve Forst
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 6:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Looking for a good way to run my station when there's no
commercial power.

Kevin,

I think you can do this good or do it cheap.  Not sure you can do both.
AGM 
is a good choice for  an indoor battery.  No fumes, no leakage.   The 
electrolyte is  held  in fiberglass mats inside the battery.   Even if the 
case is punctured, no leakage.  Stay away from traditional deep cycle lead 
acid batteries for indoor use.  These can leak or explode since they
produce 
hydrogen gas.

You'll need something to charge the battery and possibly switch over to
the 
battery automatically  if power fails.   West Mountain Radio has a nice 
device that  keeps the battery charged all the time from your station's 
power supply and automatically switches  to the battery when the power goes

off.   About $125.

You will need an  inverter to power the pc from the battery.   These aren't

very efficient when changing over from 12 vdc to 120 vac and   the bigger 
the battery you have, the better.  Cheaper inverters don't produce a true 
sine wave on the ac output and some ac  equipment won't work well.  They
can 
also produce hash.   Be sure your system likes the inverter you choose.

Battery size is maybe the most important factor.   You need to figure how 
long the station will need to run on battery power,  how much of that time 
will be rx and how much tx,  how many amps are drawn in rx and tx, how many

amps the inverter/pc will draw,  add it all up, add some margin for
headroom 
and then buy a battery a good bit larger then you think you will need.

Good luck, Steve KW3A




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Minor" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 7:28 AM
Subject: Looking for a good way to run my station when there's no
commercial 
power.


> Hi.
>
> Let me explain my situation.  I've been asked to have my EchoLink station
> linked up to our local ARES repeater so that communications between 
> stations
> over VOIP can be done.  This will probably be a temporary thing, but I'm
> happy to do this.
>
> Now for my problem.  I'd like to have something available if the power 
> goes
> out.  I'd need to power the radio, a desktop computer, speakers, and a
DSL
> modem.  Right now I have all this hooked to UPS units, but these are made

> to
> get work done and shut the system down.  I'm not using a monitor, so I do
> have some leeway as to my up time should the power go out.
>
> I talked to our local technology net, and they recommended something like

> a
> AGM battery, or some other kind of deep cycle battery.  I'm looking at
all
> the options that I have.  I can access our ARES repeater with 5 watts, so
> that will help, but I'd like something that will allow me to run at
higher
> power with the TMV-71A.  Someone also suggested getting one of the 
> batteries
> from a walk behind fork lift.  From what they said that thing has a lot
of
> power to it.
>
> Thanks in advance for your suggestions.  I believe the commercial power
is
> underground, and in the past year and a month that I've lived here, I can
> count the times when I lost power.  I'm living in an apartment, so I
don't
> thing management would be thrilled for me to have a generator in front of

> my
> place.  Also, all my antennas are inside, and this location is good for 
> VHF
> and UHF communications.  It also has the benefit of limiting myself to
> lightning hitting the equipment.
>
> If I can get this all working on one system, and it doesn't cost too
much,
> I'll probably do the same thing for my TS-2000X.
>
> Thanks again for the help.
>
> Have a great day, and don't work too hard.
>
> Kevin Minor
> [log in to unmask]
> 

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