[Mishmash] The recent weather.

[Richard Barth]

Hi, Fred.


> > I'll be going to Timonium hamfest next weekend.
>
>     Get yourself an Astron thirty-five amp metered supply.  That's what
>I've got.  I've got it rigged so I can connect my Kenwood TM-V7A to it
>the next time I bring it inside from the car.

Thanks for the tip.  I'll look around for one.

>     Have a good time at Timonium.  That was one I stopped going to
>because they always made me do the Limbo Rock in the parking lot to get
>into the hamfest.  Are they still making you do that?

Huh???   New one on me.  The tailgating area is usually crowded up 
there, but the
most usual maneuver looked to me more like dodging and weaving than dancing.

>     I had been getting a lot of complaints from other hams about
>ignition noise on my signal.  They said it competed with my voice much
>of the time.  I plug my unit in through the cigarette lighter plug so I
>can easily move the radio from vehicle to vehicle when it is required.
>Today, I saw the wires that Honda had connected to the back of that
>plug.  The plug itself was rated at ten amps.  However, the wires were
>maybe one gauge bigger than doorbell wire.  With that fifty watt radio
>pulling probably seven or eight amps (while transmitting), I'm sure I
>was getting quite a voltage drop while I was keyed.  I suspect that
>greatly contributed to why the transmitter was picking up so much
>ignition noise from the vehicle.

I've followed handbook recommendations and connected my rig directly 
to the battery
with a pair of heavy wire.  (#10, I think, but I'm not sure.)  My rig 
also runs a
nominal 60 watts, much like yours, so skinny powerlines aren't going to help.
I had a lot of "fun" figuring out how to get the wire from the battery into the
passenger compartment without drilling holes in the firewall, but I discovered
that I could snake the wire along the inside of the driver-side fender where it
appeared with the door open, then between two pieces of rubber door seal when
the door is closed.  Works quite well, with no damage to the wire.

>     So I stopped at a new car stereo place that had just opened near
>here.  There were a couple of Korean men running it.  I told him that I
>wanted to run either number ten or twelve wire from the battery to the
>cigarette lighter and fuse it.  He said no problem and that he could do
>it right then.  He only charged me thirty-five dollars to do it for me.
>Twenty years ago, I'd have done it myself.  But I'm not good at crawling
>up under dashboards to run wire any more.  And as I am a rather big guy,
>crawling under the dash of that Honda Civic was out of the question.
>
>     I took off down the road and opened it up to forty-five (the speed
>limit) while transmitting at the radio's full fifty watts.  The fellow I
>was talking to over my ham set said if I hadn't told him that he was
>looking for ignition noise, he'd never have noticed it.  He said there
>was barely any left.  So I think I solved the problem.
>
>     I can't believe Honda installed a cigarette lighter plug with such a
>small gauge of wire.  Sheesh.

The after-market lighters I've seen in the auto parts stores have wires that
aren't all that impressive.  I'm not terribly surprised that the factories use
the same thing.

73,

Dick

Richard Barth *** W3HWN(at)ARRL.NET *** Silver Spring, MD