Dear SOTA-Friends
Yesterday I was on HB/ZH-009. The signals were extremely weak like on a beverage. I used a 40 meter dipol. Battery and output were okay. I never used my IC-735 in such severe coldness.
Does anyone have experience with the receiver of a IC-735 in coldness?
tks and 73
de HB9BIN, Jürg (George)
In reply to HB9BIN_3:
Jürg,
Moreover, you had a bad signal tone close to the final of your activation 
73! Alex UT4FJ
In reply to UT4FJ:
Hi Alex
Tks for the Information. I knew there was a UT4-station but due to the week signals I could not copy your suffix.
hpe cuagn es 73 de HB9BIN
In reply to HB9BIN_3:
Dear Jürgen!
A battery’s effective capacity can drop to 10% in extreme winter conditions. (You may have noticed it starting your car!) Operating discharges it thus the terminal voltage drops especially under loaded conditions. No wonder if the built in regulators of the RIG cannot handle the extreme voltage swings perfectly and the tone becomes somewhat (?) chirpy.
But who cares it? A somewhat chirpy tone is a must in the final stage of an activation as it were waste of energy taking home even a single electron left in your battery! 
This is the bouquet of SOTA! And what is more, an activator’s (often weak but) chirpy tone distinguishes itself in the QRM of chasers! 
Unfortunately I missed you. Maybe next time I can QSO you!
73: Jóska, HA5CW
In reply to HB9BIN_3:
In reply to HA5CW:
But who cares it? A somewhat chirpy tone is a must in the final stage
of an activation as it were waste of energy taking home even a single
electron left in your battery!
I’m inclined to think that you take back the same number of electrons that you took up.
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
I have a feeling that you will have radiated some photons somewhere… out of the heatsink on the radio and hopefully as a cloud of wave/particle dualities from the antenna!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Does that mean your equipment is lighter after an activation?
And, if it has lost electrons, does it have a positive charge?
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
Richard,
Of course from the aspect of chemistry and electricity you are absolutely right! I intended to mean with my technically objectable symbolic expression that the nicest finish of a successful activation is returning with a totally discharged battery demonstrating that the activator made his best reaching the possible extremity, he established as many contacts as his battery permitted. We all made best use of the activator’s effort, crating a nice pile-up for him ending in a chirpy tone, finally unexpectedly interrupted transmission… Don’t you agree?
73: Jóska, HA5CW.
In reply to HA5CW:
Don’t you agree?
Of course I do Joska. My perfect activation ends with the battery dying at the end of a contact with the last caller.
I hope to be out with my PP3 again soon. I am just hoping that it has enough electrons left for a few more contacts. Expect a chirpy signal!
73 and Happy Christmas
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
Well photons are both chargeless and massless so I can radiate an awfully large number of them for no change in weight or charge in my equipment!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
So we agree about the number of electrons?
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
I don’t anyone agrees much about electrons anymore after that nice Mr. Heisenberg introduced us to his uncertainties!
Which leads me nicely to the Heisenberg joke:
Heisenberg was speeding along the autobahn when he was stopped by a police car.
Policeman: Do you know how fast you were travelling?
Heisenberg: No, but I know exactly where I am! <FX: rimshot>
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
ISTR that Feynman postulated that there might only be one electron in the Universe and it calls in on everyone; rather like Father Christmas but without the good/bad exclusion principle (or was that Pauli?).
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
Oh dear - cabin fever time!!!
73
Barry GM4TOE
In reply to G3CWI:
It should be lighter. To a first approximation, and assuming (to choose round figures) a battery of precisely 12v and 10Ah, your equipment should lose (according to Einstein’s famous equation) 4.8 picograms in weight.
Or am I being a science geek in knowing that?
Ian
G6ENU
In reply to G6ENU:
I suppose with a good beam you could develope that much thrust - having the rig on could give you a little help up the hill!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
That would be against the rules Brian
In reply to G6LKB:
I suppose so, quantum mechanical assistance!!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G6ENU:
Yes, 4.8 picograms sounds about right for the special case of such a battery, but only when it is assumed to be within an inertial frame of reference. Taking into consideration the acceleration of the battery in a necessarily non-inertial system (due to the diurnal rotation of the earth, orbital motion within the solar system, galactic rotation, etc), we would have to turn to general relatitivy theory for a more accurate value. At this time of year we must also take into consideration the probability of anomalous effects produced by Red-Shift Reindeer moving through the battery’s frame of reference at a velocity reputed to be approaching the speed of light.
73
Ken
GI4FLG