I written a post on the use of batteries for portable radio use in the field.
It is basically my journey in finding the best power source for myself operating QRP in the field. Thought I would share it from you and welcome any comments or further advice.
Cheers ZL3CC
Hi Phil,
a great summary of what is available. A similar route to me, for long activations I now use an identical 12Ah LifePO4 battery to what you have (albeit with a different name on the side of it). my “goto” battery is however a 4Ah LifePO4 from a local German supplier, which manages a 30-45 minute activation using the G90 or X6200 - it is a heck of a lot lighter than the 12Ah option.
I had not thought about the power banks with a voltage converter cable, however, one “Gotycha” with these is that the Ah rating is when drawing power at the supply voltage, so a 20Ah one at 5V run through a 100% efficient voltage booster to 12.5v is going to have its actual Ah rating at 12.5v divided by 2.5 (as it will draw 2.5 x more current from the battery than your radio is drawing) - which still isn’t bad at an equivalent 8Ah at 12.5v.
The worry about the voltage booster cables is that they can cause hash across most of the HF radio spectrum, so you need to have some luck in finding a quiet one.
73 Ed DD5LP.
Great read Phil about batteries. Very informative. Thanks.
Geoff vk3sq