Wind & LiPo power

Old Reflector
1

Thanks for all the calls today.

The antenna was a 21m long half wave end fed vertical held up by a Cody box kite. No advantage at this time of year, but its fun and much lighter than a fishing pole.

The DC power was supplied by a 5ah LiPo battery pack, which happily ran the IC7000 at full 100w+ output for the duration of the activation.

The LiPo pack is 600g, so its a lot lighter than equivalent SLABs. However it does require some voltage reduction, as the peak charged voltage is approx 16.8v. I do this with some bridge rectifier diodes in series and gradually remove them as the voltage drops. (Does anyone knows how to design light weight DC-DC converters that can handle 20A ?)

Overall its a nice combination if the wind is consistent.

Regards,
Nigel. G6SFP/P

2

In reply to G6SFP:
Well done Nigel… I’ve always fancied trying a kite antenna. Shame I was in the salt mine.

Where did you manage to fly that? The field next to the trig?

…and I assume the gliders weren’t around and turning low over the hill? :slight_smile:

73 Marc G0AZS

3

In reply to G0AZS:

By the Go Ape climbing area.

The kite will fly with little wind, but with todays wind the problem was actually getting it down again.

Nigel.