POTA a perspective, many activations with zBitx. ?Usually get five contacts in before taking a break for heat dissipation. ?My fingers are my gauge. Running the radio at 75% drive usually change in a second set of batteries after the first drops to 6 volts. ?Typically one and a half pairs of batteries per outing, the second set is usually still 7+ volts at the end. Did a five park outing on six batteries. ?A lot less gear than using my Sbitx.
Tim - W1WCI
Sent from me and my iPad
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On May 23, 2025, at 9:20?AM, Dave, N1AI via groups.io <n1ai@...> wrote:
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On Thu, May 22, 2025 at 10:55 PM, Jay Bremner wrote:
So if we are talking about the HRCC video and how his radio was resetting, he posted a follow up video and admitted that he used a 1A power supply. When he connected a 3.5A power supply, problem solved.
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I wasn't talking about that situation, but you might be inadvertently pointing out why it is not the perfect POTA/SOTA solution: should you have to supply 3.5A at 7.2V = 25W to a POTA radio to make 5W output? ?How many watt-hours of batteries are you going to have to bring to that park/summit to have a decent outing?? And if you do so, isn't a lot of that power that isn't going out the antenna producing a lot of heat inside a small package?? ?At some point, isn't it a better idea to address the root cause of the problem instead of applying work-arounds?
I agree just having a solid aluminum baseplate as a heatsink with no mechanical ventilation could be an issue, I ordered a thermoelectric cooling fan that will attach to the back of the radio and that does add about 2 ounces. Despite these issues, I don¡¯t mind tinkering with radios and think it will be a fun experiment.?
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? I can always take my G90 out if it doesn¡¯t work out. ?
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The person who started this thread said that price was important to them which is part of why I chose to respond.??
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Like I said, the review I posted is really balanced.? It points out the good and the bad and everything in between.? ?I admire Farhan's motivations and innovations.? ?I just think people should spend some time understanding what they are buying, especially if $200 is a meaningful part of their hobby budget.??
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Regards,
Dave, N1AI
