Jim,
The usual PD setup for operating a ham radio, since my article on it in QRP Quarterly several years back, was either a mains-supplied charger that supports PD voltages and currents, or a battery power bank that supports PD negotiation for PD voltages and currents. (There's also QualComm Quick Charge competing with PD. Generally speaking, you can tell them apart by the fact that QC uses a USB-A to DC coaxial, while PD uses USB-C to DC coaxial.)
The charger converts mains AC to DC, at the negotiated specs according to what is set in the cable. A PD cable has a USB-C plug at one end that contains a circuit board that does the negotiating with the charger or power bank for the voltage and current it wants. This cable is called a "trigger" or "sink" cable (not sync, it's not synchonizing, it's a voltage sink as opposed to a voltage source), and while I have the bits to make them (the boards are tiny, and are usually in the body of the USB-C connector on the cable), I prefer to buy them premade. Nearly all of my sink cables are for 12V. The PD limit for 12V is 5A, but sometimes you see 3A cables. Mine are 12V, 5A. The other end is the 5.5x2.1 (or 2.5, depending on the device) DC coaxial plug.?
The last item in the chain is the radio itself. What the radio expects for operating voltage and current is what needs to be communicated to the power source via the sink cable. As I said, most of my cables are 12v, but that's only because most of my radios want 12v. The zBitX is the orange cat among the gray, and as such, wants 9V instead. So I have a few sink cables that negotiate 9V, with the proper connector to supply power to the zBitX.
The reason I mention plugging the sink cable into the power source BEFORE connecting to the radio, is because the negotiation process does not jump directly to the requested voltage in some sink boards. Instead, it starts with 5v, then finishes the negotiation and goes to the requested amount. Many radios simply don't play well with this process, if connected first. Some react by releasing the magic smoke. Some just don't turn on, having detected 5v, and then figuring that was simply insufficient, and locks it out. You have to disconnect and reconnect to get it to negotiate again. This is avoided by connecting the sink cable to the power source first, then the radio second.
I have a PD cable for the sBitX as well, since we have one. Instead of the coaxial DC barrel, I have an XT60 connector that matches the radio. It works quite nicely. In addition, I have an Omnicharge Ultimate power bank that doesn't even need me to use a PD sink cable, though I could, as the Ultimate has USB-C PD connections. But it also has an XT30 socket for powering devices up to 60v. It's easy to set that socket for 12V, then plug the XT30 end of the cable into the power supply, then the XT60 end to the sBitX, or I have an XT30 to DC barrel for using at 9V with the zBitX. Since I can actually set the Ultimate to the voltage and current necessary directly, I don't need to use PD at all for that power bank, and can just set it for what the radio wants. It's a great power bank, just a tad pricey. I paid about $300 for it, but I cheated.
I used to get points back on my credit card that could be redeemed for cash on various gift card brands. Since the Ultimate wasn't available on Amazon, but WAS at Staples, I got the correct amount on Staples gift cards, and used those to buy the power bank. The only power bank I have that surpasses it is the Anker Powercore 300 DC. It's like their standard Powercore 300, but lacks any AC outlets. If I need a power bank with an AC inverter, I use the Ultimate, as it has one.
To make sure I'm covering all of your question, The PD charger or power bank I use for the zBitX only requires the USB-C to DC coaxial PD sink cable. I have not found that they cause any birdies on Amateur frequencies that would require additional filtering. I mostly use PD with power banks, though. I have a couple of very well-made AC > DC Power Delivery chargers that work extremely reliably. Pre-lockdown, I used to go around to several little parks near me where I could set up and play radio. One is a POTA/WWFF park, and it was my favorite. But another about a mile away has available AC power sockets, and I will use them if available.?
I have a GaN charger by Baseus that is technically rated for 65 Watts, but the reviews say it tends to overheat when used to its maximum, and will drop back to 45W, then to 30W if the demand is too high. Since it is rated for PD 12V/3A, that comes out to 36, but I haven't hit that level with any QRP radio I've used it with. It may get a little warm, but since QRP has very low demand while receiving, I am not concerned about some reviews that complain about overheating. Even when transmitting, it's usually a max of 5W out (though the sBitX, having a QRP+?output will be higher), and even when transmitting 25W, considering overhead, 30W demand would be about as much as a QRP or QRP+ radio would require.
Baseus 65W PD Charger:
The PD sink cables I've used with 12v radios come from JacobsParts, a dealer on both Amazon and eBay I've had no problems with whatsoever. Here's the Amazon 12V sink cables I use:?
The 9V sink cables I'm using with the zBitX are from a different vendor, but I've had no issue with them:?
JacobsParts does have a 9v cable, and I would probably have ordered from them if I thought about it more at the time, but I took the one I saw that fit the need. If you want to try JacobsParts, here's their 9v PD cable (I have not tested this, but it should work fine):?
A note. 12v is, from what I gather, being or has been phased out for the main PD spec. However, the wider PPS spec contains 12v, and there are lots of PPS sink boards around. PD still has 9V, however. I have ordered, and will test, the new generation of GaN II Anker Nano PPS charger I just saw on Amazon:?
I'll let everyone know what I find out.
If all the acronyms being flung about are confusing, Anker did a very nice page disambiguating the different specs:?
There are other sources out there. I just put "pps vs pd" into google and got a nice pageful of sources. I chose the Anker description because I use a lot of Anker devices.
If I can be of any help, please ask. If it's not topical here, email me offline. My email in QRZ is good if you can't get it from here.
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73,
Gwen, NG3P
Gwen Patton
J R Parrick (K?TBS)
Glen Jenkins WB4KTF
Nelson Livingston