Conserving Battery Power During Emergency Operations
During an emergency power outage situation, if you have
equipped your station to run off of battery back-up power, you will want to make
that battery last as long as possible as you don't know when the power
may be restored.
Here are some hints to conserve battery when under emergency power
conditions:
-
Turn off or reduce brightness of the display panel
on your Transceiver. Some radios will allow you to perform this
function from a menu or a brightness control knob. Set it down to
minimum value as the LCD backlight consumes a great deal of energy.
Reducing display brightness may reduce your current draw by hundreds
of milliamps - every little bit helps.
-
Use only as much transmit power as is need to get
through. If you can reach the repeater or a simplex station with 5
watts, then only use that much power. For example transmitting at 50
Watts may require 8 Amps of current. 5 Watts may only require 2
Amps. Your 7AH battery will last 4 times longer using low power.
-
Use a headphone to listen. The audio amplifier in
your radio uses current when you listen through your radio
loudspeaker. The louder
you have the volume the more current draw. Plug in a pair of mono
headphones (or stereo headphones via stereo to mono adaptor). This
will allow you to set your volume control way low and conserve the
amount of power required by the audio circuitry.
-
Keep your transmissions short. Make every word count
and force yourself to not say Ahhh or pause. If you have nothing to
say, unkey your mic. Write down what you have to say if needed to
force yourself to not repeat information. Listen to the WASP
officers on 154.680Mhz. Their communications are typically short and to
the point.
-
Keep a spare, charged battery or two on your system
that you can switch to if the primary battery discharges to below
suggested minimal voltage level. The 7AH batteries are cheap enough
to have a spare battery fully charged and ready to go.
-
Use the best antenna you have (highest elevation,
most gain, etc) so that you have a good chance of being heard using
low power. A co-linear vertical antenna with 6 or more DB gain will carry
your signal a long way. Even further if it is "in the clear".
-
A
simple 3 or 4 element vertically polarized yagi does wonders for a low powered
transmitter - yes even for your HT. See your ARES Operations
Manual for a construction article.
-
Use another nearby station as a relay so you can
both conserve transmit power.
Chip, WB7TFD
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