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Fogdog
05-11-2016, 07:37 AM
What size power supply would I need for my Stryker 955? I'm thinking of moving it inside for awhile. I also will need suggestions for a base antenna. Thanks in advance for any help.
73

222FL
05-11-2016, 09:25 PM
A 15-20 amp power supply should be ample for the radio. Megawatt makes a pretty good switching power supply, the S400-12, it's 36amps. They cost about $60. Go to megawatt.com and check them out. Built in the US, and have 2yr warranty. Also they don't have any hash as far as I have noticed anyway. I use one with an Icom 746 and it runs its fine @ 100w no problem. Again, no hash that I have found either.
As for a base antenna, not sure what you are trying to accomplish. You want a vertical or a beam antenna. For vertical the Sirio Vector 4000 is a great antenna as long as you don't live in a high wind area. If this is the case there are other antennas as well, the Sirio 2016, 827, the Gain Master, and also other antennas. The shockwave antenna made in the US, is a sweet antenna, but it's expensive. Same with the I10k or Mr. Coily antennas as well. The ones I listed are all 5/8 wave antennas or close to 5/8 wave minus the vector 4000 which is a 7/8 wave antenna.
There are many more antennas I could name that would work as well, but I am a big fan of fiberglass. Some like the the IMAX 2000. Not a bad antenna. Like I said. I just like aluminum better.
I am currently using a Sirio vector 4000 that is up 26ft to the base of the antenna. Tip height is around 54ft with the antenna being around 28ft long. I can talk consistently out to about 70 miles locally no issues, and when it's quiet as far as floor noise goes I can reach the west coast of FL, from Daytona to Tampa, which is about 130 miles or so. And that is with about 50w of power being used on SSB. Could probably use less and still make the trip, but it never hurts to have a little more than 12w at times.
Now there are beam antennas as well that will work very well if setup right. A 3 element beam or even a quad type antenna with dual polarity, meaning it has both horz, and vert., capabilities work very well. Get most any decent antenna off the ground as high as possible and use good coax and connectors. Also a good ground system and a surge arrestor, a low pass filter, and a good ground system, as well as tuning the antenna properly all help your setup be as good as it can. I am sure I missed something, but there is enough here to at least get you started. As far as power supplies go, any good 20 amp supply should be about right for that radio. I would look into something a little bigger than 20A just to have good headroom and also the option to add other things to it. Again, I've had very good luck with the megawatt power supply i have. Had it for about 3yrs now and it still performs like when I purchased it. Set to 13.8v with 30+ amps of power I have never had an issue with it and like I said, I use an HF radio with it. Also great customer service. Not saying that a different supply won't work, just giving my experience with ones I have used. Stay away from the pyramid supplies! Astron, Meanwell, megawatt, and some others all will work as long as you get one with proper amperage. I would look for something that will give you about 1.5 times the amps needed. So if your radio draws 15A, a 20-25 amp supply min. Is what I would look for. And also stay away from the cheap power supplies as well as they don't have good filtering and may cause some unwanted noise. These are JMHO. Hope all this helps. Good luck with whatever you decide. Have a good one.

Fogdog
05-12-2016, 06:20 AM
222FL, thanks for that write up. That power supply sounds like the one I need. As for the antenna, I'm live in the mountains. I have one right behind me and pretty much all around me
I'm at 3,000 ft elavation, and the mountains around me are around 4,000-5,000 ft. Im also in a heavily wooded area. The whole thing is going to be a challenge I guess. I'm not sure if one antenna is better than others for these conditions.

Fogdog
05-12-2016, 06:37 AM
We also have lots of high winds here.

222FL
05-12-2016, 06:39 AM
Looks beautiful that is for sure. At any rate, with all the trees, a vertical antenna or even a dipole hung between 2 trees would work. I suppose you don't have many locals. If this is the case, then setup 2 dipoles, horz. As high as you can, one pointed N/S and the other E/W, and use a switch to transfer between them. Either that or get a good vertical antenna and get it up as high off the physical ground as possible. Keep it away from the trees as much as possible. I know this won't be easy. But find a spot around the house that doesn't have trees real close. If possible place antenna here. Or you could mount one on the roof with a good tripod mount.
Also if possible, getting into the top of one of the nearby trees and mounting an antenna on a pole as so the antenna itself is totally above the top of the tree. Looks as if that might be viable if the trees are sturdy enough to bare the weight of a person near the top. And as far as vertical antennas go, like I said, if the wind isn't bad where you are, then I would recommend the Sirio vector 4000. If you do have bad winds and such, try an IMAX 2k or a good commercial antenna like a 5/8 wave shockwave antenna. They cost a bunch but are built like a tank!!
The Sirio 2016 and 827 are pretty heavy duty antennas as well. But not as nice as the others I mentioned in my other post like the Mr. Coily or I10k or even the Shockwave (US) made version. It all depends on how much you would like to spend and what areas you have to use the antenna. Dipoles with a good 1:1 balun are easy to string up between 2 trees and work great for dx. Get them above 30ft. and they work very well. You can place them either horz. or as an inverted V. I like horizontal myself, but they are a bit more directional and also not very useable for local use. But for dx they do work great!!! I actually took my 2 dipoles down as my vector 4K works just as good as my dipoles did or better. Don't have the rejection of the dipoles of signals that I don't want to hear, but it transmits and receives just as well as my dipoles did at 35-40ft off the ground. Anyways. Again, look around d and think about what you truly want to accomplish then go for it. The DX isn't real great right now. It's sporadic to say the least on 11m at least. But with the proper antenna setup you can talk pretty far locally. Again, just my experience with the few antennas I have used and also installed or read a lot about. Hope something might help. Be safe whatever you do. And just google megawatt power supplies. He has a website. 73 and God Bless.

Fogdog
05-12-2016, 07:30 AM
^^^^, again thanks for all the in depth info. That clears it up for me a lot. I have the mobile installs down pretty good, but a base station is new to me. Looks like I have some work to do. I looked up megawatts Web page, and I will be buying one of these. Thanks again for your help. Oh , by the way. When I was out in California shooting skip out of my pickup, we actually talked once over the air. I haven't had much luck up here yet. My radio is in my UTV right now, and I just don't here that much except on the super bowl (ch 6).

Fogdog
05-12-2016, 01:20 PM
Just out of curiosity, is there a way I can rig my Predator 10K dual coil antenna into a base antenna. I'm not currently using it, and was wondering.

222FL
05-12-2016, 03:35 PM
Not really, as you would need a large steel plate under the antenna and also be able to get it up in the air. This won't be easy and most height you'll most likely get is top of roof if that is even possible. Like I said, you need some metal under that antenna, your predator 10k.
Build yourself a dipole! They are cheap and if you build it properly you can get them to match at 50ohms with a piece of 75ohm tv coax, 18ft of #14awg or even smaller, a couple of insulators, these can be bought at Home Depot for a couple dollars or if you have some old flex conduit connectors laying around you can use them as well. You'll also need an SO-239 connector.
Or you can buy one off eBay for about $15 dollars shipped.
Either way, string it up between a couple trees as high as you can. Shoot my first one was about 8ft off the ground and I worked Australia from FL with a barefoot Uniden PC122XL on SSB, 12 watts of power. Using a home made dipole with parts like the ones I listed above. 8.6ft per side is approx what is needed and also a piece of 75ohm coax to bring the impedance down to 50ohms. Read up on how to build one. They truly are an easy antenna to build and you can also make an end fed vertical one as well.
Like I said, your predator 10k is going to be way hard to tune without some decent metal under it. Not like a base antenna.
Do some searching on eBay and you can find dipoles for really cheap. They aren't that hard to build and really do work for dx. And if hung vertically and setup correctly, they can also be used as a vertical antenna for local and DX use. There is an app called antenna calculator on Apple anyways that will help you with length of the antenna as its all dependent on the freq. as to how you tune one. Meaning you cut the antenna to be resonant at what frequency you are wanting to use it on and near. Dipoles are not real broad banded but will let you get the CB band and some no problem. Also can be used on other bands for RX anyways.
At any rate, sorry for rambling. Hope some of this helps and they are JMHO's as well as my own experience messing with the same antennas! Tried my single coil 10k and it wouldn't tune very well!! Even with a 3'x3'X1/4" steel plate under it! Again, hope some of this helps and good luck.

Fogdog
05-12-2016, 03:44 PM
Thanks again, lots of good info. I've thought of a dipole, still might go that. Searching for the best trees to run one up. The tree line is about 70 feet from my house, so if I can run coax that far without to much signal lose I'll be good. I might end up with an antenna farm for ,10,11, and 2 meter. Got my work cut out for myself.

Fogdog
05-20-2016, 02:27 PM
Got my Megawatt power supply today (s-400-12x36), and it's working great. The parts needed for my base station ate tricking in.2014

222FL
05-20-2016, 03:18 PM
Good deal!! My megawatt supply has been in use for over 2yrs now and it still runs like new. No change. Just clean the fan every once in an while with a can of compressed air.
That PS will run a 2 pill amp all day as well. Just to let you know. I put my old magnaforce 350hd with 2 toshiba 2879's in it on my supply and ran it with my uniden 980. Not a lot of input from 980, but enough to make a couple hundred watts. PS had no problem keeping up!!
At any rate. It's coming along! Keep at it. And keep getting your license or tech ticket. It will open up some other stuff for sure!! And if you get general, you can really enjoy a lot of stuff! At any rate, keep up the good job and maybe we can get lucky and catch each other on air. 73 and God Bless.
222 Daytona Beach, FL.
Sean.

Fogdog
05-20-2016, 03:54 PM
Sounds good. I was wondering if this power supply would run my radio and a 2 pill amp that I have. I got my tech license in 2013. I traveled for 16 months in 2015-2016 and didn't have any radios with me. For about 8 months though I was pretty heavy into the 10 meter band. Personally I really still like 11 meter ssb. I'm not a Ham snob, I like radio period. I still talk to the operators around here on 2 meter. I'm actually the only active Ham on this whole mountain, so I've been told. I keep them up to date on weather conditions, because this area has a lot of recreational activities. It's also 35 miles from the Johnson City area. Anyway, just plugging along getting my shack together. Moving into this house from the west coast, and all the work were doing here has left the radio money on a low priority status, so I'm trying to get it all together a little at a time.
I hope we can have a Qso soon.

73

Fogdog
05-21-2016, 07:07 AM
Just wanted to thank you for steering me in the direction of the megawatt power supply. Nothing fancy, but it just plain works, and the cost is great.

222FL
05-21-2016, 08:15 AM
No worries. And yes it should power your radio and a 2 pill amp. They are actually rated @ 36A from 9-15vdc.
And megawatt the website. Check it out before you buy anywhere else. But anyway, he sells a 50A power supply as well for $110. My local pal got one and he loves it! Best $110 he has spent in long time is what he said. They also have a 2yr warranty. Good dude that runs it. Here is the site. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160521/1d2d3c0d74c0486940a63dd796e2d8b5.jpg
Anyways, glad to help man. Haven't been hearing much of anything on the radio but static. I don't turn it on but on the weekends now. But every now and again when the DX rolls, I get TN a lot. We may have spoken from where you lived before. I know your handle
is familiar to me. Are you a member on another forum? I got banned from that one, don't know why either. But I hang out either here or on the WWDX forum. At any rate glad you are happy with the supply, they are truly nice for the money and have very good filtering. I use one on my Icom 746 and run it at 13.85vdc and I get about 110w pep on SSB. It's not a big AM radio, but I have talked DX with it on AM. I mostly hang out on 38lsb.
Go by 222, Daytona Beach, FL.
Sean.
Anyways. Have a good one and keep us posted about how the rest of the install goes!! Sounds like you are going to be busy for a bit LOL!! 73 and God Bless.
Sean.

222FL
05-21-2016, 08:19 AM
Okay just read your other post, I thought we had spoken on air before!! Hope to catch you up there. It's been dead lately, but what is funny is you will have conditions and it's just been so quiet no one gets on. I've just been fooling around when I thought the DX was completely dead and next thing I knew I was speaking with a bunch of people! All up your way, and east and north. I get TN, here a lot so hopefully we will talk soon. Be safe and keep up the good work!!

Fogdog
05-21-2016, 08:46 AM
Skip has pretty much been dead here. Last week there was a little bit. I also hang out on TWRC, and cb radio forum. If I want craziness I go to mauldroppers.
The local cb'ers around here are truck drivers, and they pretty much just talk between themselves. Not to friendly. I prefer DX, over local anyway. Nice to get a radio report after you make a change to your station though. I see a few base antennas around here, but I haven't heard anything, except on 2 meters. Maybe I'll get some more activity when I get my dipole up in the air, and approx 100 ft from the house. Still getting a lot of stray RF, even with the LPF in line. Hope that stops with the install of the 1.1 balun.

73

222FL
05-21-2016, 09:05 AM
It should. That is what they are made for.