[amsat-bb] Field day power from BEV?

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Greg,

If you don't move around to operate from different locations, you
should be able to do a class-A operation. You could even make that
case if you parked a "normal" car near the picnic table and run off
the car's battery, without firing up the engine or moving to different
locations. I wouldn't consider it class-C unless the station was
capable of being operated while mobile, regardless of the mode of
propulsion of your car. Unless I am traveling with a rental car,
I try to avoid ever using the car battery to power my radio gear.
I'd rather not call AAA to jumpstart my own car. :-)

Class-A stations are not limited to QRP transmitter power levels. The
power level determines the power multiplier for your score - if you
submit your score to ARRL for this non-contest. When I work Field
Day as a 1A station, I am always running on battery power at 5W. Even
when I used an HT and Elk on the office balcony last year, to make some
SO-50 and ISS packet QSOs during a break from a PBX upgrade project
at my office during Field Day weekend. I can run longer on the batteries
at 5W, and I enjoy the challenges of operating Field Day QRP - even on
satellites.

Without any projects at the office over Field Day weekend, I plan on
being at my traditional Field Day location in the Kaibab National
Forest about 25 miles west of Flagstaff AZ. I might have a coworker
with me, a long-time ham who is itching to get on HF with his own
portable gear. I'll steer clear of wherever he operates (Technician
license; he'll probably be on 10m and 6m much of the time), and
of course I'll try satellites and ISS passes.

If I get up there early enough, and there are workable satellite
passes before 1800 UTC on 25 June, I will go a few hundred yards/meters
west of my Field Day spot and work satellite passes on the DM35/DM45
grid boundary. I have worked from this grid boundary in the past,
parked on the side of old US-66.

Good luck, and 73!





Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Twitter: @WD9EWK




On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 3:47 AM, Greg D <ko6th.greg at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> Every year there's always someone with an off-the-wall question about
> the Field Day rules.  Not hearing one yet, it might as well be my turn...
>
> There are different station classifications based on your power source.
> What class is a station that gets its power from a Battery Electric
> Vehicle (one with battery only, no gas engine), for example, if I run my
> rig from the car's 12v Accessory outlet?
>
> Class-C covers a currently-traditional (ICE) car, one with a combustion
> engine driven generator (alternator) backing up the car's battery.
>
> My car has no such generator, just a really big battery (57kw).  If I
> park the car and run a 12v cable to the operating position at a nearby
> picnic bench, and keep to 5 watts or less, am I Class A Battery?  What
> if higher than 5 watts?
>
> Puzzled,
>
> Greg  KO6TH
> <http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb>
>