Steve, Congratulations and welcome.
I can't recommend a manufactured antenna since I make all of my own, which I encourage you to do eventually. I do understand your desire to get on quickly, though and I suspect you will get a lot of recommendations, some better than others. As to the battery, I use a Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) 92 AH battery made by East Penn Manufacturing and sold under their "Deka" brand. (http://www.eastpenn-deka.com/assets/base/0139.pdf) I have it on continuous charge via a home-built 30A "smart charger." The charger to battery circuit (both wires) is fused at 30A and the radio circuit is fused at 25A. In addition I use a "battery boost" regulator made by TGE (http://stores.tgelectronics.org/Detail.bok?no=11) to provide a constant 14.1V at the radio regardless of battery state, and the inevitable voltage drop in the wiring. I can tell you that at the 100W level, without the charger running and the booster off, it doesn't take long before the K3 is beeping and warning about low battery voltage. This system was put together for RV/Field Day use, but I also use it in the fixed location when the RV is in storage, even though I have an Astron RM-35 sitting right next to the charger. Wes N7WS --- On Mon, 1/4/10, KC2VNI <[email protected]> wrote: From: KC2VNI <[email protected]> Subject: [Elecraft] New K3 User and New Ham To: [email protected] Date: Monday, January 4, 2010, 6:19 PM Folks: I am a new ham. I just purchased a K3 100W radio with an auto-tuner. Several basic questions: 1) Wire antennas- Do you guys have suggestions for a multi-band wire antenna pre-made by someone like MFJ or similar that I could hang in a tree? 2) Battery based power: From speaking with the fellow from customer support from elecraft, a 100 Amp-Hr battery is what is required to operate at 100W. What type of battery do I use? Is sealed-lead acid acceptable? What size fuses do I want on the line running from the radio to the battery? I recognize that this radio has orders of magnitude of capability that I don't understand yet. I also recognize that reading the manual will be of a help here. If you have further resources and/or suggestions, please advise. 73, KC2VNI. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
