RSS FeedTue 17 Jul 2007
Once you have a mobile radio and decide that you want to use it in the house, you will need to have a way to power the radio. This is one disadvantage of mobile radios over base station radios. Mobile radios operate off DC power usually 12-13.8 volts while the outlets in your house put out 110-120 volts AC power. Base station radios usually have built in provisions (built-in power supply) that will allow them to be plugged in to a regular household power outlet. Fortunately, this easy to overcome for mobile radios as there are many power supply solutions available.
Power supplies are available in two main categories: switching and linear. Both types of power supplies have advantages and disadvantages, and I will discuss each separately in upcoming updates. Personally, I have used types and have not had many problems with either.
One thing to make sure of with any power supply is to check the amount of power (amperage) that it puts out and not just the voltage. Many power supplies (switching especially) can be picked up very cheap, but only put out 3-5 amps, which is not enough to run most of the amateur radios that you will get and want to use.
Be sure to check back soon for some thoughts and ideas to keep in mind when choosing your next power supply.
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[…] Well, I promised a pair of articles about power supplies and have not yet followed through on that promise. What follows is a look at what are probably the most commonly used power supplies, those of the linear variety. […]
[…] Here we go with the second in the pair of articles about power supplies that I promised and have not yet finished. I have already completed the article about linear power supplies and here is the one about those of the switching variety. […]
[…] I have come to realize that there are three basic categories of posts. The first category are those posts which are part of a series of posts. Examples of this would be my Choosing a Power Supply series or the series I did on Trimming back your entertainment budget without trimming back your entertainment. There are many other examples of this. Ms Danielle’s “Flashback Fridays” and “Binky’s Corner” (which we haven’t seen for awhile, I wonder how Binky is doing) could also be considered examples of a series. […]