Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Looking For A Good Power Supply For the Ham Shack


  One of those pieces of equipment that every Ham Radio Operator will need in the Ham Shack is a good power supply. Power Supplies all vary in Voltage, Current and size. The size may be dependent on the wattage, which is the Voltage times the Current. Another thing that determines the size is whether it is solid state regulated or linear regulated. The Solid State Power Supplies are much lighter in weight than the Linear Regulated Power Supply. The Linear Power Supply usually has a large transformer in it ,which is usually very heavy.
  The power supplies will generally have a voltage and current meter on them. They will also have various types of connectors on them for connecting your Ham Radio and other equipment. The are some that output around 25 to 30 amps, which enough for your Ham Radio. The power supplies putting out 30 to 50 amps are very good for powering more than one piece of equipment. I have read that some can be a little noisy, so you may consider running in a different location in your Ham Shack.
  There are many different brands out there on the market for sale. Some of the popular brands are MFJ, Diamond, Pyramid. There are other brands such as Astron and Jetstream as well as others that are very good. They all have very good reviews that can be seen at Eham.net. I myself have a Diamond GZV4000 that puts out about 40 amps and does a really good job. I also have another power supply made by Kenwood for my TS-2000 Ham Radio. I mainly have two so if one goes down I have a backup until I can get it repaired.
  Some of the power supplies have a fixed voltage output. Other model have a variable voltage output that can be adjusted for whatever you need. They also have a exhaust fan that may run all the time or only run when the power supply gets to a certain temperature. My advise is to check out reviews for various models and also check out the reviews on the seller of the item.
                                       Thank You For Reading from Dan KC2YTI 73s.