Supercapacitors, and Amateur Transceivers

[Robert E. Seastrom]

Iain McFadyen <mcfadyenusa at yahoo.com> writes:

> Has anyone experimented with using Supercapacitors (1.5-6 Farad for example)
> across the DC supply to Ham Radio transceivers (SSB,CW or intermittent
> packet/APRS)?

Well, there is a company out there that is doing just that - I have
one of these boxes: http://www.gammaresearch.net/hps-1a.html and they
are said to have 5 or 6 F inside them, stoked by a relatively
pedestrian switching power supply.  I haven't opened mine up to count
up the big caps, but I was using it at Skywarn Recognition Day today,
and as usual it worked pretty well.

> Or should I just save the money and go for a deep cycle Marine battery to go
> under the hamshack bench at home?

You should have the big deep cycle battery (I have a couple of AGM
batteries, less chance of spillage) for hurricanes and other power
outages, and the Gamma for travel.  :-)

                                        ---Rob