Print

[N8AUC]

John (N8AUC):

Do you know why a Yugo has a rear window defroster? So you could keep your hands warm in the winter while you were pushing it.

Still laughing over THAT one.  Thanks.  BTW, after a few rounds with the Yugo, you would have gone back to the Nova.  One of my chores was keeping my aunts '65 Chevy II (entry level Nova, sort of) running.  Easy to do.  Lots of room to work (except when the heater core failed) and the straight six was pretty bulletproof.

The old '65 Chevelle (283/2bbl) burned a gallon of oil a week, toward the end.  Probably would go to jail for driving it, today.

I appreciate Harbor Freight for what it is.

Yes, so do I.  Generally buy tarps, tape measures, vises and misc. non-critical tools.  But have had some bad luck with (for instance) wrenches, which were NOT QUITE the size marked.  So... only quality wrenches in my toolbox, now.  The damage bad wrenches can do to bolts is far more costly than the cost of good wrenches.  Kind of like the damage cheap generators can do to electronics.

Brian - K6BRN

Brian,
John is my first name. Eric is my middle name, and what I go by. My friends call me Eric, so please do.

Actually, when someone calls and asks for "John", I immediately know that the caller is not someone who knows me.
Probably a telemarketer. At which point they get "the telemarketer treatment", which varies depending on how annoyed
I am, and how much time I have to mess with them.

Glad you got kick out of the Yugo joke. I've heard lots of them over the years. Like...

What does it take to go from 0-60 in a Yugo? Four tries.

I've known several people who owned a Yugo. After the fact, none of those people have anything positive to say
about them. But they were "inexpensive" to purchase initially. If Harbor Freight sold cars, it would be whatever
the Chinese equivalent of a Yugo would be.

Have you ever seen an engine start on a Lockheed L-1011? As they light off, there is a huge plume of blue
smoke that belches out the back of the engine, which goes away once the engine is running. My old Nova was
kind of like that. When you started it, there was a plume of blue smoke out the back. Which is probably where all
the oil went. You didn't see that once it was running though. It had a 305 V8 in it. My girlfriend liked it though,
because she could slide over and ride in the middle of the front bench seat.  It's tough to do that in modern cars
because most have a center console where the shift lever is. The old Nova had the shift lever on the steering
column.

[SOFAR]

Blue smoke on start-up, is oil leaking passed valve guide seals, accumulating in the cylinder after sitting.

Blue smoke while running, would be worn piston rings.

[K6BRN]

John:

Sorry about the name mix-up. 

FB on the Yugo, Nova and girlfriend.

The Lockheed L-1011 was my favorite plane back in the early '80's.  Used to take it coast to coast on "night-flight super-savers"  A massive airplane, mostly empty at night - what was it? - 7 across in the middle row, ideal for a good night's sleep.  Gone now.

Regarding oil use and smoke after starting up... the old small block V8s used a small rubber oil seal just above the valve guide that was simple to replace if you had a valve spring compressor and spring key.  Which I did to my old '65 Chevelle's 283 V8.  But it still used oil and smoked a great deal.  So I popped the head off to look in the cylinders.  Cylinders were clean as a whistle and as true as an hourglass, which is a good description of the shape they had.  The pistons would actually flop around a bit when I put hand pressure on them.  Did not give up on that car until the real axle fell off for the 2nd time.  Just added gas, oil and it went.

Brian - K6BRN

[W4FID]

Any of the generators you're considering or a solar panel big enough with a battery big enough to run a 100 watts fig for several hours are beyond what you can transport to a remote location without a car. If the car already has an HF radio in it you're all set. I have an IC-7000 in my Honda CR-V. A medium size car at best -- not a full size pick up or SUV by any measure. It's a clean installation. It's velcro "anchored" under the passenger seat and the control box is on the dashboard.  Safe to operate. Not in the way of my XYL's legs or knees. Use a 3 magnet mount on the roof and have hamsticks for 75-40-20. Total cost is in the same range as a Honda generator or nice solar panels and large LiON battery. I can sit in the car at an RV park or even in my drive at home and operate the same as if I was on a picnic table someplace. And I enjoy HF on longer road trips like on my way to Dayton.

[N8AUC]

Any of the generators you're considering or a solar panel big enough with a battery big enough to run a 100 watts fig for several hours are beyond what you can transport to a remote location without a car. If the car already has an HF radio in it you're all set. I have an IC-7000 in my Honda CR-V. A medium size car at best -- not a full size pick up or SUV by any measure. It's a clean installation. It's velcro "anchored" under the passenger seat and the control box is on the dashboard.  Safe to operate. Not in the way of my XYL's legs or knees. Use a 3 magnet mount on the roof and have hamsticks for 75-40-20. Total cost is in the same range as a Honda generator or nice solar panels and large LiON battery. I can sit in the car at an RV park or even in my drive at home and operate the same as if I was on a picnic table someplace. And I enjoy HF on longer road trips like on my way to Dayton.

You need to check out the work of Julian, OH8STN.

A homebuilt LiFePO4 battery pack complete with BMS and a Genasun charge controller, and a 120w foldable solar panel allows him to operate an FT-891
at 100 watts, and he carries the whole thing on foot out into the wilderness several kilometers to operate. Even in the winter.

I am truly impressed with what he does, and how he does it.

And for the record, I'm not a fan of operating outdoors in the winter. But he shows it can be done, and how to do it.
He's also doing it in Finland, which in the winter makes NE Ohio look almost tropical in comparison.

Check his website out at OH8STN.org. He also has a bunch of YouTube videos to show how he does it.

73 de N8AUC
Eric

[K0UA]

Any of the generators you're considering or a solar panel big enough with a battery big enough to run a 100 watts fig for several hours are beyond what you can transport to a remote location without a car

That used to be true, but not so anymore. Not since LiFePO4 batteries.  The battery alone is enough to operate a 100 watt rig for several hours.

Check out the duty cycle charts:

https://www.bioennopower.com/collections/lifepo4-batteries-for-communication-equipment-ham-radio

[NQ3M]

Set a Honda an Harbor freight generator side by side, running at no load. Fire up at least a 2 channel 100MGz or better O scope, an look at both sine waves, than load them up with the same none linear load an look again. Some people will hook up a $2K + load to a unknown generator, yet others look before the leap. If your looking for some more fun look at the wave form of a gen-a-junk, or what others call junk-a-rack. For a fun afternoon, test them all with a Spectrum Analyzer, running a none linear, an linear load.   

[WA2ONH]

From the ARRL web site...
Honda Portable Generators Recalled Due to Potential Fire Hazard 04/15/2019
http://www.arrl.org/news/honda-portable-generators-recalled-due-to-potential-fire-hazard

"American Honda has announced that it’s voluntarily recalling some 200,000 of its portable generators sold in the US due to a potential fire and burn hazard. The recall includes the EU2200i, EU2200i Companion, and EB2200i generators. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says the affected portable generators can leak gasoline from the fuel valve. Users should stop operating the recalled generator and contact an authorized Honda dealer for a free repair. Honda is also contacting users directly. For more information, visit the CPSC website. A similar recall has been issued in Canada."

CPSC Site: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2019/american-honda-recalls-portable-generators-due-to-fire-and-burn-hazards