On Friday night the Washington DC area was hit hard by a very powerful line of thunderstorms. It brought down trees and powerlines all around the area. Fortunately, my dipoles were spared. But we were "off the grid" for about 48 hours. Let me tell you, it is no fun at all. I am now in the market for a generator and would appreciate recommendations (gasoline? natural gas?) I was re-introduced to the joys of 2 meter FM. I thought my smart phone would keep us connected to the net, but AT&T apparently lost some of its towers in our area, so for a while, the only way we could have called for help would have been via 2 meter FM.
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Hi, Bill.
ReplyDeleteI installed a generator when I built my home almost 20 years ago. There had been a bad storm in the area the previous year that knocked out power for several days, and I thought it would be a good idea to be prepared.
It's a 5 KW gas generator with a manual transfer switch feeding a couple of refrigerators and a freezer, furnace (for the blower motor to help circulate heat from a fireplace), and a couple of receptacles that could be used for a microwave or other small appliance. Except for regular testing, I've never used it because any outages have been short lived.
If I were to do it all again, I'd not do it all again. A small, quiet, portable gas generator would be in my garage instead. Besides the emergency value, I'd have been able to use it for Field Day or other events. YMMV, but I've found my setup to be a poor investment.
A recent QST had a nice review of a variety of small portable generators that would be a good starting point for research.
73, Jim KA9VHG
Hey Bill,
ReplyDeleteI use the Honda EC2200 and the larger 5KVa generators. The GX series of motors found in these generators is near bullet proof. I expect that you may need plenty of power though so maybe something bigger. I can tell you though that the GX's are amazing engines and if needs be you can strip and rebuild very quickly.
73,
Tryg EI7CLB
We use a small Yamaha EF2800 here but that might not be big enough for your uses there. Works fine and we keep it in the apartment storage space.
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