VE6AB Mobile Ops
Where The Wind Blows
Where you mount your HF rig in your mobile is of the upmost importance for good cooling.
Mount your rig where it has maximum access to a good air flow front and back.
The Kenwood TS-480HX as shown in the photo harbors a secret that you may not know about that makes it the top rig in its class for mobile operations.
There are actually two Kenwood TS-480 models the other being the TS-480SAT a 100 watt rig with a built in 3-1 tuner.
In the TS-480HX the tuner is replaced by a second 100 watt amplifier giving the TS-480HX 200 watts out.
The difference is of some significance in the fact that the TS-480HX has two cooling fans compared to the TS-480SAT only having one cooling fan.
As noted in the photo of my 480HX, the front of the rig has 3 vents allowing for air to be pulled through the rig and expelled out the back making for a very cool running rig when being driven hard at 200 watts out.
There is no other HF transceiver available for your mobile that has the cooling capacity of the TS-480HX.
I know what your thinking..... "It needs 2 cooling fans as its a 200 watt rig"
May be, but it still has 2 cooling fans, even if your running it at 100 watts.
Believe me you cannot have too much cooling capacity in a HF rig when the bands are hot.
Click on the photo for a closer look......
