A common question for newcomers to portable amateur radio operating is "which battery is best?". There is no single answer to this question though and the best choice will depend on what you want to do. Our article explores several different battery chemistries including LiPO, lead-acid and the newer LiFePO4 types. It's packed with tips from practical experience! Essential reading for all portable operators.

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Comments from Readers

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My 4s LiPos are 16.8 volts fully charged.

N1FJ Frandy Johnson

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The paragraph where you start “The “best” battery” is certainly the most relevant.

If you can always reliably recharge the battery (which ever sort it is) between uses then the other factors such as power density, cost and weight do become to be important. However if you are not able to be sure what recharge options you have then the use of the old standby lead acid is probably the cheapest and easiest for many to deal with… obviously with the additional weight involved.

You can nearly always float charge a lead acid battery from numerous sources (solar, mains, car cigarette lighter) often with not much more than a simple wire wound dropping resistor in place if you need to reduce a charge current. You certainly cannot do that with a newer technology Li battery, not unless you have spent a great deal on a charger that will handle the possible input differences.

/P operating, often when DX my recommendation is to find the sort of battery that suits YOUR operating style and to focus on everything else that is required to recharge it for the next time you use it.

A simple motor bike lead acid battery doesn’t appear in your list but DX £ for £ and lb for lb it is probably the easiest to use and manage to obtain and recharge globally. One thing that isn’t mentioned is that whilst they might not be that modern is that have the advantage that they can take a large current upload and can be used to source a lot of current too. I have seen many /P operations relying on an old car battery float charging off a generator, which will maintain a healthy 13.8V supply to the rig. I’d question some of the figures in the table of fast charge times as I have definitely turned some around faster.

I’ve also have quite a number of second/spare/camcorder/laptop call them what you will Li batteries ‘confiscated’ at airport security checkpoints to be able to not recommend those or anything that might even be similar to not recommend using them. Nothing whatsoever to do a power rating.The use of those R/C battery packs will be a very expensive mistake probably at some airports.

For recharging I tend to like the use of a 4.92A switch mode, ex laptop supply that will provide 12V to a peak pro (google) for intelligent charger and will manage a number of different battery types and sizes.

Dominic Baines

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