Thread: HF radio woes

The change in voltage is minimal so I assume that by using the radio you meant listening, not transmitting which uses significantly more power so would lower the voltage more quickly. However 12.6V doesn't seem low enough to warrant a low battery warning.

Edit. I wonder if the tuner is drawing excessive current which is causing the low voltage warning whilst tuning but the voltage recovers once tuning has ceased. Have you monitored the voltage whilst tuning? Maybe the tuner's drive is partly seized causing both excessive power consumption and lack of tuning sometimes.

I think you'll find that auto tuning antennae need to be regularly functioned through the range of frequencies to the keep the mechanism in gwo.

Auto tune antennae are quite repairable.

On transmit, which usually is not for extended times, is when power is heavily consumed.