Power planning
Portable station runtime planner
Blend TX/RX current, duty cycle and battery pack layout to estimate average draw, usable capacity and pack count.
Average current is weighted with a 20% transmit duty cycle.
Capacity drops quickly below freezing—consider insulation or pre-heating packs.
Keeping 10–20% in reserve prolongs battery life and covers unexpected surges.
Once you know the average and peak power draw, feed those numbers into the RF Exposure tool to verify your portable setup still meets general-public limits when antennas are close to people.
Pack planning is only half the story—walk through the Emergency Communications Checklist so batteries, spares and documentation are ready for real deployments.