[Knightsqrss] G0UPL fading...

[Hans Summers]

Knights,

Many thanks for reports over the last 2 days from

ON5SL Pierre
G3VYZ Les
PA1SDB Peter

I have updated my web page
http://www.hanssummers.com/radio/qrsslp/rpt3 with the latest results.

Here in IO91XM the bleach battery situation is becoming increasingly
worrying. Aside from the ever-worsening smell in the G0UPL radio room
which is making the life of the G0UPL operator increasingly
unpleasant, other problems are also beginning to worsen:

The copper electrode, and the inside of the tin cans, look very clean.
But...where the copper wire exits the surface of the bleach, it has
become encrusted with bright green. On the surface of the bleach,
brown lumps are floating.

On the outside of the tin at the top, at the same level of the fluid
inside the tin, the tins have corroded and there is some crusted white
corrosion on the surface of the tin, the small white granules
protruding a mm or two from the surface of the tin.

At the bottom of the tin, the seal between the tin's wall and base has
suffered severe corrosion, and bleach leaked out. I had to put the
tins on saucers, but did not escape staining my workbench before I
noticed. The leaked fluid is a brown sludge. On two of the four cells,
this corrosion occurred about a day sooner than the other two. In
those cases, where some of the brown sludge has dried, it has done so
in a very interesting way, sending out crystaline patterns like ice on
a window in winter or like the surface of a distant planetary moon,
and yellow in colour.

The bleach batteries have now powered my tiny beacon for 4 days,
producing between 3 and 7mW continuously during that time. The voltage
is now starting to decay more seriously. At time of writing (22:07):

Frequency = 7,000,849
Voltage = 1.93
Power = 2.5mW

It's only a matter of time, now... the question is: will the end come
gradually, as the battery voltage tapers off? Or will it come suddenly
and catastrophically, when the corrosion bites all the way through the
bottom of the tin and messy brown bleach gunge is spread all over my
worktop? How long can I continue to receive reports?

73 Hans G0UPL in IO91XM